This thesis focuses upon the writings of the contemporary North American feminist theologian Mary Daly. It takes the form of a critical study of Daly's thought in terms of five tributary influences. It represents a contribution to two areas of research: the history of feminist ideas, and the ongoing methodological debate within feminism as to the possible relationship between feminist theory and 'conventional' theory. In chapter one Daly's political thought is introduced through a discussion of the influence of the tradition of radical feminism. The principle aim of this chapter is to clarify, as far as possible, the dual process of influence that exists between her thinking and the work of certain radical feminist theorists. In chapter two the influence of Beauvoirian existentialism upon Daly's thought is examined in the wake of the claim that in drawing from Simone de Beauvoir's feminist existentialist analysis of women's situation, in The Second Sex, Daly assimilates Sartrean existentialist assumptions which are problematic from a feminist perspective. In chapter three turn to address Daly's philosophical- theological debt to Thomas Aquinas and the Thomist tradition. I trace the history of Daly's dealings with Thomism, including her criticism, and briefly evaluate her continued feminist engagement with its ontology. In chapter four Daly's utilisation of Peter L. Berger's sociological theory is explored. I discuss Daly's feminist criticism of Berger's theory of 'worldbuilding' and proceed to evaluate her subsequent attempts to use Berger's work as the starting-point for a new feminist sociology of knowledge. In the fifth and final chapter the abiding influence of Christianity to Daly's 'revolutionary' theological agenda is highlighted and explored with reference to the contemporary division of theological labour between so-called 'reformists' and 'revolutionaries'. The thesis ends with a few concluding remarks about Daly's methodology with regard to 'conventional' theory.

This dissertation analyzes the person and work of Christ in feminist theology, with particular attention to feminist critiques of traditional Christology. Chapter 1 is a brief introduction of the dissertation's thesis and the methodological commitments from which the dissertation proceeds. Chapter 2 provides an investigation and analysis of feminist theological method. Special attention is given to the influential work of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Rosemary Radford Ruether. The sources and norms of feminist theology are considered also. Chapter 2 concludes with a discussion of the importance of feminist theological methodology for feminist Christology. Chapter 3 analyzes the person of Christ in feminist theology. Particular consideration is given to feminist arguments against the maleness of Jesus, as well as their alternative proposals to make Christology more inclusive of women. The chapter also offers a sustained evangelical response to the feminist ideas regarding Christ's person. Chapter 4 examines the work of Christ in feminist theology. The feminist contention that the cross is "divine child abuse" is addressed. Feminist assessment of classical atonement theories and alternative perspectives for understanding atonement are discussed. The chapter also challenges and answers the feminist allegation that traditional atonement theology grounds the perpetuation of violence and abuse. Chapter 5 assesses the influence of feminist criticisms within evangelicalism, especially among egalitarians. The chapter demonstrates egalitarian doctrinal revisions on the basis of an acceptance of feminist criticisms in the theological loci of theology proper, bibliology, and ecclesiology. Finally, emerging Christological revisions are considered, specifically related to the egalitarian resistance to the maleness of Jesus and also to a penal substitutionary understanding of atonement. Chapter 5 concludes that feminist criticisms are unacceptable for evangelical Christological formulation. Chapter 6 concludes the dissertation with a brief summary of feminist Christology and evangelical responses, and offers recommendations for further study in this and related areas. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

From 1924-1959, the United Lutheran Church of America operated a girls" boarding school in Southwest Virginia. When Konnarock Training School opened, there were few educational opportunities in the isolated mountains, especially for girls. Students from five states came to Konnarock, with some receiving eleven years of education there. Konnarock Training School recruited faculty from throughout the United States and at least one teacher from Europe. These individuals lived in the Virginia mountains, taught academic classes, and engaged in extensive community outreach. A unique level of cooperation existed among church, public schools systems, and government agencies during the school's existence. The mission of Konnarock Training School was to help women reach their potential and to become leaders in their families, their church, and their communities. Students were taught, by example and by word, that they had a place in the church, that women did not have to accept prevailing social and economic circumstances, and that they could make decisions about their own lives. The day-to-day examples given to the students became a scaffold for social change; KTS encouraged the women to become authors of their own lives. This research is essentially a case study using a feminist oral history methodology. A total of twenty-three interviews with eight women alumnae and faculty of KTS provides the basis for the study. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using the constant comparative method. In addition, extensive archival material provided data for analysis. The central argument presented is that KTS was a community embodying both Christian and feminist ideals, one that looked toward the vision of a just, equitable world but that persisted in the real and imperfect world. Overlapping themes leading to a view of the school as an example of feminist theology in practice are Family and Friends, Community, Identity, A Tradition of Leadership, and An Eschatological Focus. The role that memory plays in the telling of one's oral history is also considered. / Ed. D.

This thesis concerns African women’s experience of comprehensive vulnerability, and a proposal to develop an African Women’s’ Public Theology to enable the church in Africa to adequately respond to that vulnerability. The research involved a case study of 126 women in the Kenyan district of Meru South undertaken through interviews, focus groups and participant observation, and revealed that women experience vulnerability in eight key areas, namely, Domestic violence, Inheritance, HIV and AIDS, Education, Health, Female Genital Mutilation, Polygamy and a lack of control and access to property. The thesis argues that this constitutes a comprehensive experience of vulnerability that has five fundamental causes, namely, Patriarchal traditions and customs; Poverty; Policies and law; Religion and the church; and Internalisation. The thesis then examines an appropriate response from Christians and the Church to this experience of comprehensive vulnerability. It notes that many of these concerns are voiced by African Women’s’ Theology, but that in order to adequately deal with the experiences and causes of women’s vulnerability identified in the research there is a need to engage the field of public policy, constitution and law making to really make a difference. An engagement with the male theologians, Duncan Forrester, Jesse Mugambi and Charles Villa-Vicencio provides the impetus to develop a public theology, whilst at the same time the thesis offers a gender sensitive critique of these attempts. Any public theology needs a social theory in order to engage the public sphere, and this thesis examines the work of the feminist philosopher and jurist, Martha Nussbaum in promoting the Human Capabilities Approach. We examine her formal proposal of ten fundamental human capabilities that should be supported by states and governments. Her work is affirmed for three important reasons, namely, it deals with the reality of women on the ground as revealed through the field research, it provides a public way of dealing with this vulnerability that is not based on one faith tradition, and yet thirdly, it is congruent with a Biblical faith that promotes Human Dignity, Freedom and Justice. In drawing the research to a close the thesis proposes an African Women’s Public Theology with the following seven characteristics. African Women’s Public Theology (i) is a member of the family of African Women’s Theologies, (ii) is grounded in the reality of the lives of African women, characterized by comprehensive vulnerability; (iii) claims the right for women to do theology in the public arena; (iv) works self-consciously in an inter- disciplinary manner; (v) challenges the church to be more active in seeking social justice, with an emphasis on gender justice; (vi) focuses on women’s capabilities – what they are actually able to be and to do; and (vii) challenges the hitherto male-dominated public theologies to take seriously the concerns, wisdom and passion of women seeking gender justice in Africa. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

The concept of human dignity is a contested term but it is also vital in the world where there are many forms of violations that challenge human beings. The concept of human dignity is crucial in that it affects all spheres of life such as religion, employment, economics, politics and so on. The world of work is another area where several forms of oppression and exploitation are manifested and in the process the human dignity of workers is greatly compromised. As the world of work is a vast subject to be discussed in one dissertation, a specific area needs to be explored in order to understand violations of human dignity. In this regard, experiences of women in paid domestic work in Malawi provide an opportunity of understanding the violations of human dignity and ways in which theology can assist in promoting the concept of human dignity. The aim of this research project is to establish how the concept of human dignity can be promoted in women domestic work in Malawi. This dissertation is developed through the works of African women theology which is grouped within the family of liberation theologies. This research study uses theological underpinnings of African women theologians who belong to the Circle of Concerned Women African Theologians (hereinafter, the Circle). The prominent members of the Circle such as Musimbi Kanyoro, Mercy Oduyoye, Denise Ackerman, Isabel Phiri and Fulata Moyo just to mention a few, present theological insights that encompass a theoretical focus of human dignity. This concept of human dignity is needed both in the church and society. The study is based on the broad framework of African women theology with a special focus on the following concepts: feminist cultural hermeneutics, gender analysis, narrative theological discourses, partnership and prophetic witness. It is also appreciated that African women theologians do not isolate themselves from global feminism; as a result, works of Rebecca Chopp will also be used in this dissertation. In many cases forms of oppression that are manifested in women domestic service such as sexual violence and humiliation, economic exploitation and powerlessness are a result of violations of human dignity. Such violations have adverse effects on the life and general health of women who work in domestic service in Malawi. It is then suggested that a clear understanding and application of the concept of human dignity in African women theology serves as a tool for social transformation in women domestic service, that is, making workplaces for women domestic work to be favourable for women in Malawi and beyond in the 21st century. / Thesis (M.A.)--University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

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.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics)) -- University of the North, 2000 / Refer to document

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.