11 - Feminist Theology

Summary

In her landmark book, Beyond God the Father (1973), feminist theologian Mary Daly wrote that “as the women’s movement begins to have its effect upon the fabric of society, transforming it from patriarchy into something that never existed before … it can become the greatest single challenge to the major religions of the world, Western and Eastern.”¹ Some fifty years later, it remains to be seen whether “the women’s movement” might reach this potential. Christian feminist theology has at least begun, however, to challenge lines of thought and practice that have been dominant throughout Christian history and to construct new ways of thinking and living by attending to the experiences of women, along with scripture and tradition.