Articles

Christine Gudorf’s approach in Comparative Religious Ethics: Everyday Decisions for our Everyday Lives is to focus on the practical and the experiential in an attempt to “lift up values, meanings, and interpretations from religions and also from ‘secular’ thought (most of which has been influenced by the dominant religion of the culture) that are relevant to the most basic interests and activities of contemporary human beings in North America.”

As a commissioner for equality and gender in the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Northern Germany, Thomas Schollas draws upon his experience to explore the meaning of the phrase “gender just Church.”

Caryn Riswold addresses two important concepts: the social construction of gender and the Lutheran theology of being created in God’s image. In speaking to all spheres of societal identifies, Riswold challenges the reader to think about how all gender identities can be protected and celebrated in the church as the image of God.

Niveen Sarras highlights the nameless girl and the father-son duo in Amos 2:7c and brings context to the story by examining the rest of the book of Amos, arguing that the girl was raped. Sarras then uses the Amos story to explore the rape culture in modern Palestine and narrates the deep need for change.

Evangeline Anderson-Rajkumar opens with two case studies from India that demonstrate the connection between violence and patriarchy. She uses the studies to lead into a mapping of patterns of violence in patriarchal culture that exist in societies worldwide.

As the articles in this issue of JLE demonstrate, Gender Justice is a global concern and phenomenon from Germany to India to Palestine to the United States. Please take time to read and reflect on these articles and consider the question of “How, then, shall we live?” I am grateful to Dr. Mary J. Streufert, […]

[1] Asymmetric warfare involves, by definition, conflict between weaker and stronger antagonists—strength here as denominated in the quantity of material resources and the quality of technological sophistication that can be brought to bear against the enemy. The strong—the United States, preeminently—are tempted to deploy overwhelming force against opponents who lack the capacity to respond in […]

Mary Streufert explores the “otherizing” of women in historical and modern times by analyzing themes of justification and theology of the cross. Streufert compares modern advertisements to ancient sculpture to lend a visual illustration to the concept.

[1] The Scandal of White Complicity in US Hyper-Incarceration presents a rare, unflinching, and provocative confrontation of White Catholic complicity in the contemporary U.S. scourge of mass incarceration. Catholic theologians Alex Mikulich, Laurie Cassidy, and Margaret Pfeil (after an incisive foreword written by Sister Helen Prejean of Dead Man Walking fame) offer with this text […]

[1] Whenever an author’s work is reviewed by an academic peer, a measure of collegial respect and thanks should be registered. This is so because the art of the book review (when offered with integrity, sincerity and a good critical eye) advances important discussions and debates related to human survival, justice seeking and flourishing. I […]