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 (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisors : Dr. Karen L. Laughlin and Dr. Mark Garrett Cooper, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of English. Title and description from dissertation home page (June 14, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 193 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (DD(Dogmat.))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 201-249).

Habilitationsschrift--Marburg. / Bibliography: p. 550-566.

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Cheung Ching Lap Dickson. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-78). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / English Abstract --- p.i / Chinese Abstract --- p.iii / Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter One --- Alienation' and The Grotesque --- p.9 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Impressionism' and 'Alienation' --- p.26 / Chapter Chapter Three --- "Conrad, Nietzsche, and Nihilism" --- p.52 / Conclusion --- p.73 / Bibliography --- p.77

Two texts by Nishitani, written ten years apart, reflect a very different position on the nietzschean question of the overcoming of nihilism. Although a student of Heidegger's at Freiburg between 1936 and 1939, Nishitani shows no evidence of a heideggerian influence in The Self-Overcoming of Nihilism. In this period (1949), he considers, contrary to Heidegger, that the affirmative aspects of nietzschean philosophy constitute a radical overcoming of nihilism. It is only in What is Religion? (1961) which appears in 1982 as Religion and Nothingness (English translation) that his view changes, reflecting more closely a heideggerian position. Nietzsche's concept of the Will to Power is evidence for Nishitani that Nietzsche enmeshed still in a philosophy of "Being", remains within traditional Western metaphysics. Because in Nishitani's view, Western metaphysics is nihilist, he finally concludes that Nietzsche did not overcome nihilism. / This development in Nishitani's thought is considered, in a concluding perspective of the present text, as evidence of the markedly more profound influence of Heidegger on the later, more mature work of Nishitani.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Basel, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [315]-340) and indexes.

Habilitationsschrift--Frankfurt am Main. / Bibliography: p. [293]-294.