Feminist Studies in Religion and Literature: A Methodological Reflection

Abstract

HE recent feminist criticism of the androcentric bias of the major traditions of Western religion, reflected in such books as Beyond God the Father, Religion and Sexism,2 and A Different Heaven and Earth,3 has sent feminist scholars searching for alternative texts and traditions which may reflect an authentically female religious outlook.4 Sources for such study include the diaries, journals, letters, and other writings of women from all periods of history. The feminist historian of Christianity, for example, might study the writings of Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila, or Christine de Pisan with particular attention to the female perspective reflected in them. In twentieth century religious studies, which is my field, the novels and poetry of women writers are a particularly fruitful source for the study of women's religious outlook. Inasmuch as such study must draw on and integrate the work of scholars in the areas of religion and literature, theory of religion, and feminist literary criticism, methodological reflection is clearly called for. Since the area of religion and literature, as has been noted elsewhere,5 is in a state of methodological chaos, simple reflection on the feminist transformation of this area of study is impossible. Therefore, I will proceed in this essay from the concrete case of my own feminist studies in religion and literature, in the hope that my reflections will clarify and chart the way for other feminist scholars. My reflections will also suggest implicit androcentric biases in traditional religion and literature studies which make the texts discussed and the theories developed less than immediately relevant to women.