Beyond The Feminization Thesis

Case studies upon the use of concepts like feminization and masculinization in relation to christianity. Since the 1970s the feminization thesis has become a powerful trope in the rewriting of the social history of Christendom. However, this 'thesis' has triggered some vehement debates, given that men have continued to dominate the churches, and the churches themselves have reacted to the association of religion and femininity, often formulated by their critics, by explicitly focusing their appeal to men. In this book the authors critically reflect upon the use of concepts like feminization and masculinization in relation to Christianity.

In this unique study, Machen explores a moment of intense religious upheaval and transformation in France between 1880 and 1920. In these pre–World War I years, a powerful Catholic community was pitted against equally powerful anticlerical members of the French Third Republic. During this time, women became increasingly involved in faith-based organizations, engaging in social and political action both to expand women’s rights and to ensure that religion remained part of the public debate about France’s identity. By representing their faith communities as modern, progressive, and in some cases democratic, women positioned themselves to help guide a modernizing France. Women of Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish faiths also reshaped the narrative of female power within the French nation and within their own religious groups. Their activism provided them with social, religious, and political influence unattainable through any other French institutions, enabling them in turn to push France toward becoming a more democratic, equitable society. Machen’s timely examination of the critical role women played in shaping the nation’s religious identity helps to illuminate contemporary issues in France as Muslim communities respond to civic pressure to secularize and as the country debates the role of women in Islam.

Chapter 1. Messages Sent, Messages Received?: The Papacy and the Latin American Church at the Turn of the Twentieth Century - Lisa M. Edwards -- Chapter 2. Catholic Vanguards in Brazil - Dain Borges -- Chapter 3. Eucharistic Angels: Mexico's Nocturnal Adoration and the Masculinization of Postrevolutionary Catholicism, 1910-1930 - Matthew Butler -- Chapter 4. Transnational Subaltern Voices: Sexual Violence, Anticlericalism, and the Mexican Revolution - Robert Curley

Europe has a tremendously important role in the history of Christianity and was the continent with the most Christians from roughly the year 900 to 1980. However, Europe is now home to only 22 percent of all Christians in the world, down from 68 percent in 1900. The major trend of European religion in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has been secularization—disestablishment and decreased influence of state churches, lower importance of religion in the public sphere, the decline of religious beliefs and practices, and individual religious switching from Christianity to atheism and agnosticism. One hundred years ago, it was true that the typical Christian in the world was a white European. Given current trends, however, Europe is clearly no longer the geographic nor demographic center of world Christianity. Yet, that does not mean Europe has no role in the future. It is still the home of major Christian communions, such as Catholics (Rome), Anglicans (Canterbury), Russian Orthodox (Moscow), and Lutherans (Geneva). European mission agencies are active throughout the world providing theological education and social welfare programs, combatting climate change, and advocating for gender equality.

The fields of gender and religious studies have often been criticized for neglecting to engage with one another, and this volume responds to this dearth of interaction by placing the fields in an intimate dialogue. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach and drawing on feminist scholarship, the book undertakes theoretical and empirical explorations of relational and co-constitutive encounters of gender and religion. Through varied perspectives, the chapters address three interrelated themes: religion as practice, the relationship between religious practice and religion as prescribed by formal religious institutions, and the feminization of religion in Europe.

As the sacred text of a modern religious movement of global reach, The Book of Mormon has undeniable historical significance. That significance, this volume shows, is inextricable from the intricacy of its literary form and the audacity of its historical vision. This landmark collection brings together a diverse range of scholars in American literary studies and related fields to definitively establish The Book of Mormon as an indispensable object of Americanist inquiry not least because it is, among other things, a form of Americanist inquiry in its own right--a creative, critical reading of "America." Drawing on formalist criticism, literary and cultural theory, book history, religious studies, and even anthropological field work, Americanist Approaches to The Book of Mormon captures as never before the full dimensions and resonances of this "American Bible."

Our Lady of the Nations is a detailed and scholarly overview of the apparitions of Mary in 20th-century Catholic Europe. Chris Maunder discusses apparitions in general and how they are interpreted in Catholicism by, for example, Karl Rahner and Benedict XVI. The role of women and children as visionaries is considered, including issues concerning changing views of gender, children's spirituality, and the protection of minors. He covers cases that are well known and approved by the Church (Fatima, Beauraing, Banneux, and Amsterdam), others that are well known but not approved (such as Garabandal and Medjugorje), and many that are neither well known nor approved, such as those in Belgian Flanders or Nazi Germany in the 1930s, or in France, Italy, or Germany after the Second World War. Resources include academic studies of particular apparitions, some Catholic theological and devotional literature, and occasionally travel writing. There is also coverage of material in French which is not known to the English reader. Shrines and visionaries are believed to be indicators of the presence of Mary. In the visionary perspective, she has appeared in order to reassure her followers and to warn of divine judgement. Her messages echo doctrinal Catholic Mariology with some innovations, but also express a deep dissatisfaction with the events and trends of the 20th century, from communism to Nazism to liberalism and religious indifference. While the Marian cult evolves according to new templates for apparitions and developments in Mariology, the fundamental message of presence, consolation, and admonition remains constant.

Disruptive Power examines a surprising revival of faith in Catholic miracles in Germany from the 1920s to the 1960s. The book follows the dramatic stigmata of Therese Neumann of Konnersreuth and her powerful circle of followers that included theologians, Cardinals, politicians, journalists, monarchists, anti-fascists, and everyday pilgrims. Disruptive Power explores how this and other similar groups negotiated the precariousness of the Weimar Republic, the repression of the Third Reich, and the dynamic early years of the Federal Republic. Analyzing a network of rebellious traditionalists, O’Sullivan illustrates the divisions that characterized the German Catholic minority as they endured the tumultuous era of the world wars. Analyzing material from archives in Germany and the United States, Michael E. O’Sullivan investigates the unsanctioned but very popular visions in several rural towns after World War II, providing micro-histories that illuminate the impact of mystical faith on religiosity, politics, and gender norms.