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Cover

Women and Religion

Majella Franzmann

Publication Date - 02 December 1999

ISBN: 9780195107739

208 pages
Paperback
6-1/8 x 9-1/4 inches

Description

Women and Religion offers students a unique introduction to the process of reading and listening to women's stories of religious experience. Engaging and accessible, the book provides a discussion of women's roles in and experiences of religion and spirituality, primarily within the five major world religions--Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--and also more broadly in other contexts. The author presents women's experiences both within and separate from the normative sphere of established religious activity, which is mainly represented by male-dominated public rituals and texts. The discussions are drawn together under major themes and issues, across traditions and cultures. Topics covered include the marginalization of women and their religious experience within the structures of the major world religions, including texts, rituals, and codes of law and behavior; women's experience within less structured religious settings; women's independent religious life; bringing women from the periphery of religious experience to its center in order to hear them speak as religious and spiritual subjects; and contemporary women's search for new and reimagined ancient forms of religious and spiritual life. Ideal for courses in women and religion, this wide-ranging text can also be used as supplementary reading for courses in world religions.

Table of Contents

    Preface
    Introduction
    1. HEARING VOICES--A PROCESS FOR READING AND WRITING ABOUT WOMEN AND RELIGION
    Introduction to the Process: Hermeneutic and Discernment
    The Hermeneutical Process
    An Example of the Hermeneutical Process
    2. LEARNING LANGUAGES--A CONTEXT FOR READING AND WRITING ABOUT RELIGION AND WOMEN
    Language About Religion
    Language About Women and Religion
    3. VOICES FROM OFFSTAGE--MARGINAL EXPERIENCE, MARGINAL LANGUAGE
    The Experience and Relating of the Experience
    The Authority of Religious and Academic Traditions
    Marginalization Strategies by Religious Traditions
    The Deeper Structures of Marginalization: Women's Bodies
    4. VOICES FROM CENTER STAGE
    Movement from Margin to Center
    Women's Independent Spiritual/Religious Life
    Contemporary Strategies for Movement to the Center
    5. A CHORUS OF MANY VOICES
    Many Voices: Difference and Dialogue
    The Critical Interpreting Voice
    Suggested Readings
    Bibliography

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