Feminist Theology

Femenist theology has been in the spotlight of recent global movements, gaining supporters all around the world from grass roots movements to a national scale. In today’s society with people becoming more connected than ever through the use of the internet, telephones, and fast plane travel the feminist movement has aquired the ability to reach and help women from every corner of the earth. The evolution of the feminist movement has now turned into one of the most successful movements today, tackling many hard issues such as rights, women’s education, and equality. Femenists all over the world have banded together with one thought in mind and that is public policy. Though the movement has had many setbacks they were able to overcome borders,

The church was practicing the same values and thought of patriarchal theology, women were excluded from leadership in the church and society. This exclusion was based on the argument “women’s exclusion from ministry are application of the general theology of male headship and female subordination” (195 sexism). Women in early Christianity have long been stereotyped with the role of procreation, house keeping, inferior mental ability, and inferior soul. For these reasons the church has perpetuate the thinking that women should listen and receive ministry rather than give it. Early interpretations of biblical texts by believers in Kyriarchal and patriarchal theology believed that the bible prohibited equal right and liberation of women. Early feminist biblical interpretation had to interpret the bible in their own way using a corrective approach “corrective approach asserts that the bible does not prohibit but rather authorizes the equal rights and liberation of wo/men” (137 wisdom). Women had to teach biblical knowledge and preach the importance of women in the bible. Women had to re-translate texts and undo the kyriocentric translations that were being perpetuated. Early feminism had viewed the church as a institution that simply translated the bible in a skewed kyriarchal view. Women had uncover the true meaning of biblical

Churches today are now becoming beacons of equality and inclusion as more ideals of feminism are being preached by male and female ministers. The church is a community within society, through this church community liberation ideals are being spread throughout. Although there has been much progress with the feminist movement within the church today, “The difficulty with such a top-down transformation is that the clergy are seldom willing to let go of their own clerical prerogatives” (203 sexism). The future of the church is really up to historical church leader’s, the feminist movement has made significant progress with liberating some church institutions. It is the job of historical institutionalized churches to preach this, the small liberation churches may have impact but none as large as the historical institutions. Once the church fully accepts the ideas of feminist liberation and accepts that God blesses men and women equally we might be able to fully realize the goal of feminism in the church system. God does not discriminate due to race and definitely does not discriminate on gender, the historical churches need to adopt this way of thinking in order to have a complete understand of Christianity. Feminist theology views offer the Church inclusion, with adoption of