Feminist And Womanist Essays In Reformed Dogmatics

This book is a collection of essays by thirteen feminist and womanist authors who locate themselves within the Reformed tradition. Topics explored include: the Trinity, creation, election, atonement, the church, fear, resistance, and vocation. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students interested in feminist theology. The Columbia Series in Reformed Theology represents a joint commitment by Columbia Theological Seminary and Westminster John Knox Press to provide theological resources from the Reformed tradition for the church today. This series examines theological and ethical issues that confront church and society in our own particular time and place.

One of the most persistent slogans of Reformed theology is that it is "reformed and always being reformed." But what does this slogan mean? This volume gathers thirteen essays written by a younger generation of Reformed theologians who teach and write on five different continents, who together offer this work in Christian systematic theology. Unlike many other works of Reformed theology, however, this book is framed by pressing contextual issues and questions (instead of traditional loci). Each chapter engages classical doctrine, but does so through the lens of contemporary, lived experience in particular contexts. The result is not a theology where doctrines are "applied" to contexts, but an approach where doctrine and context mutually shape one another. The contributors take seriously the notion that theology is "always being reformed" and is always partial, ever on the way--hence it requires conversation partners beyond the Reformed family of faith. The result is a study in Reformed theology that is thoroughly ecumenical.

What is a feminist theologian to do with Christianity's patriarchal inheritance? She can avoid the most patriarchal aspects of the theological tradition and seek resources for constructive work elsewhere. Or she can critique misogynistic texts and artifacts, exposing their strategies of domination to warn against replicating them. Both approaches have merits and yet, without other interpretive strategies, they reaffirm that the theological tradition does not belong to women and others marginalized by gender. They cannot transform the discourse. But within feminist theology are the seeds of another approach, aimed at just such transformation by reworking the theological landscape to become hospitable to all those marginalized by gender. Attunement: The Art and Politics of Feminist Theology identifies trajectories resonant with this alternative approach and from them, describes and develops attunement as a third, generative path for feminist theologians. Attunement is an aesthetically-invested approach to texts and artifacts that self-consciously co-creates as it interprets. Aware of what the text affords the reader, attunement constellates images, texts, and insights to build or augment positive affordances in the text and diminish negative ones. Natalie Carnes describes why this approach is significant for feminist theology, maps its roots in a long history of gender-marginalized individuals claiming authority, describes how it casts interpretation as both an aesthetic and political event, and notes how it might provide a way forward in vexed topics in feminist theology.

The Oxford Handbook of Calvin and Calvinism offers a comprehensive assessment of John Calvin and the tradition of Calvinism as it evolved from the sixteenth century to today. Featuring contributions from scholars who present the latest research on a pluriform religious movement that became a global faith. The volume focuses on key aspects of Calvin's thought and its diverse reception in Europe, the transatlantic world, Africa, South America, and Asia. Calvin's theology was from the beginning open to a wide range of interpretations and was never a static body of ideas and practices. Over the course of his life his thought evolved and deepened while retaining unresolved tensions and questions that created a legacy that was constantly evolving in different cultural contexts. Calvinism itself is an elusive term, bringing together Christian communities that claim a shared heritage but often possess radically distinct characters. The Handbook reveals fascinating patterns of continuity and change to demonstrate how the movement claimed the name of the Genevan reformer but was moulded by an extraordinary range of religious, intellectual and historical influences, from the Enlightenment and Darwinism to indigenous African beliefs and postmodernism. In its global contexts, Calvinism has been continuously reimagined and reinterpreted. This collection throws new light on the highly dynamic and fluid nature of a deeply influential form of Christianity.

"In this work Dr. Brand seeks to contribute a unique complementarian expression of Reformed spirituality, in order to stimulate a spiritual renewal in the contemporary Reformed tradition. Using a distinctively feminine approach, in a theological arena largely monopolized by male theologians, the author anchors corporate and personal spirituality upon the unio mystica, so returning to a Calvinistic appreciation of the Christian life. Grounding Reformed spirituality on the ""marital union"" between Christ and the church, a corporate portrait of the church is explored. Critical of the neglect of women in Reformed church life and practice, the author calls the tradition to reform; proposing an intentional complementarian use of women that can practically and spiritually profit the whole church body. The book culminates with an initial tracing of a ""Reformed feminine spirituality"" which is pastorally relevant to women, as well as encouraging a renewed experiential enjoyment of Christ for both men and women. "

The Reformed tradition in the twenty-first century is increasingly diverse, dynamic, and deeply engaged in a wide variety of global and public issues, from the arts and business to immigration and race to poetry and politics. This book brings together the insights of a diverse group of leading Reformed thinkers--including Nicholas Wolterstorff, Makoto Fujimura, Bruce Ashford, John Witvliet, Ruben Rosario Rodriguez, and James K. A. Smith--to offer a contemporary vision of the depth and diversity of the Reformed faith and its global public impact.

Introduces Reformed theology by surveying the doctrinal concerns that have shaped its historical development.

Kathryn Tanner is undoubtedly one of the most important contemporary North American theologians. From landmark studies in systematic and constructive theology to economics, Tanner’s work is a contribution of inestimable value, hallmarked by its depth, precision, provocativeness, and grace. Unifying the immense scope of her work is the particular vision of God’s self-gift: an internal, dynamic, communal reality that is expressed outward in acts of love and generosity that are creation, incarnation, and capacious life in the Spirit. This vision, as the grounding matrix of Tanner’s theology, has been extended beyond the disciplinary boundaries of theology in constructive explorations of economics, social and political theory, cultural studies, and ethics. This volume celebrates the vision and breadth of Tanner’s unique contribution. Essays by established scholars, colleagues, and former students trace out the key loci and themes, from theological method, the Trinity, Christology, creation, to economics, environmental and social ethics, and politics, to generate constructive and ecumenical conversation that presents Tanner as an important, contemporary public theologian.