Religious and cultural discourses shape relationships/marriages. The constructed nature of relationships/marriages opens the possibility for alternative relational realities. Positioning relationships/marriages in alternative discourses assisted the couples to construct a preferred relationship narrative. Three couples embarked on this feminist participatory action research journey - a couple from the Jehovah's Witnesses tradition,' a couple from the Dutch Reformed Church and a couple from a Gay Refonned Church. Conversations with the participating couples deconstructed their relationships. It also enabled the couples to co-author alternative, preferred realities of their relationships/marriages and to provide rich descriptions of these. / Practical Theology / M. Th. (Pastoral Therapy)

Religious and cultural discourses shape relationships/marriages. The constructed nature of relationships/marriages opens the possibility for alternative relational realities. Positioning relationships/marriages in alternative discourses assisted the couples to construct a preferred relationship narrative. Three couples embarked on this feminist participatory action research journey - a couple from the Jehovah's Witnesses tradition,' a couple from the Dutch Reformed Church and a couple from a Gay Refonned Church. Conversations with the participating couples deconstructed their relationships. It also enabled the couples to co-author alternative, preferred realities of their relationships/marriages and to provide rich descriptions of these. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Pastoral Therapy)

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“Judging the Rational and the Dead: Ann Radcliffe and Feminist Theology” argues Radcliffe’s first three novels, The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne (1789), A Sicilian Romance (1790), and The Romance of the Forest (1791), show a progression of feminist theology informed by the late eighteenth-century British religious movement of Rational Dissent. The thesis attempts to complicate and extend Radcliffe scholarship by moving away from fractured critical discourses and into more cohesive readings of Radcliffe that include feminist and theological interpretations of her work. Of particular interest to the project are Radcliffe’s views on the circumscribed nature of women’s existence within British notions of church and state. The thesis does more than attempt to note Radcliffe’s objections to the circumscribed nature of women in British society; it also seeks to explore the potential solutions offered by a feminist theology that rejects establishment religious hierarchies in favor of a more Unitarian system.

麥家輝. / "二零零四年六月". / 論文(神(道)學碩士)--香港中文大學, 2004. / 參考文獻 (leaves 54-58) / "Er ling ling si nian liu yue". / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Mai Jiahui. / Lun wen (shen (dao) xue shuo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2004. / Can kao wen xian (leaves 54-58) / Chapter 第一章 --- 導言 --- p.(1-9) / Chapter 一、 --- 一切從觀察開始 --- p.（1-3) / Chapter 二、 --- 一切從敎會開始 --- p.（3-4) / Chapter 三、 --- 研究進路、旨趣及論題 --- p.（4-5 ) / Chapter 四、 --- 研究方法：一個質性的研究 --- p.（5-8) / Chapter 4.1 --- 香港平安福音堂相關文獻 --- p.（7) / Chapter 4.2 --- 對牧者作深入個人訪問 --- p.（7-8) / Chapter 五、 --- 研究的最終目標 --- p.（8-9) / Chapter 六、 --- 研究所面對的限制 --- p.（9) / Chapter 第二章 --- 建構理論架構 --- p.（10-23 ) / Chapter 一、 --- 婦女神學的理論建構 --- p.（10-14) / Chapter 1.1 --- 婦女神學的多元性 --- p.（11-13) / Chapter 1.2 --- 婦女神學對性別意識的貢獻 --- p.（13-14) / Chapter 二、 --- 香港平安福音堂的牧養觀 --- p.（14-19) / Chapter 2.1 --- 香港平安福音堂初建立的簡史 --- p.（15-17) / Chapter 2.2 --- 香港平安福音堂的牧養觀 --- p.（17-19) / Chapter 三、 --- 敎會婚前輔導的兩性角色 --- p.（20-22) / Chapter 四、 --- 小結 --- p.（22-23 ) / Chapter 第三章 --- 研究資料分析 --- p.（24-33) / Chapter 一、 --- 香港平安福音堂相關文獻結果分析 --- p.（24-29) / Chapter 1.1 --- 平安月報及年報 --- p.（24-28) / Chapter 1.2 --- 情之旅 --- p.（28-29) / Chapter 二、 --- 對牧者深入訪問結果分析 --- p.（29-32) / Chapter 三、 --- 综合分析結果 --- p.（32-33 ) / Chapter 第四章 --- 對香港平安福音堂婚前輔導兩性角色的牧養觀作出具體建議 --- p.（34-36) / Chapter 一、 --- 加強敎會内對弟兄的牧養事工 --- p.（34-35) / Chapter 二、 --- 對敎會内姊妹的角色作出深入探討 --- p.（35-36) / Chapter 第五章 --- 總結 --- p.（37) / 附件一：平安月報、年報首頁主題文章 --- p.（38-49) / 附件二：深順長元荔區平安福音堂《情之旅》主題内容及出版日期 --- p.（50-51) / 附件三：半結構式深入訪問題目 --- p.（52) / 附件四：受訪者個人資料及訪問基本資料# --- p.(53) / 參考書目 --- p.(54-58) / #所有訪問內容已存放在數碼光碟內，並隨論文附上。

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:20:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sabrina Alves.pdf: 3267904 bytes, checksum: f169ffb1a127ee6876d9cb4e64b43371 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-11-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The dissertation "She changes everything She touches and everything She touches changes: the construction of a new spirituality from the body and the stages of life." is the result of a two-year research. The goal of this work was to understand spirituality and the construction of the divine that is born from the body based on biological sexual phases of women, as well as to understand the processes of resistance, the potential of this knowledge and practices, and how these individuals would be producing new religious readings based on these perceptions. As we listen and analyze the life stories of four characters who use biological passages of their bodies in order to ritualize and give birth to a new spirituality, we realize that they are breaking dichotomies and privileging the integrality of their bodies in search of a redemption from their choices. We also realize that they have been using their experiences to encourage other women to do the same in groups called "circles of women". Finally, in a processual form, these women have established a closer relationship between their body and the earth, being the last one the goddess herself. / A dissertação Ela muda tudo o que toca e tudo o que Ela toca, muda: A construção de uma nova espiritualidade a partir do corpo e das fases da vida é resultado de dois anos de pesquisa. Nosso objetivo foi compreender a espiritualidade e a construção do divino que nasce do corpo tendo como base as fases sexuais biológicas das mulheres, os processos de resistência, as potencialidades desses saberes e práticas e de que modo, estariam a partir dessas percepções, tais sujeitos produzindo novas leituras religiosas. Ao escutarmos e analisarmos as histórias de vida de quatro personagens que utilizam as passagens biológicas de seus corpos para ritualizarem e gestarem uma nova espiritualidade observamos que, estavam quebrando dicotomias e privilegiando a integralidades de seus corpos na busca de uma redenção a partir de suas escolhas. Percebemos que têm usado suas experiências para estimular outras mulheres a fazerem o mesmo em grupos de círculos de mulheres . E que de uma forma processual estabeleciam uma estreita relação do corpo com a Terra e esta sendo a própria deusa

This dissertation analyzed the relationship between second-wave feminist philosophy and the interpretation of biblical gender roles by entering seminary students in select theological schools accredited by the Association of Theological Schools and the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The study also considered the influence of select demographics (gender, race/ethnic origin, denominational affiliation, state, theological persuasion, and age) upon student beliefs regarding feminism and gender roles. The research design consisted of a descriptive quantitative survey that analyzed responses from two instruments that are both made up of Likert type scales. One survey instrument is entitled the Attitudes Towards Women Scale (AWS), which consists of fifteen questions and was developed in 1978. Another survey instrument that will be administered is entitled the Spiritual Interpretations of Gender Issues Survey (SIGIS) developed in 2005. The research revealed that there is a statistically significant relationship between second-wave feminist philosophy and the interpretation of gender roles, and that the relationship is very strong. The respondents, for the majority, were classified as profeminist, concerning the AWS and also scored complementarian on the SIGIS. This finding exposed a disconnection in espoused theology versus theology-in-practice. The findings are beneficial for educators, who may now be cognizant of generalized student belief regarding the cultural influence of second-wave feminist philosophy. Evangelical seminaries may seek to develop instructional methods that relate to the influence of second-wave feminist philosophy and its relationship with the interpretation of biblical gender roles.

The starting point for this thesis is to problematize the male-dominated language of The Swedish Hymnal and the understanding of gender it involves. The purpose has been: to clarify the understanding of gender and ecclesiology in The Swedish Hymnal and in the Swedish Church's General Synod and to develop an understanding of gender for the church in an equal society. To this end I have examined the understanding of gender of the hymn texts from a gender perspective as well as an ecclesiological perspective. I have also studied the meaning of the understanding of gender of the hymn texts in their wider cultural and social context. I have made use of theoretical approaches and strategies from feminism, feminist theology, ecclesiology, and theories about the importance of language in relation to the society in which it operates. The main result is that the understanding of gender of the hymn texts is markedly dichotomous and value discriminatory to women's disadvantage, and must be regarded as an obstacle to equality. With regard to the ecclesiology of the hymn texts I have used the model of the church - a community for the same conditions as an interpretative key. This has shown that even the ecclesiology of the texts is asymmetric to advantage of men. As regards the understanding of gender and ecclesiology in the Synod, I have found that the category of gender almost never is linked to equality. When placing the understanding of gender of the hymn texts in a wider cultural and social context it appears that the understanding of gender of the hymn texts underpins an understanding of gender that claims the specificity of each gender and a society where only words that connotes male human beings become a model for this community. This has epistemological implications. Finally, with a foundation in the survey results and the theoretical perspectives, I have developed a language without a dichotomous and value discriminatory understanding of gender. This language is characterized by the presentation of women and men in such a way that eliminates gender stereotypes and above all that the deity so as to connote both women and men. The main conclusion of my studies is that the problems with the gender understanding of the hymn book is a consequence of expressing the deity with markers that connotes male human beings, so that divine and manly interplay. In addition, a significant gender-blindness in the decision-making body of the church is a cause. Another conclusion is that the understanding of gender in The Swedish Hymnal has a structuring effect on society at large.Keywords: understanding of gender, equality, feminist theology, feminist ecclesiology, worship and equality, worship and language.

Thesis (doctoral)--Innsbruck, Universität, 2000. / Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral - Innsbruck) under the title: Zur ethischen Relevanz der Körperlichkeit in der feministischen Theologie und Philosophie. Includes bibliographical references (p. 248-263).

The main premise of this study is that while gender justice is enshrined in the Constitution of South Africa and in the declared statements of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA), in practice gender justice receives minimal attention in this church. The existing ‘gender policy’ of the MCSA, which is a mere recommendation, endorses an equitable representation of women, youth and men at every level of Church governance. Since this ‘policy’ is couched in the language of ‘recommendation’, this study argues that a gap continues to exist between policy and practice in the MCSA. Using Letty Russell’s (1993) ‘Table Fellowship’ analogy in her book Church in the Round – Feminist Interpretation of the Church, and Musimbi Kanyoro’s subsequent (1997) In Search of a Round Table: Gender Theology and Church Leadership, the discussions in this thesis focus on ‘the Table’ of the Church. The research question this study seeks to address is: Why does the MCSA continue to marginalise and exclude women, even though its mission is to be a church of healing and transformation and its gender policy is meant to prevent such marginalisation and exclusion? Hence, the objectives of this study are firstly, to demonstrate the ways in which the MCSA continues to be patriarchal in its ecclesiological practices and secondly, to analyse the reasons why the MCSA remains steeped in patriarchy. In order to respond to the research question this study utilises a feminist ecclesiological theoretical framework, which examines and analyses the MCSA’s source documents, its liturgies and its hymns. The theoretical framework is also used to consider the stories of five Methodist women from a narrative perspective. The Wesleyan Quadrilateral – Sacred Scripture, Church Tradition, Human Reason and Personal Experience – was engaged in this research, when deemed relevant. Transformative models of being church, that will enhance and enable the healing and transformation that the MCSA has declared to be its mission, are proposed in the conclusion, thus fulfilling the third objective of this study. It is here where the hope for gender-healing in the MCSA is expressed, along with a dream that this study will be ‘one more voice’ that is heard. Key Terms: African Feminist Theology; African Feminist Ecclesiology; Gender Justice; Gender Policy; Women in Ministry; Church Women’s Organisations Community; Healing and Transformation; Women’s Narratives; Feminist Leadership Principles; Ecclesiological Practices; Alternative Models of Being Church; Circle Leadership Styles; The Methodist Church of Southern Africa. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.