religion
I) “Women” by Sarah W. Wheadon Ch.5
For this assignment you will need to write in-depth minimum 200 word reaction to the reading, this is a summary of what you read. It will need to be written double space and include your name, date, and chapter number (this is not included in the 200 word minimum). It will also need to include 3 provocative questions triggered by your reading at the end of the summary. Each section is worth 10 points, so make sure to include all three sections.
II) “Women” by Sarah W. Wheadon Ch.5
1. Discuss and write down what religious role and or limitations do women play in Catholicism, Adventism, and the Muslim religion.
2. Discover and describe some ways that 3 world religions celebrate girls moving into womanhood.
3. Discuss and describe the various rituals for marriage in two of the world religions.
III) What do you think about how the Christian religion teaches teens and youth, for the most part, to abstain from having sex until they are married? Is it effective? Why or why not? Your answers must have a minimum of 50 substantive words?
gritbe 5
WOMEN
Sarah W. Whedon dia c
Mod
0.
are
of
1896. believer. In the Mormon Church, only men can
enter the priesthood, which empowers them
to
perform most of the rituals of the Mormon faith.
However, one of the rituals that became com-
INTRODUCTION
Tt was the mid-1830s and Sarah
Studevant
ILeavite’s daughter Louisa was very ill. Sarah
and her family were Mormons, members of t
he
new religion that had been founded a few years
before, in 1830, by Joseph Smith, in New York
State. When Sarah prayed to God on behalf of
the sick Louisa, an angel appeared to her and birth.
instructed her to lay her hands on her daugh-
ter in the name of Jesus Christ. Sarah complied,
the blessing worked, and Louisa was soon well
again. Sarah’s experience may be the earliest
recorded incident of Mormon women laying
hands on the sick for healing, a practice that
became common for women in the Latter-Day
Saints (LDS) Church, but that was nevertheless a
Subject of scrutiny and debate.
There was a scriptural foundation for th
is
ience
2006. mon for women was laying hands upon other
women for healing illnesses. Women would also
offer a blessing of washing and anointing for
community members who were about to give
Although women were giving healing bless-
ings from the earliest days of the church,
m
en
often questioned women’s authority to do so.
In 1913, the formal church hierarchy first oti-
cially doubted the legitimacy of
this practice. In
1946, a statement by a prominent male
church
leader effectively ended women’s healing prac-
tices, arguing that only
members of the priest-
hood, meaning men, should properly
pertorm
such rites. By this time in the
twentieth century,
healing practice. In the New Testament book of most responsibility
for healing sick Mormons
1Corinthians, the apostle Paul describes healing had already
been transferred away
trom the faith
and into the medical profession
anyway. Despi
te
the formal restriction,
some women
continued as one of the spiritual gifts available to Christian
believers. The Mormon prophet Joseph Smith
affirmed the righteousness of these gifts
and
did not limit their practice by the gender
o
f the
do so to this day”
to exercise this spiritual gift secretively,
and they
93
Part 1 Religion
and
Culture in the
Space of
Politics
of analysis properly, and what etailsthrough this study of emerge womens religious lives.
women
faced-relating
to
womens
bodies,
motherhood,
relationships
with other
women,
domestic spaces
of power,
and tension
with
formal religious
authority-recur
frequently in
women’s daily religious
experience. Although
the details of this story
are specific to
Mormon-
ism, its themes
are
common in women’s practice
of religion. Women perform
rituals of spiritual
healing within the
home in many other
reli-
gious
communities as well. Further,
womens Religior scholars Rita M. Gross a
experiences of struggling to
maintain integrity
and religious authority in the face of disap-
proving church institutions are
not unique top
Mormonism. Finding ways to practice sacred
rites despite official sanctions is one route for
women to claim their own religious power and recall the whole human experience in religion, it
self-determination. Women’s religious rituals are
often outside formal canon and may be consid-
ered optional, magical, or otherwise marginal.
Likewise, practices identified as folk tradition,
syncretism, or superstition are often the reli-
gious practices of women. There is also a meth-
odological lesson to be learned from this story.
An examination of religious histories, Mormon together as well as those that are performed o only
or otherwise, that looked only at documentation
of clergy would miss important parts of women’s
religious experiences and practices that happen
oulside the boundaries of religious orthodoxy.
As we unpack these themes, we will find
that many of the details that need to be consid-
Issucs such
as
these that
the
Mormon
WHY WOMEN?
Why should we pay particular attention teo
Why
en’s practices of religion in everyday life w
Wom-
separate out this gender? One answer is that. in doing so, we recover a large and historie
neglected area of human religious exDerio erience
Gross and Nancy Au
Falk observe that the study of religion was aught
to them as the study of homo religiosus, or “reli
gious man, and point out that this framewor
neglects the study of religious woman.” The
argue that “if we are making a genuine effort to
stands to reason that womens experiences must
still be a significant part of the picture.” We sin
gle out women in a project of recovery to mend
a gap in what scholars have studied and learned
about human religious life.
In seeking to mend this gap, we must con
sider rituals that women and men practice
by women. In gender-integrated rituals, women
may take specific roles or may have their
ow
experiences and interpretations of rengo
Alongside men’s religious practices, women use
often have their own religious observances
tha
ced seen intensely personal-matters of food nity or to outside male observers. In many
rell
may be all but invisible to men in their
ommu
orsex, 1or example. One of the contributions of second-wave feminist thought was the slo- gan “the personal is political,” meaning that that these kinds of intimale personal experiences are aclually linked tu larger sucial structures. We necd o hink abuut how wonmen’s private lives are played oul in relationship to public eligiousand political cuntexls. Let us now look more closely at the inportance of women’s daily reli gious practice, how tu delineate this category
cbrale
8lous cultures, women prepare tor anu
certain rituals with no paru
We consider these ditkerent
pation trom men
kinds ot relation
ships between women and ritual.
why
A Second answer to the question
we study women has to do with
Omen’s powe
subordinated class within particular
societies
an
although this experience is not
universal,
and.
and social status. Women have often
94
deal in
in recent years, it has changed a 8
Whedon, Women
many parts of the world. The study of women
in religion has been framed by notions of patri-
archy, meaning that men hold the power in a
society, and by the concurrent experience of
women’s oppression. World religions have his-
torically contributed greatly to the subordi-
nation of women as a class. Women are often
excluded from or marginalized by orthodox
religious practices that are controlled by men.
Being unable to access mens rituals can be dis-
empowering to women. Although women quite
frequently outnumber men in religious institu-
tions, men usually hold the power and authority.
By calling attention to women here, we find ways
to understand an imbalance in social and reli-
The relationship between women’s reli- gion and women’s oppression is not a constant. According to Gross and Falk, religion can har- monize with everyday life, help women bear its difficulties, or draw them out of or help them change it. We can find examples of women’s reli-gious practices functioning in all these ways. The history of womens religious lives par allels that of men’s, because women have been a part of every society. Men are certainly play- ers in these stories as well, but different details
emerge when we focus on women’s beliefs, sto- ries, rituals, and experiences of religion.
WHAT ARE WOMEN?gious power. This intormation can help women
who wish to redress power imbalances in their At first glance, it probably seems obvious what
we mean by the word women. Ordinarily, it does
religious communities.
BLESSING WAY
In recent years, women in the United States have created new rituals for preparing pregnant women to give birth and for honoring these women’s passages into mother hood. These rituals borrow the name “Blessing Way” from a name for Navajo rituals,provoking ethical concerns about cultural appropriation. They offer an alternative to the Secular baby shower, and women who choose a Blessing Way say that they want a more Spiritual event than the materialism of a baby shower. A Blessing Way of this kind typ- diuy involves a gathering of women, led by a friend of the expectant mother, or a ritualpecialist hired for the occasion. The ceremonies are adapted for the mother’s needs
sires, but certain components are typically included. Storytelling, symbolic burn “OTears related to the birth, and stringing together beads for a labor necklace all help re a woman for the birth process. Painting the woman’s body with henna, foot
4 Orering of prayers and blessings, and singing all honor the power and mysterytherhood and the particular mother’s proces. These Blessing Ways (sometimes called er Blessings,” to distinguish them from Navajo rituals) do not belong to
egious tradition, although they clearly demonstrate inspiration from contem dry Pagan and Goddess spirituality rituals. The rituals represent creative imagining or
woman-centered practices, addressing a need in women’s religiouS Ives.
95
not even occur to us to question
it, and it would female. Religions can actually serve to
create y
ing of wonman and
who belongs in that category For example, Hindu hijras are male-bc
th
peo
Part 1 Religion and
Culture in the Space of Politics
ways of identifyingwomen, or even third
gend
ers
likely drain our personal
resources if the mean-
ple who dress and live socially as
ous figure. Their primary worship is
name they make blessings of fertility and
of genderbending, there are also many religiovstories of women cross-dres
Changing
were in question on a daily basis. But
when we
take time to reflect on the term, we discover that women. They identity with the deity Siva, a
sexualy
ambigr-
determining who is a woman is not as simple as
it usually seems.
Women’s studies scholars have pointed out
at least two different ways of thinking about
what makes a woman: biological determinism
and social constructionism. On the one hand,
biological determinism tells us that women are
identifiable by their physiology. Reproductive
organs and secondary sex characteristics-such
as the presence or lack of facial hair or fatty
deposits on the body-help us determine who
is a woman. According to this approach, body
parts and hormones determine women’s beliefs,
needs, and behaviors, making biology destiny. On the other hand, social constructionism
directe,
however, at Bahuchara Mata, a goddessi
perity to infants and newlyweds. In anothe.notherkkind
gender, such as the Sufi saint Rabiah, whos bacy and religiosity caused her to be perceiv
altou
as a man. hese examples of religious gendering
are looking for who the womer are in any given
can remind us to remain open-minded when we
howe religious society.
The knowledge that women’s livesshaped by different cultural and religious con- texts should prompt us to use a wide lens to look for the diversity of women’s lives. Just as the term “religious man” was incorrectly assumed to include all religious people, when we think of “woman,” we often default to “white, middle
are
ally
WOICI
argues that the meaning of womanhood changesacross history and across cultures and that being ne c a woman is more about learned roles. In the United States, these roles are taught from the moment that the doctor announces “It’s a girl!”and puts a pink hat on an infant’s head. In this model, we can expect, when we examine differ-
MEN class, adult, American woman.” But woman-
hood is profoundly affected by one’s race, das.
age, nationality, and other such qualities. Ihe
ent religions, to find that the meaning and prac- meaning of womanhood is different tor a ou meaning
of womanhood is different for a young de
tice of womanhood varies greatly. A combination of these two models helps us most effectively understand what makes woman-
Atghan Muslim woman than it is for a Cr
Cano Catholic grandmother from Los Angeihood. Realistically, women’s lives, including secting categories as mutually co er
Thinking intersectionally-viewing these inter
one
another-we can see the unique characterist of particular women’s religious lives. We o look to
secting categories as mutually constitutng
their religious practices and experiences, are probably worked out in a creative mix of biologyand culture. For example, the physiological pos sibility of motherhood is clearly a shaping expe rience for women across cultures, but the ways in which childbirth is interpreted and ritualized differ widely, as do the ways in which mothering
is understood and enacted.
examples from many different combin
of
wo Such intersections in order to think abo en’s daily religious lives.
SACRED TIME: THE LIFE COURSE
We should also be wary of assuming that there are only two “oPposite” genders-male and Women’s religious rganization of end
tim
of
can
96
end of the
take on multiple dimensions. On o
Ea
Whedon, Women
texts,
and,. at
the other
end, there are the
brief
momen
ts
of prayer.
Let us
consider time in Jewish bat mítzvah ritual for a girl, which mirrors
time of puberty but without explicit links to men-
struation. The relatively recent innovation of the ere are
the great epochs
of sacred
spectrum, ther.
terms of how
religions shape
womens life cycles.
Women
move
from birth, to
girlhood, to adult-
hood, into
old age,
and finally death. Rites
of
passage-rituals that ma
of these stages
of life to
another-are sometimes
celebrated on appropriate
occasions during an
individual
womans life. This listing of life stages
is an imperfect map
of all women’s lives, because,
although there
are certain biological facts that
women generally share,
the ways in which they
are interpreted and
ritualized differ across cul-
tures and religions.
This lifespan perspective,
however, enables us to
think about how women’s
the bar mitzvah ritual for a boy, is such a case. In
these rituals, the young adult’s first public reading
from the Torah, the Jewish scriptures, signals pas-
sage into adulthood. The girl must study and pre-
pare for the occasion. Depending on the
branch
of Judaism, the family may also celebrate this
event with a large party for the young woman.
In many religions, there are taboos
around
women’s bodily experiences of fertility, including
both menstruation and childbirth-for exam-
mark transitions from one
ple, in traditional Chinese religion and Japanese
hinto. Similarly, Muslim women do not pray or
fast during menstruation. Jewish women
who
observe traditional practices abstain from sex
religious lives can change
in different phases of
their lives. In the course of considering
women’s
daily religious lives, we also
notice other ways in
which sacred time is invoked, in daily prayers, in
the celebration of seasonal cycles, and in rituals
and taboos around monthly menstrual cycles.
around menstruation and cleanse themselves after
menstruation in a ritual bath called a mikveh. This
ritual brings women together apart from men,
but
women also claim that the practices improve their
sexual relations with their husbands.
These kinds of fertility taboos usually hinge
on notions of menstruation being impure or pol-
luting, but taboos can also signal the perceivedd
power of womens
bodies. For example, Dao-
ism views womens menstrual fluid as powerful,
not as polluting. Similarly, the Native
American
Blackfeet of northern Montana considered men
MENSTRUATION
t is not surprising that menstruation is often
given special attention, because religions tend
to be very concerned with women’s bodies and
their sexuality. The onset of menses is often the
transition point into womanhood for a girl. Some strual blood to be
so powerful that male warriors
Teligions honor a girls first menses with a rite
oT passage, a ritual that observes and facilitates
her transition from one life stage to another. For
example, in traditional Native American ritu-
would smear their wives’ menstrual
blood on
themselves as a denmonstration of their strength
before going into battle. Pliny the
Elder retlected
a classical view of
menstruation as taboo when
s, multiple days of ceremony, song, and dance
struct the young woman in her new role. The
gnt-day Apache ceremony, called Isanaklesh
Gotal, involves a ritual fire, singing, dancing Dlessing the girl, a feast, and a period of contemplative isolation for the girl.
he wrote that, among the many dangers
of
menstrual fluid, “contact with the monthly
flux
of women turns new wine
sour, makes crops
wither, kills grafts, dries seeds in gardens,
causes
the fruit of trees to fall off,
dims the bright sur-
face of mirrors, dulls the edge of
steel
and the
gleam of ivory, kills bees,
rusts iron and bronze,
and causes a horrible smell
to fill the air”
ther religions may acknowledge a girl’s
dnsition to becoming a woman at about the
97
Part 1 Religion and
Culture in the Space of Politics
it. In some places, veils are marlh
status, and sexual attractivenessmarkers ot weathCLOTHING
which is he As women grow to adulthood and into adult opposite of what Westerners encounter
hich
jn sexuality, religions increasing/y
tend to regulate
their daily bodily practices, even
down to the
details of dress and hairstyle. Religions often
dictate norms of modesty and femininity for
women’s daily attire and grooming.
Head coverings are a common form of reli-
gious clothing. Orthodox Jewish women cover
their hair, either with scarves or wigs. In the
Christian New Testament, the apostle Paul argues
that early Christian women should cover their of these symbols helps create the foundation heads in prayer (and that men should not), per-
haps because he is trying to protect the commu-
nity againstaccusations of sexual impropriety (see
I Corinthians 11). Today, women’s hats remain
a part of appropriate attire for many Christian
women who wish to obey this biblical passage.
African American churchwomen have a particu-
larly strong culture of church-hat aesthetics.
Appropriate attire for Muslim women has
been a topic of much controversy in recent years,
especially in cities where Europeans and Middle
Easterners interact. In some countries, Muslim
the media.
MARRIAGE
Although the onset of menstruation
sometimes marks the passage into adulthood fo
WOmemarriage is another rite that can signal this tra sition. Marriage rituals and wedding contracts mark womens entry into married life. The fom
or the longest stage ina
daily married life, often
woman’s life course.
Contemporary US culture idealizes ove
marriage, in which partners choose each other
based on romantic feeling, but this form of
marriage is a relatively late and unusual devel.
opment in the history of marriage. More com
monly, religious cultures structure marriages
around community economic and social needs
For example, traditional Chinese marriages are
arranged for the production of children, and
Hindu marriages tend to be arranged for social
purposes as well. There is evidence of polygamy
in the Hebrew Bible and in early Christianity, n
the early years of Islam, polygyny, marriage o
one man to multiple wives, was encouraged
part as a way of dealing with the need for
te
community to support widows economicau
Marriage customs define appropriate beha
iors for wives. In a Hindu wed
women are forced to wear a hijab, or headscarf,
when in public and during the sexually active
years. The purpose of modest dress is to dis-
courage men from thinking of women as sex
objects. It also serves to create a kind of sacred
space through which a woman can move in pri
vacy, even in public spaces outside her home. In
this way, the hijab imitates the harem, the pri- vate inner sanctum of the home that is women’s
ing, the bride
Eiven to the groom, a male priest
directs
he
rite, and veiled women sing from the
sidelines
An ideal Hindu wife who is totally devo
her husband is called pativrata. Traditi
domain. Today, Western women often look pity- ingly on women who wear veils, assuming that the veil is a symbol of their oppression. In fact, in
some Western countries, wearing veils has been banned. But many Muslim women feel that the veil is an important symbol of their cultural and
religious identity, and they often choose to wear
sive ritual called habisha that it even when their communities do not require
to
Hindu women belie that a husband is
quired
Caste
for their own religious salvation. Hg
menopausal Hindu women pertor xpen kee
sive ritual called habisha that is intended to ket
their husbands healthy and alive. 98
Whedon, Women
Similarly, in
Islam, marriage, nikah, involves
a contract
describing
the duties of a husband
Ages are an example of such a means for womento opt out of an otherwise compulsory role.
lth
the
in
a contract desc
emporary
marriage, called
muta, that allows
for sexual
enjoyment ithout breaking the strict
rule against
sex outside of marriage, although
and
wife. In Shia
Islam, there is a provision for
SEX AND CONTRACEPTION
Religious authorities usually dictate norms for
women’s sexuality, including sexual relations,
contraception, conception, and child-rearing. The diversity of religious understandings of
sexuality range from imagining sex as primar-
ily sinful, or polluted, to sacralizing sex. How
ever, marriage is usually the formal religious
precondition for women’s sex and sexuality to be
this practice
is widely frowned upon.
The end of marriage can be as consequential es
for a woman
as its beginning. Laws and customs
for divorce and widowing
can be as critical for
women’s daily lives as marriage norms. Many
religions make divorce difficult for women to
obtain, and some make it difficult to live as a
divorced woman, often for reasons of economic
need. Muslim men, for example, have histori-
cally been able to access divorce more easily than
ts
socially acceptable.
Seeing women’s sexual activity as sacred can
take diverse forms. Evangelical women in the
United States provide an example of those who
sacralize marital sex. Although they frown on
sex before marriage, within the context of mar-
riage, they delight in its pleasures and ability
to unite a husband and wife. In a different sort
women.
For Hindu widows, circumstances have his-
torically been bleak. They could not remarry,
wear jewelry, or attend many important ritu-
als, and they were often considered to be evil
witches. In Hindu tradition, sati means a virtu-
ous woman. A wife could become sati by means
of immolation on her husband’s funeral pyre.
Ih the past, widows chose this practice because
they were looked down upon, dependent upon
their sons, and required to maintain sexual fidel-
ity to their husbands. As satis, however, they
wOuld be glorified. Given the constraints placed
on widows, it is difficult to see this choice as hav-
ing been a truly free choice, and this practice is now largely frowned upon.
Most religions have historically allowed lit-
ue space for women who do not wish to marry
Decause they prefer independence or because
of example, the contemporary feminist Pagan
movement, with its emphasis on the immanence
of divinity and the sacredness of nature, includ-
ing human bodies, has sacralized sex, particu-
larly queer sex.
Jewish rabbinical laws provide a great deal
of structure for married women’s sexuality and
frame sex in a positive light. They stipulate the
onah, the husband’s martial obligation to
pro-
vide sexual pleasure for his wife. Jewish laws
governing when and how married women may
have sex are called niddah. By beginning the sex-
ual cycle on a woman’s most fertile days,
these
laws favor reproduction.
Families, mostly in the Middle East and they do not desire men sexually. In these tradi-
therefore sfor rel be pulsory. Sometimes opportuni- killings. A man may kill his wife or female rela-
the
tions,
ripht heterosexual marriage is assumed to be southern Asia, sometimes hold
women to very
une right and best path for adult women and may
ties for religious celibacy have allowed womento escape the demands of marriage, housework, a and en raped, or seeks a aiv child-1-rearing. Catholic convents in the Middle
strict sexual moral codes, resulting in “honor
tive to preserve his family’s honor if she is
sus-
pected of having sex
outside of marriage, has
been raped, or seeks a divorce. Although
Islam
99
Part 1 Religion and Culture in the Space
of
Politics
is often characterized as furtherino has been handed the blame for these murders.
honor killings are best understood as driven by
which
whore
they
dichotomy
are limited
that Western
to the polarized
enfac
rdes oí
Among Catholics who revere the Virgir Mary
irgni women face, in
cultural norms; Islamic laws do not pernit the
desexualized mother or sexually active les abuse or murder of women.
sinner Women sometimes resist the sexual and
contraceptive rules of their religious traditions. motherhood is seen as a sacred duty. The Sh
although they were celibate, used images of moth- erhood to represent God. The founder and leaderof the movement was known as Mother Ann and she represented the highest ideal of mother. hood. For traditional Hindus, motherhood
given much praise in Brahmanical texts, but mar
ried women enjoyed little status and often wished
for the birth of a son to help secure their status
Childbirth and the process of becoming
a mother are often ritualized and imbued with
sacred meaning. Around the world, rituals serve
to protect the mother and baby from harm.
ShakersMost Protestants in the United States today favor
contraception within marriage, but there is deep
division over the issue of women seeking abor-
tions. Similarly, there is a signiticant gap be
the Roman Catholic Church’s directives on fam-
en
was
ily planning and their actual implementation by
Western women who enjoy sex but cannot or do
not wish to raise large families of children. Cath-
olic leadership officially leads the fight against
abortion rights, but the laity is split on the issue.
In Japan, women have long practiced abor-
tion. Since the 1970s, Japan has seen a marked
increase in Japanese women’s participation in Israeli Jewish women, like many other women,
mizuko kuyo, rituals to appease the hungry
ghosts of fetuses aborted even decades before. as
a miraculous experience. In the United States
These rituals are practiced by Japanese women it has been demonstrated that Christian. Jewish,
regardless of religious affiliation. Japanese wom- Goddess spirituality,
and less formally spiritual
en’s growing belief that it is necessary for them
to perform these rituals reflects the misogyny in
contemporary Japanese culture.
speak of giving birth and meeting the new baby
women who choose home birth all find religious
meaning in the birth process, finding power
in
procreation. In several traditions,
women also
engage in rituals following the birth,
such as the
tradition of ritually burying the placenta
As mothers, women often bear
the bulk ot MOTHERHOOD
For many women, the possibility of motherhood responsibility for raising
children and are
aso
is an essential part of religious life. Whether,
when, and how a woman mothers greatly affects tion in the home. Sometimes
this responsio
her daily life and community status, as does
whether and how her religion values mother-
hood. Religions in which womens leadership
dominates tend to sacralize maternity, but this is
by no means unique to them.
Many religions honor sacred mother figures,
but honoring of sacred mothers is inmperfectly
correlated with honoring of real human
mothers.
Roman Catholicism reveres the Virgin Mary as
the mother of God. The cult of the Virgin Mary
usually responsible for
children’s religious edua
can become a way for
women to gain
author
school. Teaching
in Sunda
elical
ity outside the home,
as with
Christian wOni
who teach Sunday
schools in the nineteenth
century, evangc ideal
women in the United States
combined the
Woman with a
new
stress
on rig
action. In Jewish tradition,
however,
fathers
a
responsible for children’s
education,
whie
of the virtuous
are
is
f Jew
required by conservative
interpretations
ish law for sons, but not for daughter
100
Whedon, Women
For aging
women, the role of mother some-
times
transitions to the
roles of grandmother and
elder. Grandmothers
may continue to take part
in the care
and religious education of children,
For example, elderly
Oriental Jewish women
of Jerusalem
concern themselves with care for
the ancestors
and descendants of their families
through a variety
of ritual practices.
Deities
Most religions have at their core deities or other
sacred beings. Relationships with divine figures
are often important for women’s identities and
participation within a religion. The kinds of
relationships available may be dependent on the
genders and other qualities of the religion’s dei-
ties, if any.
In some religions, deity is only or primarily
male. At the center of Christian traditions is the SYMBOLS: MYTHS AND DEITIESs
male savior Jesus Christ, the son of a God, who
Religious symbols serve to orient women’s reli-
gious lives. Myths, the
sacred stories of a reli-
gious tradition, often provide
a framework for
understanding who women can be and what
they can do. Deities, saints, and other spiritual
figures provide models for womanhood. Other
kinds of symbols can include images, ritual imagined
to have no body and therefore no gen-
objects, or elements of sacred narratives.
is predominantly imagined as male. In Catholi-
cism in particular, the maleness of the divine fig-
ure has been used to argue that priests must be
male, whereas women may be friends, brides, or
lovers of Jesus. The Jewish God is traditionally
der; however, in practice, this divinity is most
often spoken of and treated as male.
KUAN YIN
Kuan Yin is the Chinese name for the female bodhisattva of compassion,
the most
DEIOved bodhisattva in all eastern Asia, known
in Japan as Kannon. A passage
of the
Lrus Sutra in Sanskrit describes a male deity
whose name means “all seeing.” But, in
e hinese version, the name is translated as
Kuan Yin, meaning “all hearing”
and the
gure is female. She is described as having such great power
that calling on her name
Keep someone thrown into a great fire from burning,
rescue someone from drown
Or save a person from demons. She appears
to save those who are in danger,
and
sh fearlessness. In art, she is represented
in many different ways.
Usually, she
nolding a lotus or a water bottle, but she is
also sometimes depicted
with many
cn expressinga different expression
that is appropriate to helping
with differ
problems, or she is shown with many arms,
each holding a diferent implement use
SVng different problems. Rarely,
she is even made to
look like the Virgin Mary,
called Maria-Kannon, reflecting Christian infiuence.
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In this passage, the
are My rituals.”.
There are goddesses and
other holy female
figures throughout the
world’s religions. To name
some examples, Roman
Catholicism reveres the
Virgin Mary as the mother of Jesus Christ;
Bud-
dhism recognizes Tara as a goddess and
female
Buddha, and there are popular female bodhisat-
tvas; and Judaism calls the feminine aspect of
deity is rep
creation and destruction, and sacralizing
resented as a emale, associated with natue
ng of love pleasure. This text is sometimes re temporary Pagan ritual, and
women quent and ominent roles in these rituals
con
take fre.
God Shekinah. In Nigeria, Osun is a Yoruba Myths
river goddess. As a representation of the sacred-
ness of water, she is intimately connected to the
daily use of water. Osun’s waters not only sustain
life, but she is also the source of creativity and
human procreativity.
The presence of a central female divine fig-
ure does not necessarily correlate with high sta-
tus for women within any given society. On the
one hand, in the history of Indian religion, we
can see changes in understandings of deities that
reflect changes in society. The view of the god- dess came to be carefully crafted to reflect the
understanding of the human wife as subordinate by Christians) contains two stories of God’s cre
to her husband. On the other hand, early Daoists
saw females as closer to the Dao than males, and the Dao De Ching describes the Dao as a Mother.This understanding meant elevated social possi- Adam first and then makes his companion Eve
bilities for women, and early Daoism created for out of one of Adams ribs. The latter story makes
women important religious offices and convents. woman derivative of man, because Eve was cre
Very few of what religion scholar SusanStarr Sered calls “women’s religions”-religious traditions predominantly led and participated in by women-worship a Goddess figure. However, contemporary Pagans and feminist theologians are examples of religious women who frequently imagine deity as a Goddess or as many god- desses. The Wiccan or Pagan Star Goddess is said to speak through the words of the Chargeof the Goddess, which, in feminist Pagan authorStarhawk’s version, includes the words, “I am the soul of nature that gives life to the universe. From me all things proceed and unto Me they must return. Let My worship be in the heart that rejoices, for behold-all acts of love and pleasure ual labor, and Eve with painu
Myths and other sacred stories also helh locatewomen in religious life. Myths of origin-whic tell how the world came into being and how humans came to be gendered beings living in it often explicitly or implicitly address the nature of women and their place in that world. Traditions of textual interpretation can be just as important as the sacred text itself. These texts’ power comesin part from the attention given them by rabbis,monks, and other religious thinkers.
The Hebrew Bible (called the Old Testament
ation of the first woman, Eve. In the first story God creates male and female humanity at once,in his image. In the second story, God creates
out of one of Adam’s ribs. The latter story makes
ated in support of Adam, the first human.
Jewish traditions also tell stories about Li-
ith, whose earliest mention is in ancient Sume rian culture. In some stories, Lilith was Adan nrst wife, before Eve, but she refused to sub to his wil, specifically refusing to take the Do tom position during sex, and so lost her place Eden. Lilith came to be feared as a demon wh
es on top of sleeping men, forcing them to h
ave
Tikianth
sex with her.
In the Hebrew Bible, the creation story S
fromfollowed by an account of humanygrace, in which Adam and Eve eat of the forbid-
den fruit. Adam is punished with difnc
ult
man-
Eves Eves
102
ual labor, and Eve with painful childblr.
Whedon, Women
In the Buddhist creation myth, as the Earth
is formed, beings of light begin to eat of it, and
out of this meal many distinctions are made. As
the savory is distinguished from the bitter, so is
the male from the female. When this happens,
the woman and man begin to lust for each other,
p.
and out of their union comes continued creation
of boundaries, now in more negative ways, cre
ating property and drawing boundaries between
people. So the man and woman emerge simulta-
neously, but their difference and thus desire for
each other have negative consequences.
SACRED SPACE: HOME AND TEMPLE
When we look at the organization of space for
women’s daily religious practice, we see frequent
emphasis on women’s practices in the home.
Religious activity at home can give women
authority within the domestic sphere and can
serve to sacralize all or part of that sphere.
From one perspective, associating women with
the domestic sphere and men with the pub-
lic sphere means that women have less power.
From another perspective, it simply means that A statue of the Bodhisattva Kuan Yin in Green
Gulch Zen Center near San Francisco, California
(c. July 2006).
women can exercise their power in more inti-
mate and immediate ways than men.
Victorian Protestant women, for example,
role in the fall into sin has been emphasized over
Adams in Christian history. In this narrative, we
can hear echoes of earlier Greek mythology, In
which the gods make Pandora as a punishment
r the rebellion of Prometheus. Hesiod tells in
Some detail how she is created to bring sex and death into the world.
were seen as appropriately presiding over home
and family. Their supposed natural piety and
morality were thought to serve as a
counterbal-
ance to their husbands’ supposed harsh natures,
which were made necessary by their work in
the competitive public sphere. The importance
of women’s religious influence in the
domestic
sphere was used in the
United States to support
arguments for prohibition
and woman’s suftrage,
because it was believed that
women’s natural
Contrastingly, in the Quiche Maya’s sacred
Dook, the Popul Vuh, humankind was created
by a primordial “mother-father, strikingly na ng the mother portion of the figure first in the Ext. Archaeological evidence, however, suggests that Mayan culture naintained a atriarchal
morality and concern
for the home would cause
them to vote for measures
to protect families.
many religions and cultures
hierarchy.
Across
womens daily religious lives
are played out in
103
Part 1 Religion and Culture in the Space of Politics
1 CORINTHIANS 11:2-16
nead of
just as I handed them on to you. 3But I want you to understand that Christ iraditione
1 commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain tho
ne traditions
sbut any
man who prays or prophesies with something on his head disgraces his hest. Any Any
every man, and the husband is the head of his wife, and God is the head of Chrddof
woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled disgra graces her head-
and the same thing as having her head shaved. °For if a woman will not veil hersel
onaf
she should cut off her hair; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair
off
should
veiled,
or to be shaved, she should wear a veil. 7For a man ought not to have his head ing thes
deed,
since he is the image and reflection of God; but woman is the reflection of man. “Ind ing nmes
man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created fa.
the sake of woman, but woman for the sake of man. 1°For this reason a woman ouks
to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. “Nevertheless, in ‘the
Lord woman is not independent of man or man independent of woman. “For just as
woman came from man, so man comes through woman; but all things come from God
Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head unveiled
Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is degrading to him,
but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a
But if anyone is disposed to be contentious-we have no such custom, nor do the
churches of God.
nlert
s tithis
In la
0 Con
FOOD
The pr
daily 1
a dom
These
significant ways in the home. Women’s domes-
tic work requires us to consider their relation-
ships to money, property, and earning. We also
observe that, in the home, women are often pri-
marily responsible for the preparation of food,
maintaining household altars and prayers, and
healing sick family members. Yet women also
have places in more public spaces of ritual and
worship, where gender structures space, power,
economic sphere makes a big difference in thei
power at home and beyond. Religion is linked o
Women’s ability to earn, inherit, and own money
and property-and even to whether they them
selves are considered to be property.
author
presidi
and sh=
ior ph
tosters
particun many contexts, women are
constraineu
in their ability to own, inherit, or earn monce
In the United States, womer could
not legaly
spiritua
SaCted Own money until the mid-nineteenth centu
and were therefore legally dependent upon n
bands and fathers. Even when women nay
sUnset and belief.
nine ar Own
value
MONEY AND PROPERTY
Irom men’s money. There were
traditional
Pacitic
Island cultures where men and
women
ctually
money, it can have different
meaning and
bake
in dbse Women’s relationships to money, property, and
work are directly related to when and how they
spend time in the home, all of which is influ-
enced by religion. Women’s authority in the
tespon
A dowry, or bride price,
is a
comnon
lea used different currency.
ture of marriag rituals.
Traditional
Chines
104
Whedon, Women
engagements include a sum of money given f
rom
c
the grooms family to the bride’s family. There is it is usually women, working as individual volun- debate over whether this constitutes the saleof teers or through church women’s organizations, the bride or an early transfer of inheritance.
In Protestant churches in the United States,
jtions
ad of who prepare food and drink for coffee hours and The Laws of Manu, Manu Smriti, which set church picnics. At the huge US revival-camp forth the orthodox Hindu laws, prohibit the sale
of a woman into marriage but allow women to sibility meant a great deal of cooking work for
Own property and protect that property from Protestant women.
male relatives. They also suggest that women
should be honored and cared for, including giv-
ing them gifts on holidays as a means of ensur-
ing men’s welfare.
Women’s manipulation of money in religious natural being, who accepts food offerings from contexts includes donating to charities, as well the women in exchange for which the being as tithing and donating to religious institutions. offers aid with healing or some other domestic
In Taiwan, women ritually burn money for the
gods in temples and other spaces, using money
to connect the earthly and heavenly spheres.
Any
t any meetings of the nineteenth century, this respon-
one
then
Food can be offered to the superhuman
as well as to humans. Iranian Shi’ite Muslim
t off
iled,
women perform a food ritual called sofreh. The
ritual establishes a relationship with a super
eed
for
ght
the
t as problem.
Abstention from food can also be a way
for women to exercise religious power. For
example, the evangelical organization Women’s
Aglow Fellowship instructs women to diet for
God as a sign of their faith in him. Medieval
Catholic women mystics’ fasting and other food
practices provided important ways in which
they used their bodies in pursuit of religious
meaning-making.
Jod.
ed?
aim,
ing
the
FoOD
The production and distribution of food for
daily meals and for special ritual occasions is
a domain where women often enjoy power.
These practices can include the exercise of social
authority, the knowledge of ritual details, and
presiding over the pleasure of food. The creation HouSEHOLD ALTARS and sharing of food is not just an opportunity
1Or physical nourishment. Sharing meals also In many traditions, women are responsible for
tosters social cohesion, and special foods for maintaining household altars. This responsi
particular religious observances can also have bility can include setting up altars and keep-
spiritual meaning.
in their
ked to
money
them
rained
ing them clean; making offerings such as food,
flowers, or incense; and conducting prayers.
Altars create symbolic pathways of connection
between the human and the divine, and house-
noney
The center of Jewish life is Shabbat, the
sacred time demarcated from sunset on Friday to Sunset on Saturday. Shabbat is considered femi-
egaly
nine and is celebrated especially by women, who hold altars encourage relationship between the
do the lighting of the ritual candles (hadlikner), home or family and the spiritual realms.
ntury
7 hus
ow
bake challah, a special bread, and lead the famlyn observance of the sacred day. Women are also
value
acifhc
ualy
Roman Catholic women may keep altars in
the home for Jesus, the Virgin Mary, or other
a responsible for maintaining kashrut, or dietary beloved saints. Mexican Catholics also build
aWS, in the preparation of food and the feeding of their families throughout the week.
altars, in commemoration of family members
who have died, for El Dia de los Muertos (the fea
M
ese
105
Part 1 Religion and
Culture in the Space of
Politics
Day of the Dead), an
October holiday. These the family’s celebrations and focus on protecting the family’s welfare.altars can include images of deceased relatives,
marigolds, favorite foods
of the deceased, and
brightly decorated sugar
skulls.
Chinese women are responsible for main-
taining proper relationships
with ancestors and
spirits of the home, making offerings
of incense,
mmenpena
HEALING
ajrxaeton
As part of caring for home and famiy
are often responsible for religiously o orie food, and prayers. They often have a picture or suffering healing. In and religions healingwheretend womento be particularly d inate
omen
nted where women dominat
altar for Kuan Yin, a female bodhisattva of com-
passion. (A bodhisattva is a person who chooses
to put off the final stage of enlightenment to help sistently present in contemporary feminist the.
other people become enlightened.) Kuan Yin is
attributed with the power to bring children to a Muslim, Buddhist, indigenous, Mormon, or new
woman. She is important, both historically and
today, for Chinese women whose status depends Women’s healing work takes multiple forms
on their ability to produce an heir.
In Hindu practice as well, the home is a
center of spiritual life, including daily worship
(puja) performed by women. Indian women also to saints provides a forum for prayers of healing
gather together on auspicious occasions, such as
a birth or home consecration, to sing all night might be directed to Saint Jude, the saint of hope
to their ancestors and to the deities who protect
prominent themes. These themes are also con-
Hauliayg
ology, whether it be Protestant, Catholic, Jewish
LIendt-
Eiufr tounde
aeater an
Curstian Sc
religious.
We have already seen that Mormon women have
exercised the blessingot healing the sick through
laying on of hands. Catholic women’s devotion
Pthmn
Wihen h
diress dedn
OLer won.
for themselves and their families. Such prayers 01 1gu and
and in Ce
less causes. During illness, traditional Chinese
women exorcised the home of evil spirits. Mus them.
In Korea, women’s sacred household objects lim women have historically held the powers or
are less obvious as an altar than in many other
parts of the world. Nevertheless, women main-
tain packets of pine needles, bowls of wine, women hold zar ceremonies to rid themsee
jars of grain, or other objects in specific places
within their houses, as offerings to household
healing and magical practices, such as the ability
to ward off jinn.In Egypt and the Sudan, Muslim
mlnde
gods. Household gods are believed to exist in Rudolfo Anaya novel Bless Me
Ultima),
drawing
Spirit possession. Mexican women
do popular
healing, called curanderismo (as portrayed
in tne
every house, and such offerings help protect the
members of the family.
Women often also have primary responsi-
bility for seasonal festivals that are celebrated
within the home. Several Jewish festivals are
and involving: a variety of techniques.
Curaner
on Catholic and indigenous Mexican tra
litio
tast
ismo can include such practices as praye
ng, use of magical plants, and
altered
Consciousness for diagnosis and curing
performed prominently in the home, such as
Pesach, which celebrates the Israelites’ escape
from slavery in Egypt. Hindu women’s calendri-
cal festivals tend to focus on the well-being of
family and household. Women’s domestic rituals
at Divali, a Hindu festival of lights, which honors
the goddess Lakshmi, extend beyond the rest of avariety of fertility needs. Aboriginal s
Women’s healing work also
ca
include
mid-
wifery, facilitating the physical a
and spiritual
pro-
cesses of childbirth. Indigenous
women
Americas have worked as
ealers
and mic
West African Sande wom
use
herbal m
f the
dwives.
medi-
magical
remedies
to au
tralian
cine, amulets, and
address
106
Whedon, Women
women pertorm childbirth rituals that are char-
acterized by observance of food taboos, spells
during the five daily prayers. Muslims usually explain this as an issue of modesty and as a way of protection for the birth, the belief that blood to keep men from being distracted from prayerissuing from a woman’s genitals is dangerous to by the sight of women. Women usually pray at men, and segregation of women. Hindu women
perform extensive prenatal rituals during preg-
nancy to ensure the well-being of their unborn
home, rather than at the mosque, however.
Orthodox Jews also seat men and women nte
separately during worship, and women tradi-
tionally may not be counted toward the minyan, or quorum of ten people necessary for public
nale
children.
Healing has also often been important in
new religions in which women are leaders. In prayer. Indeed, there are cases where womennineteenth-century New England, Mary Baker
Eddy founded the new religion of Christian Sci- services, but they choose to attend because they ence after an experience of spontaneous healing.
Christian Scientists believe that matter is funda- make personal prayers of petition. mentally an illusion, so healing of the body can
come through right thought.
When healing fails, women’s rituals may also own sacred spaces. In Morocco, going to saintsaddress death. For example, women, particularly
older women, are prominent in the performance self-determination in their personal and reli- of dügü and the other death rites of the Black
Carib in Central America. Muslim women per-
form a ritual in the home called mevlüt, forty-
seven to fifty-two days after a person dies and
then annually in the years following. These ritu-
als include gathering of women, readings and
teachings (sometimes by a male), weeping, and
a meal together.
COD-
the
cannot understand or even hear the synagogue
ISh,
DeW
believe the services to be auspicious times to
Sometimes exclusion or segregation in
places of worship causes women to seek out their
INS,
ave
1gn
tombs is a way for Muslim women to claim the
10n
gious lives that is denied them by the orthodox
system. Far more women than men visit these
tombs, which creates religious spaces where
men may feel uncomfortable. From the saints,
women seek healing that is more accessible than
within the medical system.
ers
ese
S-
of
AUTHORITY
In recent decades, two major trends in religious
authority have made a significant ditference tor
women’s daily practice of religion-the develop- tic sphere. This is because the gendered power ment of feminist theology and of new religious
fundamentalism. Feminist theology specitically
addresses issues of misogyny and of women’s
oppressions in traditional religions. It also creates
liberating theologies tor wonien and destabilizes
gender roles in these and new religions. Fun-
danmentalist religious movements have broader
concerns than women’s roles, but they do pay
signiticant attention to theni, creating important
changes in women’s ways of engaging with their
religions and atfecting their day-to-day lives.
AT TEMPLE
Thus far, we have focused primarily on the domes-
Structures of religions often relegate women to the home. In turn, the home becomes a place where women have the most religious authority and
responsibility. But women also frequently engage religion in the public sphere, including politics, the marketplace, and places of worship.Even when men and women worshp Ogether, at some places of worship, women and en are physically separated from each other. a mosque, Muslim women stand behind men
107
Part 1 Religion and Culture in the Space of Politics
female networkin in part because sister-wyve Religious undamentalist movements seek to basis, whereas opportunities for
interactions
FUNDAMENTALISM
live and interact with each other on wwes
reglar ng with husbands are more limited.
restore an imagined golden age of religion,
which believers see as a purer, better time. These
movements are responding to the rapid social
changes of the modern era, often reacting to
experiences of colonialism, industrialization,
or poverty. Fundamentalist movements gener
ally concern themselves with women in two
major ways. First, they tend to focus on womens
domestic roles and attempt to limit their activ-
ity in the public sphere. Second, they are usually concerned with control of women’s sexuality and with sexual purity, making women’s bodies into
symbols of the community. Despite the restric-tiveness of fundamentalist movements, women
Wome
FEMINIST THEOLOGY
In recent decades, women around the world ha
LICalk
hax employed the interpretative and
organizational strategies of feminism to reform traditional relk gious practices and to create new ones. Feminit movements identity gender inequalities in sorial structures and seek to redress these inequalities Some feminist women have argued that women; daily religious practices have been limited to the home, which has kept them away from positions of power in churches, synagogues, temples, or mosques. Others have pointed to reclamation of the enormous significance of their activi- ties on the highly localized levels of family and community.
Religion scholar Mary Farrell Bednarowski has analyzed twentieth-century feminist reli gious thinking and found five common themes.valuing ambivalence in women’s identities and
emin
MnISte
rom
may be drawn to fundamentalism for a variety of reasons, ranging from feelings of spiritual alien- ation to basic economic need.
Den to Fundamentalist movements are not neces- sarily oppressive of women. Women may find certain kinds of freedoms through fundamen- talist religion, feel restricted by the movement, or experience a complicated mixture of freedomand restriction. In Sri Lanka, for example, Bud- dhist fundamentalism has included efforts to experiences; immanence of the sacred; seeing reslore an order of nuns and provide new reli-gious opportunities for women. Fundamental- ist Protestant women can find community and empowerment in gathering together for prayer,song, and sharing about the work of Jesus Christ in their lives.
the sacred in the ordinary world; valuing rela tionship with others; and pervasive healing of injustice and spiritual pain, as much as heahng
physical bodies. These themes all retlect the taxt
that womenis religious meaning-making dernestrom the messiness of daily life, more than trou rarefied prayer and contemplation.
Fundamentalist Mormon communities are an interesting case. In 1890, the orthodox Mor mon Church (Latter-Day Saints) renounced the nineteenth-century revelation directing mem- bers to engage in plural (polygynous) marriageas a key to heavenly salvation, but fundamental ists maintain the practice. These communities are patriarchal, yet women gain power through
Many women have made names for tnc” Selves as feminist theologians. Judith Plaskou and Tamar Frankiel are examples of pro Jewish feminist theologians.
inent
Buddhism as a feminist. lisabeth Schüsser
Rita Gross critique
theo Florenza is a leading Catholic feminb logian. Sallie McFague is a Protestant femir
with theologian who is also deeply concernc
108
Whedon, Women
environmentalism. Amina Wadud has chal- daughter. Different forms of the ceremony, gen-
lenged traditional barriers by leading prayers for erally including community welcoming, nam
Feminists within established religions not Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Judaism.
women in mosques
in the United States. ing, and reciting of Scripture, are accepted in
only do interpretative work to render theology Goddess spirituality is an entire feminist move-
through a feminist lens, but they also work to
create new rituals
that better serve women and
work toward women’s empowerment. Liturgical tion, worship, and ecstatic experience.
change can be as simple (or complex) as chang-
ing language to address female as well as male THE EXTRAORDINARY
ment that emphasizes women coming together
to create new rituals for celebration, transforma-
members of a ritual community or to imagin
ing God in feminine as well as masculine ways.
Feminists have also struggled to gain greater
access to traditional ritual roles, such as those of
For some women, everyday life is not so every-
day. Thus far, we have focused primarily on
practices and experiences of laywomen, but we
should also remember exceptional and pro
fessional religious women. Women have been
ministers, nuns, gurus, shamans, priestesses,
missionaries, saints, and prophets. Women can
be religious leaders at the front of congregations
and communities, or they can be contemplatives
for themselves. For example, the Jewish feminist and mystics who live in seclusion. Often, tak-
ing on one of these extraordinary roles has been
ministers, priests, and rabbis. Even though they
have made great strides, women are still barred
from many religious leadership roles. For exam-
ple, the Catholic Church continues to allow only
men to enter into the priesthood.
Women are also creating entirely new rituals
ritual simhat bat celebrates and blesses a new
RABI’AH (C. 717-801)
Rabrah is revered as one of the greatest of Sufi (Muslim) saints. She escaped the ordi-
nary expectations of women of her time and lived her daily life in extraordinary relation
Sp with God. Rabi’ah described herself as a weak woman, but
a consideration of her
8raphy suggests otherwise. She had a conversion experience
to Islam as a slave, and
dter, In her status as a freed slave, she had the ability to refuse marriage
and did so
EVEral times, claiming that her mystical union with God prevented
her from marrying
d man. Rabi’ah lived as a recluse and an ascetic, many times refusing
offers of gifts. she
to have performed miracles, such as blowing
on her fingertips, whicn then sned
gnt like a lamp. This saint had an intimate and assertive relationship
with God, address
Enus: “My God, do kings treat a helpless
woman this way? You invited me to your
Use, then killed my donkey in the middle of the journey.”
The men who wrote about
e were troubled by the idea that so great a religious figure
could be female and
SBEested that her devotion made it inappropriate
to call her a woman.
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Part 1 Religion and Culture in
the Space of Politics
the only way for women to escape
their culture’s
restrictive demands that they become wives and
mothers.
most iltures, it is natural to ask wheth
life. The answer is that it has the possibili and power to do both. Careful examinatior of
and
the
ether rel rsens the conditions of dail.
gion improves or
If we were to study extraordinary religious
women, we might want to know about the
ancient Greek ecstatics known as the Maenads;
medieval Christian nmystics, such as Hildegard of
Bingen; Muslim saints, such as Rabiah; or mod-
ern religious innovators, such as Ann Lee and
Mary Baker Eddy. We might also wish to know
about the far less famous women whose religious
calling causes them to guide and minister to con-
gregations and other communities every day.
religiov
religious lives of women in different and cultural contexts helps us see the nuan of these daily negotiations of power, privileg piety, prayer, and prophecy.
GLOSSARY
Biological Determinism: Argument that wom.
anhood is shaped primarily by bodies-hor
mones, physical features, and reproductive
capacities. Distinguished from social construc
tivism (see entry).
CONCLUSION
Religion is a powerful force in women’s life
courses, shaping their experiences of their bod-
ies, their sexuality, their families and communi-
ties, and their identities. Myths, symbols, and
rituals help them orient themselves in the world
and tell stories about who they are as women in
relationship to other people, the divine, and the
natural world.
Feminism: Social and political movements to
identify and redress social inequalities between
men and women. Feminist theology is the reli-
gious arm of feminist thought.
Fundamentalism: Conservative movement
within any religion that seeks to return to the
fundamentals” of that religion.
Sometimes it is religion that creates or
reinforces women’s suffering, and sometimes
it is religion that provides the antidote and the
opportunity for freedom through salvation,
self-determination, or spiritual authority. Reli-
gion can dictate how to be a wife and a motherand how to maintain a home ritually in right relationship to the divine. At the same time, reli- gion can provide the tools for women to changetheir life courses, reorganize their relationships,bring new messages from the divine to their communities, and break out of existing structures that pattern sacred and profane spaces.If we accept the assertion that women have been structurally in subordinated positions in
Intersectionality: The idea that women and n
experiences of oppression are best described oy
the intersections of their social circumstances
gender, race, class, religion, age, and so o
in
Patriarchy: Hierarchical social struet
which men generally hold more
power
than
women.
wom
Soclal Constructivism: Argument
anhood is shaped primarily by society
deals.
structures as well as cultural and religious
Distinguished from biological
determinism
(See
entry).
110
Whedon, Women
Grifith, R. Marie. God’s Daughters: Evangelical
Women and the Power of Submission. Berke-
ley: University of California Press, 1997. minatn
FOR FURTHER READING
Ahmed, Leila. Women and Gender in Islam. New Sered, Susan Starr. Priestess, Mother, Sacred Sis
ter: Religions Dominated by Women. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992.
Bednarowski, Mary Farrell. The Religious Imagi-
nation of American Women. Bloomington: Sharma, Arvind, ed. Women in World Religions.
Indiana University Press, 1999. Albany: State University of New York Press,
1987. Eller, Cynthia. Living in the Lap of the God
dess: The Feminist Spirituality Movement in Young, Serinity, ed. An Anthology of Sacred Texts
America. Boston: Beacon, 1993. by and about Women. New York: Crossroad,
1993. ent thav Falk, Nancy Auer, and Rita M. Gross. Unspoken
Worlds: Women’s Religious Lives. 3rd ed. Bel-
mond, CA: Wadsworth, 2001.
bodi
reprode
ial cn
Ovemen
ties benre
yis the:
mor
Nandt
O 0
111
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