Gender and Women’s issues; Feminist/Mujerista/Womanist Theologies

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, […]

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.

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.

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.

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.

[1] On first glance, Ministry Among God’s Queer Folk seems dated (especially its title, doubtless inspired by the hip Showtime television series “Queer as Folk” running from 2000–2005). And perhaps unsettling is the term “queer people”—used constantly, almost interchangeably with “LGBTQ people.” Although the word’s use in our times is an attempt by sexual minorities […]

In 21st century America, we live in a world in which women have supposedly achieved equality with men. However, despite new emphases on women succeeding in the classroom and at work, many women still feel a lot of anxiety regarding the pressure to get married. This anxiety, coupled with the pressure to be successful in one’s career and the persistent disparities in American society, presents today’s women with a complicated knot of worries our foremothers did not face.

[This review is adapted, with permission, from a review of this book previously published in Trinity Seminary Review.] [1] In this first-ever volume of its kind, edited by Mary J. Streufert, ELCA Director for Justice for Women, the voices of sixteen well-known Lutheran women theologians from different racial, ethnic, and sexual-orientation backgrounds emerge, rise, and […]

From Study of Lives to Study of Theologies [1] In comparison to the volumes of religious writing by medieval (often visionary) women and the booming scholarly work around them in the last three or so decades, the sixteenth century Protestant women have generated significantly less interest. There are reasons for that: First of all, so […]

[1] Anyone privy to undergraduates working their way toward understanding social or structural sin is familiar with the questions that give rise to Derek R. Nelson’s What’s Wrong with Sin? How can a system/structure/society sin? How do we talk about sin if everyone/no one is guilty of sin? Who is sinning in a sinful structure? […]