New Feminist Christianity: Many Voices, Many Views - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 159473285X ISBN 13: 9781594732850

Publisher: SkyLight Paths, 2010

Synopsis

Powerful insights from ministers, theologians, activists, leaders, artists and liturgists who are shaping the future.

"Christianity has been a source of the oppression of women, as well as a resource for unleashing women's full humanity. Feminist analysis and practice have recognized this. Feminist Christianity is reshaping religious institutions and religious life in more holistic, inclusive, and justice-focused ways."
―from the Introduction

Feminism has brought many changes to Christian religious practice. From inclusive language and imagery about the Divine to an increase in the number of women ministers, Christian worship will never be the same. Yet, even now, there is a lack of substantive structural change in many churches and complacency within denominations.

The contributors to this book are the thought leaders who are shaping, and being shaped by, the emerging directions of feminist Christianity. They speak from across the denominational spectrum, and from the many diverse groups that make up the Christian community as it finds its place in a religiously pluralistic world. Taken together, their voices offer a starting point for building new models of religious life and worship.

Topics covered include feminist:

• Theological Visions
• Scriptural Insights
• Ethical Agendas
• Liturgical and Artistic Frontiers
• Ministerial Challenges

Contributors include:

María Pilar Aquino · Rachel A. R. Bundang · Wanda Deifelt · Marie M. Fortune · Mary E. Hunt · W. Anne Joh · Eunjoo Mary Kim · Kwok Pui-lan · Cynthia Lapp · Shelly Matthews · Virginia Ramey Mollenkott · Eleanor Moody-Shepherd · Surekha Nelavala · Diann L. Neu · Kate M. Ott · Nancy Pineda-Madrid · Marjorie Procter-Smith · Meg A. Riley · Victoria Rue · Rosemary Radford Ruether · Letha Dawson Scanzoni · Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza · Deborah Sokolove · Jeanette Stokes · Janet Walton · Traci C. West · Gale A. Yee · Barbara Brown Zikmund

About this title

About the Author:

María Pilar Aquino is professor of theology and religious studies at the University
of San Diego. Dr. Aquino was a visiting professor of theology at Harvard
Divinity School. She is the author of Our Cry for Life: Feminist Theology
from Latin America; La teología, la iglesia y la mujer en América Latina (Theology,
the Church and Women in Latin America); and Teología feminista Latinoamericana
(Latin American Feminist Theology). She organizes and convenes
Latina feminist scholars and activists in religion.

Rachel A. R. Bundang is on the religious studies faculty at the Marymount
School in New York. Dr. Bundang earned her doctorate in constructive theologies,
praxis, and ethics from Union Theological Seminary. She was a Bannan
Fellow at Santa Clara University. Rooted in feminist ethics and Catholic
theology, Rachel's work takes her from the academy to the parish and beyond.

Wanda Deifelt is associate professor of religion at Luther College in Decorah,
Iowa. She is an ordained pastor of the Lutheran Church in Brazil (IECLB).
Dr.Deifelt taught at Escola Superior de Teologia in São Leopoldo, Brazil, from
1991–2004, where she held the Chair of Feminist Theology. She writes and
lectures widely on liberation topics.

Marie M. Fortune is founder and senior analyst at the FaithTrust Institute, where
she addresses sexual and domestic violence in faith communities. The Rev. Dr.
Fortune is ordained in the United Church of Christ. She is a pastor, an educator,
an author, and a practicing theologian and ethicist. Her books include Keeping
the Faith: Guidance for Christian Women Facing Abuse; Is Nothing Sacred? When
Sex Invades the Pastoral Relationship; and Sexual Violence: The Sin Revisited.

Mary E. Hunt is a Catholic feminist theologian active in the women-church movement. Dr. Hunt lectures and writes on theology and ethics with particular attention to liberation issues. She is editor of A Guide for Women in Religion: Making Your Way from A to Z (Palgrave), among many other publications.

Hunt and Neu are cofounders and codirectors of the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER), a feminist educational center dedicated to creating and sustaining inclusive communities in society and religion, in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Review:

"Some of the best and most cutting-edge thinking.... Calls upon us to do together the hard yet hopeful work of dismantling sexism and domination―both within and among us―so that God's earth and all who dwell upon it can be saved."
―Rev. Loey Powell, executive for Administration & Women’s Justice, United Church of Christ

“Important and exciting.... A very banquet of ideas big enough to reinvigorate the life of the Spirit. More than that, it is a catalyst for the ongoing process of achieving it.”
―Joan Chittister, OSB, co-chair, Global Peace Initiative of Women; author, Heart of Flesh: A Feminist Spirituality for Women and Men

“Living proof that feminism has shaken the Christian patriarchal mindset to its core.... A must read for anyone interested in the future of Christianity in the twenty-first century.”
―Maureen Fiedler, host, Interfaith Voices; editor, Breaking Through the Stained Glass Ceiling: Women Religious Leaders in Their Own Words

“Demonstrates that feminist Christianity is far from monolithic; rather it is diverse, thoughtful, incisive, pastoral, prophetic and above all, deeply faithful.”
―Emilie M. Townes, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology, Yale University

“With smarts, wit, and tantalizing moral vision, feminist movers and shakers illustrate how transforming patriarchy, religiously as well as socially, requires 'changing the subject,’ both the ‘who’ that speaks (and is listened to) and the ‘what’ that’s spoken about.... Truly nourishing bread for the journey.”
―Rev. Marvin M. Ellison, PhD, Willard S. Bass Professor of Christian Ethics, Bangor Theological Seminary; co-editor, Sexuality and the Sacred: Sources for Theological Reflection

“Both a rich, colorful sampler for those unfamiliar with feminist Christian work in the U.S. and an invitation to all of us to continue liberating Christianity from hegemonic ‘isms.’ This is a welcome resource for all who care about justice in the church and in the world.”
―Rev. Dr. Rita Nakashima Brock, coauthor, Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire and Casting Stones: Prostitution and Liberation in Asia and the United States

“What is new about New Feminist Christianity is the depth and breadth and scope―Diann Neu and Mary Hunt do not shy away from all the intersectionalities that feminism in the context of Christianity contains. The inclusion of such powerful, diverse voices that deal with body, art, and ministry, as well as rich crosscultural lenses, will make this a powerful, required text for anyone wanting to understand Christianity or feminism today!”
―Rev. Nancy Wilson, moderator, Metropolitan Community Churches

“Too often in monogendered theology, male eyes looked through the wrong end of the telescope and saw a world writ small. In this volume, womanspirit that has long been rising comes of age, and Christianity is dynamically reimagined. This is the real, not the fictive, radical orthodoxy.”
―Daniel C. Maguire, professor of religious ethics, Marquette University

“A rich mix of topics and perspectives that clearly conveys where feminist Christianity has been and where it needs to go.”
―Judith Plaskow, author, Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective

About this edition

• Publisher: SkyLight Paths
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 159473285X
• ISBN 13: 9781594732850
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384
• Editor: Hunt Mary E., Neu Diann L.