Author Archives

Feminist theologian, Christian identified. Assistant Professor of Religious Studies in the area of Women and Religion and the Philosophy of Sex Gender and Sexuality at California State University, Northridge. Received her Ph.D. in Practical Theology at Boston University School of Theology. Her research is focused on Congregational Studies, Feminist Theology, and Ecclesiology specifically. Often finding herself on the boundary of different social and cultural contexts, she works hard to develop her voice and to hear and encourage the voice of others. Her work is inspired by the conviction that all people are inextricably connected and the good one can do in any one area inevitably and positively impacts all others.

• Grounding My Love by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on June 6, 2019 • ( 21 )

  

  I love living in a second-story apartment. Having a view of Los Angeles, of the palm trees, the expansive sky, the distant mountains, and the city lights of downtown, makes life feel bigger, more full of possibilities. In the struggle… Read More ›

• Bringing About the Revolution by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on December 16, 2018 • ( 17 )

  

  Happy day friends. It’s Sunday – maybe you have a day off from your income-making labor, maybe you’re home with the kiddos working more than usual since they have no school, or maybe it’s a day you have all to… Read More ›

• Mary Daly and Simone de Beauvoir: Sister Diagnosticians by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on December 15, 2018 • ( 12 )

  

  Mary Daly still causes me awe. I think about the way she was so keenly able to diagnose the Catholic Church’s collusion in creating, sustaining, the oppressive structures that directly impact women (and men, as she always affirmed). Mary Daly… Read More ›

• …and The Pub Church, Boston was Born by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on October 26, 2018 • ( 9 )

  

  See Part I of Pub Church series here The question arising among a group of friends gathering for fish and chips on Fridays – why can’t church be more like this? – was the clarion call that sparked the birth… Read More ›

• The Pub Church, Boston by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on July 10, 2018 • ( 6 )

  

  At times I am invited to speak about The Pub Church. When I lived in Boston, I was part of a church that met in a pub. A church in a pub is not a typical form of church, obviously;… Read More ›

• A Grounded Spirituality, in Community by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on May 17, 2018 • ( 15 )

  

  It was Sunday, April 1, we grilled corn and veggie-dogs and spent the day gardening with friends and neighbors. Each household with their own raised bed. We started seeds and planted starter plants. We spent all day outside, various friends… Read More ›

• The Power of Black Panther by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on April 1, 2018 • ( 11 )

  

  Note: Black Panther movie spoiler alert. I attended a friend’s dinner party recently in honor of her birthday. It was an intimate gathering of nine, mostly her immediate family, so I felt privileged to be included. At one point during… Read More ›

• Women Religion Revolution and its Political Theological Orientation by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on December 30, 2017 • ( 5 )

  

  I introduced the volume  Women Religion Revolution,  the collected works that Gina Messina and I co-edited, in a previous post. I now write about the political theological orientation with which we entered the project of the book. The very first thing to note… Read More ›

• The Making of Women Religion Revolution by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on December 23, 2017 • ( 3 )

  

  Last month in Boston during the American Academy of Religion (AAR) Annual Meeting I presented on Women Religion Revolution, a volume of collaborative work with fifteen other women that Gina Messina and I co-edited. The book is the third one… Read More ›

• Listening Deeply to Yourself by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on October 6, 2017 • ( 8 )

  

  “You need to take a step back. You need to take a pause, relax, reassess. Two steps back, you can see more clearly, then you can move forward.” That’s what my brother first told me as I shared with him… Read More ›

• Birthing a New World by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on October 4, 2017 • ( 16 )

  

  Yesterday I “paused” my post and left you with words from a dear friend Edyka Chilomé, a powerful “artivist” invested in the healing of our world. And our world is in need of healing indeed. Today was another tough day… Read More ›

• Feminist Gutter Punk Freedom by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on October 3, 2017 • ( 24 )

  

  My brother is, in this own words, an “old school street, squatter, gutter punk.” Indeed, he lives outside the system. He is an anarchist atheist and has lived many nights of his life on the streets – by choice. He… Read More ›

• On the Events of Charlottesville, VA by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on August 13, 2017 • ( 20 )

  

  It is in our hearts –one’s sense of superiority exists within. We are all and each capable of hate and bigotry. It is considered the appropriate and necessary response to say that there is no room for it “here” –… Read More ›

• Reminder: Applications for FAR Project Intern Due 12/15

  By Xochitl Alvizo on December 12, 2016 • ( 1 )

  Interesting in Working with FAR? Feminism and Religion is seeking a creative, industrious, responsible, and highly-organized feminist, womanist, or mujerista interested in working for our community-oriented collaborative online feminist project. We seek someone with solid knowledge of the field, excellent… Read More ›

• “You Look Trim” and Resisting the Tyranny of Thinness by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on September 13, 2016 • ( 13 )

  

  I caught myself reinforcing the norm. The ever present default of focusing on women’s body size and prioritizing their weight gain and loss. I did this with a colleague/friend of mine. After not seeing one another for most of the… Read More ›

• Updates on Listening by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on March 14, 2016 • ( 4 )

  

  The pieces of my dissertation are beginning to float to the surface, piece by piece, released into the world as smaller parts of the whole. At some point this all may become a book, but for now, I have enjoyed… Read More ›

• Painting Our Own Realities in the New Year by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on January 1, 2016 • ( 14 )

  

  A friend of mine once commented that my feminism is evident from the moment you step into my house. In reference to all the female images around my house, she noted that my space reflected a different way of being… Read More ›

• My Terrible Transition Year and the Return of my Humanity by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on December 18, 2015 • ( 28 )

  

  I have called it, The Terrible Transition Year, this year of finishing dissertation, uprooting from home, moving cross-country, and starting a new full-time teaching job. Last year at this time I was in LA for a 7-8 week stay, away… Read More ›

• From Mary Daly to the Emerging Church – An Unlikely Dissertation Trajectory by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on June 21, 2015 • ( 15 )

  

  It was 2004 during the first semester in one of my classes for the master’s program when my TA presented a lecture on feminist critiques of atonement and introduced me to the writings of Mary Daly. It was my first… Read More ›

• Learning to Live by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on June 10, 2015 • ( 13 )

  

  The earliest memories of myself are as a student. I have distinct memories of myself in my kindergarten classroom. I even remember the location of my seat in the specific cluster of tables I was assigned. I also remember the… Read More ›

• What “I Believe” and Found Worth Sharing by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on April 30, 2015 • ( 35 )

  

  The end of my Ph.D. program is in sight. Originally, in 2004, I came to Boston University School of Theology (BU STH) from Los Angeles for a two-year masters program. Along the way I switched to a three-year masters program,… Read More ›

• The Case of Mary’s Decency by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on February 22, 2015 • ( 10 )

  

  This post builds on yesterday’s post on Marcella Althaus-Reid’s indecent theology. In her book, From Feminist Theology to Indecent Theology, Marcella Althaus-Reid states that liberation theology has two dominant characteristics: the familiar ‘preferential option for the poor,’ with its suspicion of… Read More ›

• A Little Indecency with Marcella Althaus-Reid by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on February 21, 2015 • ( 9 )

  

  Inspired by the conversation following Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente’s post yesterday, I offer here a little synopsis of Marcella Althaus-Reid’s work in Indecent Theology: Theological Perversion in Sex, Gender, and Politics. This link to her website also offers a little synopsis. Marcella… Read More ›

• The Work of Justice-Making by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on December 19, 2014 • ( 11 )

  

  Written two weeks ago on December 5, 2014, but offered still as some food for thought: I’m supposed to be writing my dissertation. Hand on the plow, no looking back. I have even left town for the whole month of… Read More ›

• We are Worth the Time it Takes to Create a Practice by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on September 10, 2014 • ( 17 )

  

  Recently, in response to the excellent conversation following Nancy Vedder-Shults’ post on the goddess Kali, Carol Christ commented to Nancy, “I too love our conversations, wish there was more in depth talk on our blog [FAR], maybe there will be.”… Read More ›

• Systemic Violence and the Killing of Michael Brown by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on August 14, 2014 • ( 18 )

  

    Oppression is systemic. Injustice is systemic. It pervades the whole – it seeps into everyday actions and becomes habits and patterns that function as default. As a result, the actions that fall within these patterns hardly need justifying. If… Read More ›

• Using the Listening Guide to Leave Oneself Open to Discovery by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on July 31, 2014 • ( 11 )

  

  I am deep in the throes of writing my dissertation. Writing started in earnest, in its most recent stretch, in mid-July when I came out to write in isolation in my home city of Los Angeles.* If all goes as… Read More ›

• Transforming the Church from Within or Without? by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on April 22, 2014 • ( 20 )

  

  “Power belongs to those who stay to write the report!” stated Jeanne Audrey Powers during her presentation at the Religion and the Feminist Movement conference at Harvard Divinity School back in 2002. Though the statement sounds a little funny, it does raise a good… Read More ›

• Water, Activism, and Thirsting for Change by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on December 1, 2013 • ( 14 )

  

  Mike Wilson’s persistent replacement of water sources in the desert for those who may be dying of thirst is part of his affirmation that we are all inextricably connected…the affirmation that our individual well-being cannot be separated from our collective well-being. I carry two… Read More ›

• Poetic Stumbles by Xochitl Alvizo

  By Xochitl Alvizo on November 13, 2013 • ( 7 )

  

  They feel like incomplete thoughts. One day I finally realized the reason why I, for a very long time, was unable to connect with poetry or appreciate it. When I would read a poem I would feel as if the… Read More ›