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Overview of Feminist Theology

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Introduction Feminism Liberation theology focuses on the inequality between genders (Soulen & Soulen, 2001:73). Since theology is essentially about reflection and discourse about God then women being part of the larger church body have been involved and are active participants as they live their Christian lives of faith in Jesus Christ. However according to feminist theologians these very women who happen to make up a majority in the church as a worldwide body has been according to Nicola Slee “systematically excluded from the authoritative and interpretive task of theology” (Isherwood & Mc Ewan 1997: 225). Gender is a very important piece of social organization because it defines identity and relationships expressed within the larger culture. Therefore feminist theology is interested in the gender and more specifically the female gender as a category of human identity because of the concern of womanhood as an experience. Margret Obaga is of the opinion that “we are all different nationalities.to be heard depends on circumstances prominent women like Wangari Maathai had to fight, almost single handedly on behalf of the silent majority.” (Kanyoro & Njoroge, 1996: 72). Feminist theology is an attempt to do the same thing for the silent majority of women both contemporary and past who have had no voice of their own. It is an attempt to liberate women’s self conceptualization in relation to God and the world. Assumptions of Feminist Liberation Theologies The common assumption is that biblical texts were written in the contexts of patriarchal cultures and have been subsequently translated and interpreted within this same patriarchal culture. The same patriarchal culture according to feminist critiques dehumanized and marginalized women treating them as second class, inferior beings. The feeling then is that women then have been used and continue to be used as a means to patriarchal ends rather than as ends within themselves (Tate, 2008:237). Even in the contemporary situation there is still the experience of women being treated as means to an end which is to cater to the structures that are imbedded at the very core of humanity and that is the dominance of the male gender and the structure that are present in all social organization in the interaction of the genders namely male and female. The experience of women in academia, religion, politics and the market place can for example be used as case studies of the postmodern women’s experience of patriarchal and endocentric structures social and used to gauge whether there has indeed been a change of the patriarchal systems or if they are the same only in different guise. Understandings of Feminism in Theology Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza In an attempt to include the religious experience of women worldwide and across a all cultures Fiorenza states that: “it is no longer appropriate to speak of feminists theology in the singular; but conceptualizing in the plural.in order to glimpse the richly colored tapestry of feminists theological thought critical analysis of the articulations of feminist theologies. In different geographical contexts and particular religions and contexts distinctive theological frames of meaning and articulation of particular global locations” Fiorenza & Copeland, 1997/7 Introduction) Therefore according to Fiorenza it is also an injustice to lump all feminist theologies as one feminist theology for the sake of the convenience for the already patriarchal systems which unfairly ignored the role of women in the very first place. Then what can be seen is feminist theology as a separate phenomenon which co-exists in a parallel but equal dimension to the current understandings of theology which are considered to be patriarchal. Limitation The feminist theology basically relies on evidence from the very s

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