Religious feminism
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Feminist theology is a movement, generally in Christianity and Judaism, to reconsider the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of their religion from a feminist perspective. Some of the goals of feminist theology include increasing the role of women among the clergy and religious authorities, reinterpreting male-dominated imagery and language about God, determining women's place in relation to career and motherhood, and studying images of women in the religion's sacred texts.
Prior to feminism, in some circles and within some denominations women were considered as morally inferior to men and the source of many temptations, especially sexual infidelity. Women were believed to be dedicated to childbearing, their homes, and husbands and therefore had no part in preaching or writing. Men were considered more like God, essentially making women completely inferior to men. Some denominations still prohibit women preaching, and believe that a husband is an authority set over a wife.
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[edit] Methodology
Feminist theology attempts to consider every aspect of religious practice and thought. Some of the questions feminist theologians ask are:
- How do we do theology? The basic question of how theologians may go about creating systems of thought is being reinterpreted by feminist theologians. Many feminist theologians assert that personal experience can be an important component of insight into the divine, along with the more traditional sources of holy books or received tradition. (The relevance of personal experience to the policies of groups of people is a familiar notion to veterans of the feminist movement.)
- Who is God? Feminist theologians have pioneered the use of non- or multi-gendered language for God, holding that language powerfully impacts belief about the behavior and essence of God.
- Where are women in religious history? Feminist historical theologians study the roles of women in periods throughout history that have impacted religion: the Biblical period, the early Christian era, medieval Europe, and any period of import to a particular religion. They study individual women who influenced their religion or whose religious faith led them to impact their culture. The work of these scholars has helped feminist theologians claim historical figures as their predecessors in feminist theology. For example, Sojourner Truth's "Ar'n't I a Woman?" speech pointed out, "Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman. Man had nothing to do with him!" Elizabeth Cady Stanton produced the "Woman's Bible," excising the traditional Christian text of all references she thought contradicted the positions of women's rights.
[edit] In Christianity
[edit] In Judaism
[edit] In the Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith has as one of its main teachings the the principle of the equality of men and women.[1] The Bahá'í teachings suggest that for humanity to advance, that each gender, though not identical in function, must work in unison with each other and allow the healthy functioning of society.[2]The Bahá'í teachings state that gender equality has positive results for everyone, not only women, and that the benefits that result as society improves the station of women, also results in positive results for men.[2] One of the main ways that the Bahá'í Faith believes that gender equality can be achieved is through the Bahá'í belief in universal education, which requires the same academic and spiritual education for both girls and boys.[2]
The history of feminism in Bahá'í history begins with Tahirih, an early Babi leader,[3] and the history contains many other prominent women including Ásíyih Khánum, Bahiyyih Khánum (who is the only woman who was the head of a large religion, even if briefly), Munírih Khánum, May Maxwell and Rúhíyyih Khánum.[4] With this early spiritual leadership of women, the effort of recognizing the equality of women and men has been on ongoing internal and external rallying point for Bahá'ís.
Among the more recent projects which sees the principle of advancing the role of women to equality are the Bahá'í-inspired Tahirih Justice Center and the Barli Vocational Institute for Rural Women in India. Layli Miller-Muro founded the Tahirih Justice Center in 1997 following a well-publicized asylum case in which she was involved as a student attorney.[5] Layli later co-wrote a book with the client she had aided and used her portion of the proceeds for the initial funding of Tahirih. As of 2003, the organization had assisted more than 4,000 women and children fleeing from a wide variety of abuses.[6] The Barli Vocational Institute for Rural Women was founded in 1985 in India and offers a six-month program for tribal women at its facilities in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.[7] Through June 1996, a total of 769 rural tribal women have been trained at the Institute;[8] the women came from 119 villages, and after returning home to their cities or villages 45% of them established small businesses, 62% are functionally literate or semi-literate (which has motivated people to send their children to school), 42% have started growing vegetables, 97% are using safe drinking water, all the former trainees and many of their male relatives have given up drinking alcohol, and caste prejudices have been eliminated.[8]
[edit] In Islam
Muslims generally reject the term feminism because they link it with Western promiscuity, sexual freedom, and negligence of childbearing. Nevertheless, feminism has so profoundly influenced Islam, especially among Western Muslims, that Muslims as a whole do not realize Islam was ever not feminist. Muslim literature, especially in proselytizing, emphasize the complementarian view that men and women are different but equal.
However, critics of Islam claim that the Qur'an and Muhammad are misogynist and cannot consistently be reconciled with feminism. These include polygamy, wife beating (under certain extreme conditions), the existence of houris in paradise, the lack of female imams and prophets, and demanding that women's first responsibility is to bear children.
[edit] Other religions
In the latter part of the 20th Century, feminism was influential in the rise of Neopaganism in the United States, and particularly the Dianic tradition. Some feminists find the worship of an all-loving goddess, rather than a god, to be consonant with their views. The collective set of beliefs associated with this is sometimes known as thealogy and sometimes referred to as the Goddess movement. See also Dianic Wicca.
[edit] Gender and God
Others who practice feminist spirituality may instead adhere to a feminist re-interpretation of Western monotheistic traditions. In those cases, the notion of God as having a male gender is rejected, and God is not referred to using male pronouns. Feminist spirituality may also object to images of God that they perceive as authoritarian, parental, or disciplinarian, instead emphasizing "maternal" attributes such as nurturing, acceptance, and creativity.
[edit] See also
- Liberation theology
- Postmodern Christianity
- Weak theology
- When God Was a Woman A book accusing Judaism of misogyny
[edit] Bibliography
- Pamela Sue Anderson, A feminist philosophy of religion: the rationality and myths of religious belief (Oxford; Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 1998)
- Pamela Sue Anderson and Beverley Clack, eds., Feminist philosophy of religion: critical readings (London: Routledge, 2004)
[edit] Notes
- ^ Shoffstall, Veronica (1999-10). "Advancement of Women: A Baha'i Perspective, by Janet and Peter Khan: Transforming the roles of women and men, a Review". One Country 10. ISBN 1018-9300.
- ^ a b c Kuzyk, Leslie William (2003). “Gender Equality”, Social Justice, Wealth Equity and Gender Equality: Bahá'ís and non-Bahá'ís of Alberta. Calgary: University of Calgary (Alberta), Faculty of Graduate Studies.
- ^ Mazal, Peter (2003). “The Woman and the Child”, Selected Topics of Comparison in Christianity and the Baha'i Faith, MA-Thesis. Switzerland: Landegg Academy.
- ^ Lehman, Dale E. (2003-03-03). Women in the Vanguard. planetbahai.org. Retrieved on 2006-09-15.
- ^ Fauziya Kassindja, Do They Hear You When You Cry. p. 171. The case name became Matter of Kasinga, because Fauziya did not know if it was proper to correct the immigration official who misspelled her last name on her entry into the United States.
- ^ 2003 Annual Report Tahirih Justice Center, Retrieved July 10, 2006
- ^ bahaindia.org (2003-08-11). Barli Development Institute for Rural Women. bahaindia.org. Retrieved on 2006-09-15.
- ^ a b Barli Vocational Institute for Rural Women (2002-02-17). Barli Vocational Institute for Rural Women. Retrieved on 2006-09-15.
