Do We Still Need the <em>Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion</em>?

Abstract

Do We Still Need the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion? Carol P. Christ (bio) Feminist studies in religion begins with the dual recognition that women have not played an equal role with men in shaping the so-called major religious traditions and that women’s experiences and contributions within religions have not been adequately studied. Though women have played central roles in many religions not counted as “major,” these traditions as a whole, and women’s roles within them, have been considered of “lesser” importance in the field of religion. Feminist studies in religion takes as its subject matter the history, experiences, and contributions of women in every religious location. It asks us to name and consider the ways in which women and women’s experiences have been subordinated and marginalized within religious traditions. A feminist approach to the study of religion asks us to examine the strategies women use to carve out roles for themselves within traditions where they have been excluded from acknowledged leadership roles, to consider women’s resistance to their exclusion, and to support women’s struggles for equality in traditional and nontraditional [End Page 139] religious locations. And finally, it must also inspire us to discover, study—and consider important—religious situations where women’s wisdom and leadership are valued. The field of religion as a whole has focused on Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Arising relatively late in human history, these religions have generally been understood to be patriarchal, though feminists have argued that there are liberating elements within them—or even at their cores. The field of religion has been and remains dominated by Biblical and Christian studies, though the study of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism has gained ground in recent decades. The study of nonliterate, tribal, and early agricultural religions in Africa, Asia, America, Europe, Australia, and island locations is still not considered essential in the field, though some scholars argue that many of these religions may not be patriarchal at all.1 Cursory attention to these “lesser” or less accessible religions means that many people in the world—and even within religious studies—do not know that nonpatriarchal religions existed in the past and in some locations continue to exist.2 In this respect, the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion plays an important role in providing opportunities for the publication of research by established and younger scholars that might not be considered “important” or “central” to the defined interests of other journals in the field. The word and topic “women” was contested early on and continues to be contested in all the fields of feminist studies and women’s studies. It is crucial that the terms like “women’s experiences” not be identified solely with a particular group of more privileged women who are heterosexual, married, white, middle or upper class, well educated, and European or North American. Lesbian and unmarried women made their voices known early on. Women of color rightly insisted that the experiences of marginalized, poor, and less well-educated [End Page 140] women must be understood through multiple lenses including race, class, culture, colonial status, and sexuality. One indication that JFSR has responded to the challenges of diversity and difference can be found in the fact that the board meetings of the journal are less segregated religiously and racially than most other gatherings in the academy. However, despite roundtables like this one, we still have a long way to go if our goal is create a shared discourse in which we take a real interest in scholarship from standpoints different from our own. Despite the best efforts of the editors and many of the contributors to the journal to promote a truly inclusive feminist study of religion, the fact is that academic positions for “avowed” feminists in the field of religion are still overwhelmingly to be found in seminaries. In the liberal seminary context, feminist calls for “repentance” from the sins of sexism, racism, classism, and heterosexism can be heard. In contrast, in departments of religious studies, especially those with graduate programs, the ethos of objectivity still reigns; feminism is often seen as an advocacy position, while the patriarchal presuppositions of...