This thesis seeks to examine and critique the transcendental feminist methodology and Trinitarian theology of Elizabeth A. Johnson. We will focus on four central, recurring themes that emerge out of her corpus, paying particular attention to how she assimilates these in She Who Is. They are: Johnson's feminist methodology and epistemology, her transcendental anthropology and epistemology, her panentheistic, relational ontology and her feminist 'Trinitarian' God-talk. The thesis will consist of four chapters, which will focus on these four main themes, and a conclusion. Chapter one will look specifically at the Johnson's modern, Catholic reformist feminist methodology and epistemology, which prioritise both the category of experience and the ontological principle of relation. The chapter will conclude with a brief summary of a few feminists who have defined their theological positions in direct opposition to Barth's view of Trinitarian revelation and language, and compare them to Johnson. Chapter Two will deal specifically with Johnson's embrace of Karl Rahner's transcendental metaphysics and her attempt to integrate this anthropology and ontological epistemology with feminist anthropology and epistemology. We will also highlight the various 'dilemmas of difference' Johnson faces in her use of conflicting appeals to experience. Chapter Three will analyse and critique her panentheistic, relational ontology with specific attention paid to her re-schematization of traditional Trinitarian theology and Christology. Barth's theology is used in part to critique Johnson's assertions at this point. In Chapter Four, we analyse Johnson's 'analogical' and 'symbolic' approach to God-talk to determine whether it is safeguarded from univocity, as she intends. We also raise-the question of whether she is kept from the potential equivocity that threatens her agnostic approach. In conclusion, we will summarise our response to the naturally emerging questions of the thesis, assess Johnson's approach overall and raise whatever questions we believe still remain.

This thesis was later published by University Press of America in 1994. Please contact the ICS library if you would like to view this work.

The Naga women in North East India suffer in silence because of the unjust practices of child-birthing in their patriarchal culture, which privileges the birth of sons over daughters. Naga theology narrates suffering largely through Jesus' redemptive suffering on the cross, and Naga Christian women embrace this narrative, seeing in Jesus' suffering both a vision of Jesus as a friend who understands their pain and as a call to share in his suffering. Contemporary theologians have approached the symbol of the Christian cross in order to interpret it anew in light of marginalized communities. This dissertation examines Christology through the lens of the experiences of Naga women. It takes the issue of child-birthing practices within Naga culture as a starting point for re-reading the Christian cross by drawing on the theological writings of Jürgen Moltmann, Serene Jones, Rita Nakashima Brock, and Wonhee Anne Joh. This work turns to the theme of 'natality' in the work of feminist theologian and philosopher of religion, Grace Jantzen. Rooting Naga Christology in the concept of natality, it focuses on three dimensions of the life-bearing work of Jesus: embrace, respect, and nourishment. The central thesis is that a theology focused on natality provides not only a way to affirm the birth of girls in the Naga context, but it also provides a way to re-narrate the story of the cross in Naga Christian theology. In chapters one and two, this dissertation outlines the problem of child-birthing via the term `mascu-surrogacy.' The birthing mother becomes the surrogate for the male who seeks his progeny through dominating the female body. These chapters highlight the poetry and stories of Naga women, ancient and modern, to express the situation of Naga women; they also identify the centrality of the story of Jesus for Naga Christians. Chapters three and four turn to the contemporary theologies of the cross with the question of child-birthing in mind. Chapter five examines Grace Jantzen's philosophy of natality. The final chapter develops three aspects of a life-affirming Christology, based in the work of Mary Elizabeth Moore and concludes by reimagining the practice of the Eucharist for Naga women.

This thesis explores chosen practices of silence in contemporary Christian women’s lives, insubstantially addressed within the literature of feminist and practical theologians. A survey of their discourse, which predominantly addresses the imposed silencing of women and the attendant quest for authentic voice to name their experiences, is supplemented by interdisciplinary exploration of silence within wider theologies, Quaker Studies, linguistics, and the talking and arts therapies. Employing feminist research methodologies, this qualitative study utilises descriptively rich material from semi-structured interviews to consider the function of silence within research interviews, to identify and map women’s engagement within a spectrum of practices of silence, to explore their role in the women’s spiritual journeys, and to highlight difficulties reported in sustaining this discipline. Data analysis shows that although frequently associated with solitude, practices of silence are valued as transformational in the women’s relationships with God, self, and others. A metaphor of a web is proposed to represent the process of relational change, and silence’s potential in developing relationally responsible communities is advocated. Explanations for feminist theologians’ neglect of chosen silence are derived from the analysis, and this discipline is invited to re-engage with silence as a resource for discovering authentic identity beyond egoic selfhood.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in English." Includes bibliographical references (p. 176-184).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity International University, 2000. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 144-146).

Thesis (M. Div.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tennessee, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-51).

In current discussion among feminists in general and feminist theologians in particular the status of theory, especially concerning essentialism and foundationalism, is a critical question. This study examines the issues pertaining to this question through reference to Nancy Fraser and Linda Nicholson, Susan Thistlethwaite, Sheila Davaney, Rebecca Chopp, and Morny Joy. / In order to situate this critical question and its implications for feminist theology, the work of the Italian philosopher Gianni Vattimo (1936-$ ...)$ is explored. Vattimo's work is analyzed in relation to three central aspects of his thought: Vattimo's genuine interpretation of the relation of Martin Heidegger to Friedrich Nietzsche, Vattimo's own approach to nihilism, Vattimo's interpretation of Heidegger's notion of ontological difference compared to Jacques Derrida's differance. / Questions of gender and of sexual difference are rarely addressed by Vattimo. Vattimo's silence on these questions is queried with the help of the work of Carol Bigwood, a Heideggerean ecofeminist, and through the writings of Derrida on sexual diffcrence. It is argued that Vattimo implicitly understands sexual difference in terms of emancipation emerging today in communication technology and the mass media. The link between sexual difference and technology is related to the work of Donna Haraway to indicate some features of today's feminism with regard to technology. / Vattimo's philosophical perspective is related to questions of feminist theology through Heidegger's notion of Verwindung understood by Vattimo as closely related to secularization and the biblical notion of kenosis. This study concludes with an analysis and a critique of the work of Rebecca Chopp, Sallie McFague, and Rosemary Radford Ruether, and it emphasizes the secularizing, kenotic dimension of their thought as the most promising approach to central issues of today's feminism.

Thesis (Ph.D) -- McMaster University, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 273-286). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 186-200).