This dissertation examines the cultural, intellectual and artistic contributions religious women made in the production of secular and religious books in fifteenth and sixteenth-century Italy. It presents the first comparative study of nuns' book production across Italy and introduces new manuscripts to the canon of nuns' bookwork. Though the scholarship of the last fifty years has increased our understanding of the institutional and individual lives of nuns, little research has been done on their production and exchange of texts. Nun-scribes and manuscript painters produced liturgical, devotional and administrative books for use in-house, as well as for secular and religious communities and individuals outside the walls of the convents. Evidence of their bookwork repositions them as active participants in a rich spiritual, intellectual and artistic life and broadens their sphere of activity and influence to include a wide community of secular and religious patrons, artistic collaborators, scholars, family members, and book-buying clientele. Through a close examination of the material evidence in their manuscripts, this study illustrates how nuns used the production and exchange of texts to further their individual and institutional goals. This dissertation makes an important contribution to the current understanding nuns' spiritual, artistic and intellectual life and practice and significantly reshapes the current understanding of women's education and learning in Renaissance and early modern Italy (1400-1650).

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.

Walker's latest three novels address in some way walker's notions of spirituality and her idea that many people suffer from a type of spiritual sickness which prevents them from realizing the fullest extent of their spirituality. The well as with themselves. Possessing the Secret of Joy doesnot discuss Walker's thoughts on spirituality as much as her earlier works. Instead, the book focuses on Tashi, the main character, who suffers a form of physical mutilation which leads to her spiritual suffering.By looking at Walker's novels and by reading other works, both fictional and nonfictional, including the influential work The Great Cosmic Mother by Monica Sjoo and Barbara Mor, I have developed a theory of Walker's spirituality. Using this idea about spirituality, I then examined Walker's novels for evidence of forms of spiritual sickness in her characters and studied the ways in which the characters overcame their respective spiritual difficulties. / Department of English

This mini-thesis is a small-scale exploratory case study into the experiences of eight mature women members of a particular parish in the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (CPSA) situated in the Diocese of Cape Town. Using qualitative feminist research methodologies, this study sets out to explore how this group of non-ordained women perceives their roles in the church structure. The study examines what initially attracted the participants to this parish and what motivates them, despite the challenges, to continue performing their voluntary licensed and unlicensed roles in the church. It then goes on to consider the contradictory ways in which their roles as individuals, gendered as women, serve to simultaneously reinforce and challenge the patriarchy of the church. In this respect the participants often held conflicting views within themselves, thus demonstrating the complexities surrounding such issues. Upon reflection the researcher acknowledges that, similar to the participants, she also holds contradictory views on some of these issues. The research therefore identifies and explores three main themes in this regard, firstly the reasons why women originally joined the parish church, secondly the ways in which these women are active in the church and lastly the ways in which women&rsquo / s activities simultaneously challenge and reinforce the patriarchy and continued male domination of church.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Tulane University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 359-378), abstract, and vita.

Since the Vatican’s widely-publicized criticism of American Catholic nuns in 2012, religious sisters have risen into the public consciousness. For decades, thousands of religious sisters in the United States have served within a rigid patriarchal Church that does not always recognize their contributions, yet relies on them to carry out its ministries. Through an emphasis on their missions of service to the poor and work for social justice, religious sisters emerged from this contentious situation with Rome as intelligent and dedicated women who lead dynamic lives that often go unnoticed. Through a case study of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia, I analyze individual sisters’ lived experiences. In this research, I seek to understand the congregation’s institutional culture to uncover how religious sisters develop strategies to live out their mission of service to the poor and marginalized, and how they continue to advocate for social and structural change in the Catholic Church and in secular society. Specifically, I conducted interviews with 23 Sisters of St. Joseph and analyzed archived writings, letters, and congregational documents dating back to the late 1960s. I submit that over the past 50 years since the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II), the Sisters of St. Joseph actively embraced gender consciousness and social justice as a means of empowerment toward social change, despite the institutional pressures within the Church and society that discourage this. I argue that the progressive spirit and commitment to social justice indicative of a feminist orientation created a dissonance between religious sisters and Church leadership, while simultaneously increasing their integration into secular society. Ultimately, I contend that their congregational mission of unity and reconciliation, their status as sisters in a religious community, and privilege as educated women allows the Sisters of St. Joseph to be courageous risk-takers in advancing social and structural change in both the Catholic Church and the world. In addition to the 23 semi-structured interviews, I used qualitative content analysis to explore the congregation’s primary archival documents, especially those published from the periodic general chapters just after Vatican II through the most recent chapter in summer 2014. These chapter meetings are called roughly every five years, during which time the Sisters of St. Joseph elect congregational leadership and articulate the community’s organizational vision and direction. At each chapter’s conclusion, the congregation publishes a document(s) that informs its mission and work for the next several years. In addition to these public documents, I was granted access to the Sisters of St. Joseph congregational archives, where I analyzed notes, letters, minutes, voting records, proposals and enactments, and personal recollections of the general chapter meetings. In total, I analyzed nearly 300 documents from the Sisters of St. Joseph congregational archives. In my textual analysis, I used subjective interpretation of language in the text with particular attention placed on its content and contextual meaning in order to identify themes or patterns. Once I identified the major themes, I grouped them into three theoretical areas, which became the empirical chapters 4, 5, and 6 of this study. Chapter 4 argues that the sisters’ move toward active social justice work and advocacy after Vatican II is evidence of lived religion for this congregation. Chapter 5 analyzes how the Sisters of St. Joseph navigate issues of gender and sexuality in the Church, in their congregation, and in society. Chapter 6 looks at how the congregation contends with race and ethnicity within their own community, but also in the lives of the people they serve in their various ministries. Finally, in chapter 7, I conclude by examining how the congregation moved toward a more democratic, corporate structure focused on long-term viability in the decades after the Second Vatican Council. Ultimately, I argue that as the congregation evolved after Vatican II, they broke through what I call a “glass cloister.” Through the renewal process, the Sisters of St. Joseph emerged from decades of restriction as sisters reborn, reclaiming their original congregational focus and eager to live out their lives in service to others. As convent rules loosened and the sisters claimed their voices within the Catholic Church structure and in secular society, the congregation defined itself as a dynamic community of women dedicated to social justice and advocacy for the poor and marginalized. / Sociology

Thesis (DTh (Practical Theology and Missiology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / In the Nigerian church and society negative gender stereotyping is pronounced in every aspect of human activities. The basic premise of this study therefore is that the Nigerian church and society need to deal with these negative gender stereotypes which breed gender insensitivity and injustice. Those cultural, political and economic structures, those proverbs and myths that have hitherto hindered women from attaining their full potential have to give way to a new mind-set and a change in attitude in both men and women in order to bring the much needed transformation and gender partnership in Nigeria. The study in surveying the landscape highlights some important issues that women have to struggle with. Among other things, the low female literacy rate is one of the greatest hindrances women have today. This is due to the institutionalised structures and culturally created lenses that make some people still perceive men as more superior than women and therefore regard the education of women as a waste of resources. Although men are always perceived to be the better and more superior specie, this study does not advocate for gender bending. What is important is people being who God has made them to be and working with others as partners for a better human society. Women’s involvement in development is based on the theological premise that true development must have a holistic approach which more than building infrastructures, deals with the development of humans. A holistic approach to development implies a transformational development that is different from the status quo which is overshadowed by men’s voices and experiences. Women’s voices, experiences and potentials have to play a major role in this approach. The need to listen to women was further stressed by Powers (2003: viii) when he said: Unless we listen, any action we may take in this area, no matter how well intentioned, is likely to bypass the real concerns of women and to confirm female condescension and reinforce male dominance. Listening, in a spirit of partnership and equality, is the most practical response we can make and is the foundation for our mutual partnership to reform unjust structures.

In 1 Corinthians 11:3-15, Paul writes that if a woman is to be so immodest as to wear her hair uncovered while praying or prophesying in a Christian assembly she might as well shave her head. Paul instructs the Corinthians that it is “one and the same” for a woman to have her head shaved and for her to unveil her hair. There is a large body of works cataloging the modesty standards in Hellenistic Greece but Paul’s reference to head-shaving remains obscure. This thesis looks to find the best explanation of Paul’s instructions. Research in this topic began as an investigation of a popular modern view. It can be found in conversation or a simple Google search, that women in Ancient Greece with their head shaved were prostitutes. Beyond being prostitutes, they were probably temple prostitutes. The evidence does not bear this out as there is no artwork depicting prostitutes, or indeed any women, with their heads shaved. Instead prostitutes are shown in Greek erotic art with both long and short hair, some with and some without head coverings. Literary sources do offer several different examples of women who had their hair cut off. There are examples of women shaving their hair off in Lucian’s The Syrian Goddess, Tacitus’ Germania, Plutarch’s Lycurgus and Roman Questions, several Talmudic sources, and On Fortune II, formerly attributed to Dio Chrysostom. By examining these sources in tandem with 1 Corinthians 11, the most probable impetus behind Paul’s writing relates to punishments for adultery.

The concept which Martin Luther had of the nature of woman did a great deal to intensify the idea of woman's inferiority in the modern world. Framed by an investigation of the traditional and unique aspects of that concept and speculation about its effect on succeeding generations, a delineation of Luther's view will reveal his contribution to the concept of female inferiority and evil. As a formulator of religious and ethical concepts for modern man, Luther insured the continuance of this idea in the modern world. While it has adapted to changes in society's forms, the whole fabric of Luther's view of the female remains. Though some of his ideas remain as remnants reduced to truisms, the impact which they still have on human relationships and societal structure cannot be taken lightly.

Amituofo recitation is the chanting of the phrase "namo Amituofo , which is a rite commonly used among Buddhists for the attainment of merit. However, the attained merits would be nullified if the initiate gets pregnant after she has done Jiezhu. This has much to do with taboos related to female sexuality. Women always have a marginalized status as the supposedly "weaker" gender having a lower social position. The association of female bodily discharges with defilement further discredits their status. Jiezhu in effect reinforces the idea of "defilement" attributed to the female body. The shame that the women feel with the male-defined negative female bodily image affirms the patriarchal hegemony. / Based on historical, textual and field studies, this thesis examines a women-oriented initiation rite called Jiezhu. Jiezhu, a once-in-a-lifetime rite of passage, is performed by menopausal women in Ninghua, Western Fujian, China. / However, ritualistic acts provide therapeutic healing. The Jiezhu woman has to go through a stage in which she has to handle the change of her role and identity as a life-giver (mothering) with the end of her procreative cycle. The ritual provides both private and public meanings to the woman and helps her relieve the physical and mental difficulties that she faces in her menopausal stage. / It is believed in the villages of Ninghua that when a woman reaches her menopausal age, she has to do Jiezhu, without which, her Amituofo recitation (nianfo) would not be efficacious. In other words, Jiezhu, as a pre-requisite for Amituofo recitation, is at the same time a purification rite. / Jiezhu appropriates the woman into a new phase of being by first providing private meanings to her. Ritualistic acts can bridge memory and imagination. The ritual program allows the woman to go back and forth the past, the present and the future. Jiezhu dramatically juxtaposes girlhood and mature womanhood, reenacts her wedding and rehearses her future funeral. Death and rebirth symbols abound. In Jiezhu, the woman "witnesses" her own funerary rites to ensure abundant personal possessions are burned for her to receive in the underworld after her death. The woman acquires spiritual strength to ease off from her menopausal stress and to allay the fears of the approach of death. Jiezhu and Amituofo recitation make up a twin tool they use to ensure a more fortunate rebirth. / Second, Jiezhu gives social meanings. The woman is given a new identity. She is now eligible for Amituofo recitation and becomes a member of the nianfo community. As social inferiority can be compensated for by a show of lavishness, Jiezhu as an expensive event creates symbolic capital. Jiezhu has become a symbol of prestige and resources that in part enhances the status of the women. / The women are also able to express their power within the limits of their traditional politics. The woman's contributions as a wife and a mother are valued and celebrated in the Jiezhu ceremony. The youthful, bright and colourful gift items given by the married daughter display a defiant tone against the association of Jiezhu with old age. Jiezhu celebrates an oft-neglected life crisis of women. / To conclude, Jiezhu on the one hand "traditionalizes", and on the other hand, as a strategic mode of action, challenges traditions through religious and social empowerment. Jiezhu preserves the established order but it also facilitates transformation in the initiate. The two dynamics of ritual are not antithetical; they produce and contend with each other. / Cheung, Tak Ching Neky. / "September 2007." / Adviser: Chi Tim Lai. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-08, Section: A, page: 3178. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 390-406). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.