Feminist Theology and the Challenge of Difference

by Margaret D. Kamitsuka

Overview

In the early years of contesting patriarchy in the academy and religious institutions, feminist theology often presented itself as a unified front, a sisterhood. The term "feminist theology," however, is misleading. It suggests a singular feminist purpose driven by a unified female cultural identity that struggles as a cohesive whole against patriarchal dominance. Upon closer inspection, the voice of feminist theology is in fact a chorus of diverging perspectives, each informed by a variety of individual and communal experiences, and an embattled scholarly field, marked by the effects of privilege and power imbalances. This complexity raises an important question: How can feminist theologians respect the irreducible diversity of women's experiences and unmask entrenched forms of privilege in feminist theological discourse?

In Feminist Theology and the Challenge of Difference, Margaret D. Kamitsuka urges the feminist theological community to examine critically its most deeply held commitments, assumptions, and goals-especially those of feminist theologians writing from positions of privilege as white or heterosexual women. Focusing on women's experience as portrayed in literature, biblical narrative, and ethnographic writing, Kamitsuka examines the assumptions of feminist theology regarding race and sexuality. She proposes theoretical tools that feminist theologians can employ to identify and hopefully avoid the imposition of racial or sexual hegemony, thus providing invaluable complexity to the movement's identity, and ultimately contributing to current and future Christian theological issues.

Blending poststructuralist and postcolonial theoretical resources with feminist and queer concerns, Feminist Theology and the Challenge of Difference makes constructive theological proposals, ranging from sin to christology. The text calls feminist theologians to a more rigorous self-critical approach as they continue to shape the changing face of Christian theological discourse.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195311624
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	07/20/2007
Series:	AAR Reflection and Theory in the Study of Religion Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Margaret D. Kamitsuka is an Associate Professor of Religion at Oberlin College.

Editorial Reviews

"An exciting contribution to feminist theological scholarship. Kamitsuka takes on the most challenging issues and offers in-depth scrutiny and fresh insights. Combining theory with theology and based on a broad spectrum of women's theological writings, this book will be an important resource for the classroom, the church, and progressive religious communities." —Kwok Pui-lan, author of Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology

Margaret Kamitsuka makes methodologically central the challenge of difference for (white) feminist theology, which first claimed to speak for all women. Her book takes with utter seriousness the ongoing function of privilege, particularly that of race and heterosexuality, and traces its various continual and subtle reemergence even in theologies with the best of "inclusionary" intentions. This is a wonderfully impressive and wide-ranging coverage of dialogues over difference with a fascinating constructive proposal." —-Mary McClintock Fulkerson, author of Changing the Subject: Women's Discourses and Feminist Theology

From the Publisher