Introducing Feminist Perspectives On Pastoral Theology

This book introduces feminist perspectives in pastoral theology. It is concerned both with pastoral care and practice and also with pastoral theology and theory. It seeks to explore why the inclusion of women's experiences and of feminist perspectives is of vital importance to Christian pastoral practice and to a Christian understanding of God. The book is designed for concerned practitioners and also has specifically in mind the needs of students of pastoral theology. It begins with the lived experience of violence in Church and society, moving through to the implications of this for our understanding of the human community and the divine.

The second edition of this highly popular introduction includes a new preface and each chapter has been revised to keep it as up-to-date as possible. 'Introducing Feminist Theology remains a lively and stimulating 'first read' for anyone embarking on feminist theology, as well as a first rate resource for those wishing to refresh their acquiantaince with it. Despite claims in some quarters that 'feminism' has been surpassed by 'gender' this book explains how vital a feminist agenda remains, and how much is still to be done, both at the theological and the practical level, to transform Christianity from two centuries of male-gendered discourse and ecclesiastical structure into a religion that adequately reflects the life of modern women.

Nancy J. Gorsuch is assistant professor of pastoral theology and pastoral counseling and director of the pastoral care and training center at Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University.

Introducing Feminist Theology responds to the questions What is feminist theology? and Why is it important? by considering the perspectives of women from around the globe who have very diverse life experience and relationships to God, Church and creation. Clifford introduces the major forms of feminist theology: radical, reformist, and reconstructionist, and highlights some of their specific characteristics.

Rethinking the Christian faith from a woman's perspective has been an important advancement in modern theology. This book introduces the methods, ideas, and contributions of recent feminist theology to readers encountering the subject for the first time. Natalie Watson explores the historical background of feminist theology, discusses the value of reading Scripture from a feminist perspective, and shows how this approach can offer a critical, creative, and constructive rereading of the Christian tradition. She also sets forth some fresh ideas encouraging people to see feminism not as a threat to the church but as a challenging perspective that actually enhances its life in today's world. An extensive annotated bibliography invites readers to further study, presenting a wealth of books on feminist theology by many well-known authors. Ideal for classroom instruction, discussion groups, and personal study, this volume is an exceptional, user-friendly guide to contemporary feminist thought.

In the last decade, the focus of pastoral theology has shifted dramatically from care defined as counseling to care understood within a wider social, political, and religious context. Feminist and womanist theory as well as feminist and womanist faith convictions have played a key role in this development. According to the authors, feminists and womanists in pastoral theology have begun to reconstruct the definitions, parameters, and commitments of pastoral care and counseling. These changes have critical implications for care within congregations and for the understanding of theology in seminaries and divinity schools. Yet these developments in the theory and practice of pastoral theology and their broader ramifications have not been carefully analyzed or even acknowledged by pastoral theologian, minister, and religion scholar alike. This is due to a failure to articulate clear understandings of the field, the gap between congregational ministry and higher education in religion, and conflicts in theological education in general over the place of practice and theory, experience, spirituality, and practical theology. To redress these problems, this collection of essays has a threefold aim. First, the book identifies the many changes occurring in definitions of pastoral theology, care, and counseling. Second, the volume defines and develops new methods and approaches. Third, the authors attend to the implications of these changes for congregational care and theological education. Roughly speaking, the order of the chapters in this volume follows this threefold agenda, moving from an exploration of the changes in pastoral theology to its reconstruction to some of the implications of recent innovations

Public Theology is a rapidly growing international field of study which focuses on how Christian belief and practice engage with wider social issues. Yet, whilst the ultimate concern of public theology is the well-being of society, this body of theology has largely developed without integrating the thinking of feminist theology and its insights into womens' lives and experience. Public Theology and the Challenge of Feminism argues that public theology risks re-inscribing traditional constructs of public and private, civic and domestic, and uncritical notions of gender and the work and worth of people. The book brings together both theory and case material to expose how public theology has actively downplayed or ignored feminist perspectives and to reveal how constructive feminism can be for the future of public theology.