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Renowned subject experts Michele A. Paludi and J. Harold Ellens lead readers through a detailed exploration of the feminist methods, issues, and theoretical frameworks that have made women central, not marginal, to religions around the world.
At a conference in 2013, Gloria Steinem noted that religion is the "biggest problem" facing feminism today. In this insightful volume, a team of researchers, psychologists, and religious leaders led by editors Michele A. Paludi and J. Harold Ellens supply their expertise and informed opinions to examine the problems, spur understanding, and pose solutions to the conflicts between religion and women's rights, thereby advocating a global interest in justice and love for women. Examples of subjects addressed include the pro-life/pro-choice debate, feminism in new age thought, and the complex intersections of religion and feminism combined with gender, race, and ethnicity.
The contributed work in this unique single-volume book enables a better understanding of how various religions view women-both traditionally and in the modern context-and how feminist thinking has changed the roles of women in some world religions. Readers will come away with clear ideas about how religious cultures can honor feminist values, such as family-friendly workplace policies, reproductive justice, and pay equity, and will be prepared to engage in conversation and constructive debate regarding how faith and feminism are interrelated today.
List of contents
Series Foreword
Michele A. PaludiForeword
J. Harold EllensAcknowledgments
Introduction
Michele A. PaludiPART I: VIEWS FROM THE BIBLE AND BUDDHISM TO THE QURAN AND TAOISM1. Is Faith in the Bible and Feminism Compatible?
Virginia Ingram2. The Goddess-Worshipping Age: Feminist Egalitarianism in Prehistory and Early History
Maija Jespersen3. Feminist Perspectives from the Hebrew Bible
Ilona Rashkow4. The Church, Woman, Leadership, and the Body
Silvia Geruza Fernandez Rodrigues5. Feminism Re-frames Who Wrote Hebrew Scriptures: 10th-Century Tamar, the "Master" Storyteller
Adrien J. Bledstein6. Women in the Holy Quran
Sayyed Mohsen Fatemi7. Feminism in Hinduism: Female Deities and Their Influence on South Asian Culture
Divyaben Patel, Katherine Anne E. Scott, Paula K. Lundberg-Love, and Jeanine M. Galusha-Glasscock8. Feminism in Buddhism
Linda Chiang9. Femineity in the Gospel of John
Kamila Blessing10. Feminism in the Eastern Orthodox Church
Maria Stoyadinova11. The Mystical Feminine in Baha'i Scriptures
Paula A. DrewekPART II: RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY IN FEMINISM AND FEMINIST ACTION12. Martial Religion, Ravaging Warfare, and Rape: Polytheistic Greek and Monotheistic Israelite Views
Kathy L. Gaca13. Judaism and Feminism
Ilona Rashkow14. A Room Prepared: Women and the Mystic Experience
Anna Byrne15. The Feminine Spiritual
Deborah Brock16. Feminism and the Pro-Life/Pro-Choice Debate
Jennifer Elisa Veninga17. Historical Resonances of the Feminine in the Brazilian Christian Religions
Patricia Nobre18. Faith and Feminism: Resolving the Gender Issue through Mythology and Archetype
Deborah Brock19. Feminist, Womanist, and
Mujerista Theologies in Conversation
Suzanne M. Coyle20. Confucianism and Feminism
Mary Wittbold21. Men Are Not Yang and Women Are Not Yin: Gender Construction in the
Tao Te Ching and the
I ChingMaija Jespersen22. American Muslim Women and Faith-Inspired Activism
Asma Uddin and Firdaus Arastu23. Special Women in the Holy Quran
Sayyed Mohsen Fatemi24. Feminism and the Future of Religion
J. Harold EllensAbout the Editors and Contributors
Index
About the author
MICHELE A. PALUDI is Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Union College and President of Paludi and Associates.
J. Harold Ellens, PhD, is a psychotherapist in private practice, a retired university professor of philosophy and psychology, retired Presbyterian theologian and pastor, retired U.S. Army Chaplain (Colonel), and executive director emeritus of the Christian Association for Psychological Studies.
