Freedom is a central concept in contemporary theology. However, what freedom means is blurred and unclear. To try to understand more precisely, the thought of a theologian who stands at the mid-point of the debate has been studied. Rosemary Ruether is a modern feminist theologian who has considered Christian origins and the human quest of liberation in detail as well as in considerable breadth, touching upon a wide variety of concerns that contribute to her concept of freedom. In Ruether's work certain key themes emerge. She stresses the ideas of creation (as a continuum that includes redemption and new creation), gnostic and apocalyptic dualism, ecclesiology, eschatology, and christology. From these preoccupations arises Ruether's understanding of freedom as wholeness, mutuality, struggle towards the future, and participation in the people of the promise. For Ruether, freedom means salvation in the biblical and Hebraic sense. Although the theology of the women's movement covers a broad spectrum, Ruether's concept of freedom is consistent with that of most other feminist theologians. The feminist concept of freedom, as expressed by Ruether, has much in common with the socio-political liberation theology of Gustavo Gutierrez. Like Latin American theology, Ruether's theology is biased towards the oppressed; it is based on a corporate understanding of faith, and it proposes a new way of doing theology which arises out of the context. But Ruether does not regard Marxist analysis as sufficient, and sees the limitations of apocalyptic tendencies in liberation theology. In ways, Ruether's theology is less dependent on traditional approaches than that of Gutierrez. The self-actualisation psychology of Abraham Maslow also has a number of resemblances to Ruether's feminist idea of freedom: both emphasize wholeness, humanism, mutuality, transcendence, utopian hope, and struggle. But Ruether's theology of freedom is not merely an adaptation of Maslovian psychology, since they differ on their commitment to the poor, on theism and organised religion, and on Maslow's emphasis on the individual. The concept of freedom held by Rosemary Ruether (and by many other feminist theologians) has much in common both with the liberation theology of the poor world and with the approach to freedom through personal fulfilment that is characteristic of affluent culture. Ruether is correct in saying that woman's growing awareness stands at the intersection between the freedom movements of the first and third worlds. But Ruether's freedom is not merely a combination of the two, but a unique contribution to modern theology. Despite some limitations, Ruether has contributed significantly to the theological quest for the meaning of freedom and can be expected to continue to do so.

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The purpose of this essay has been to make a feminist study of the Church of Sweden lectionary 2002. I have been interested in two specific subject areas. The first is whether the biblical text have helped to highlight women´s experience, and if that is the case, in which way? The second area has been to investigate whether the texts have an oppressive or liberating tendency. In my study I have used Rosemary Radford Ruethers definition of experience which includes experience of the divine, experience of oneself and experience of the world, although they can be understood separately, they interact with each other. As for the second subject area I have used Elisabeth Shüssler Fiorenzas definitions of oppression and liberation. Oppression is defined based on the underlying or direct meaning that hinders or denies liberation. Liberation implies resistance and change by examining contradictions between the religious-cultural politics of “femininity” and the radical democratic politics of meaning and dignity. My study takes its approach from feminist theology and to it I connect two fields of method. One is feminist theological practices and the other is qualitative textual analysis. The analysis has been made from two biblical texts, one of the New Testament and one of the Old Testament. Both texts describe the biblical woman’s experiences in multiple ways which includes Radford Ruethers definition of experience. The text of the New Testament included a larger part of experience of oneself while the text from the Old Testament included as lager part of experience of “the world”. Both texts are liberating for women since they both meet Shüssler Fiorenzas definition of liberation. But the story of Rahab also has an oppressive tendency. Both women in each story contribute to their own liberation and in the story of Rahab also her family´s liberation. Another likeness in the texts is that both women have an experience of fear.