Feminist Theology is theology and Biblical studies done using feminist methodologies and theories of interpretation. Feminist theology seeks the equality, justice, and liberation of woman from the patriarchal and androcentric systems of power and domination that have shaped the church, the translation and the interpretation of the Bible and the Bible itself. It generally does not consider Bible as the authoritative Spirit-inspired word of God. Also, there is not any one feminist theology but many. This is because feminist theologians come from many different faith traditions, cultures, backgrounds, and academic persuasion.
According to feminism, human community from long time ago has a basic structural injustice. The relation between sexes is distorted. The men as a group has power over women as a group. This basic in equality is universal and is enshrined in language, culture, social relations, mythology and religion. There is a sharp distinction between male and female roles, characteristics and area of responsibility. The roles, characteristics and area of responsibility of males are valued as superior to those of females. For example, masculinity is identified with rationality, power and initiative, whereas feminity is identified with emotion, intuition and passivity. The feminist observe that God is associated with the male and is identified with masculine characteristics. This has resulted in androcentrism at every level of human culture and society: in its history, traditions, language, arts, professions, etc. The feminist theology seeks to promote the full humanity of woman.
There is no specific date to pinpoint the beginning of the feminist movement. Its origins can be traced back to the 1960s article, “The Human Situation: A Feminine View” written by Vallerie Saiving (Goldstein). In her article, she questioned theologies written by men for men, arguing that it had created patriarchal systems over the years that oppress woman. After Saiving’s article was published, many scholars elaborated her ideas. This gave momentum to the feminist theology movement.
In recent years, the concerns and methodologies of feminist theologians have broadened from a focus on women and gender relations to include the effects of race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, ability/disability, post-colonialism etc. They do something called intersectional analysis to understand how all these situations and realities compound, impact and influence experiences of women. This is a feature of the third and fourth wave of feminism in the world.
Feminist Theology now uses a wide range of methods and perspectives to understand and reflect upon the experiences of woman around the world. This includes African-American women (womanist theology); Hispanic-American women (mujerista theology); Korean women (minjung feminist theology); low-caste Indian women (dalit feminist theology); African and Asian women; women in post-colonial cultures; differently-abled women; and those from the LGBTIQ+ community—including trans-women (biological males).
Bibliography
Feminist Theology – The Gospel Coalition
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/feminist-theology/
An Introduction to Feminist Theology | Student Christian Movement
https://www.movement.org.uk/resources/feminist-theology-101
Feminist theology – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminist_theology