Feminist Christian Encounters

Abstract

Feminist discourses have focused sustained and sometimes devastating critical attention on Christianity over the last fifty years. Today feminisms remain significant but often ambiguous forces in contemporary Christian theology. At a time in which questions about the success and viability of feminisms are increasingly posed, Feminist Christian Encounters makes a unique contribution to the ongoing investigation into the creative relationship between feminisms and Christianity. Angela Pears identifies some of the key theological and methodological mechanisms by which Christian feminist theologies are informed, sustained, and made possible by feminist values and critiques. Pears argues that certain strategies characterize the facilitation of this dialogue in contemporary Christian feminist theologies, enabling theologians to accept the values and critiques of feminisms whilst at the same time proclaim some level of commitment to Christianity. Engaging in a process of deconstruction of the methodologies of key Christian theological thinkers who have made use of feminisms in their theologies, this book reveals the mechanisms of feminist Christian encounter at work.