Websites run by Muslim scholars typically offer advice columns for those seeking legal rulings and religious guidance on personal concerns. One young Muslim woman wrote to a site about her doubts that wearing hijab was connected to being a good… Read More ›
Embodiment
The Difference a Feminist Makes by Elise M. Edwards
Of the many reasons I am grateful for feminismandreligion.com, I have to say that I am most grateful for the time it requires of me to reflect about feminism’s impact in my life, faith, and work. I decided it was… Read More ›
What I’m Wearing to the Pool and What it Means, by Sara Frykenberg
Recently a FAR colleague sent us writers an article entitled, “Toward a New Understanding of Modesty,” and asked if any of us would like to comment on it. I dove at the chance, pun intended. Not only did the article… Read More ›
Birth Warrior by Molly
“In this culture…a woman can be made to feel foolish for emphasizing the centrality of giving birth to her identity or her personal religiousness, her ‘womanspirit…’” –Stephanie Demetrakopoulos (Listening to Our Bodies) After the birth of my daughter in 2011,… Read More ›
Be-pistemology by Marcia Mount Shoop
Epistemology—the study or theory of the nature and the ground of knowledge, particularly with respect to the limits and validity of knowledges and the sources of knowledge. Being—the qualities and characteristics that constitute conscious existence; a living thing. I look… Read More ›
Creating Ritual by Linn Marie Tonstad
Last time, we considered whether the creation of rituals, I mean habits, might serve as an antidote to depression, or as a way of managing depression. But the creation of ritual has had a much more significant role in feminist… Read More ›
What’s Your Super Power? (And Who’s Allowed to Have It?) by Sara Frykenberg
I recently went to see Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. I saw it two times actually. Readers familiar with my posts about cosplay and video gaming will not be surprised to learn that I am also a fan of comic… Read More ›
Fire, Her Bright Spirit by Deanne Quarrie
In Celtic Tradition our world is composed of Three Realms, those of Land, Sea, and Sky. In the midst of these Realms we find the Sacred Grove, the place of flowing together. There the Sacred Fire burns, by the Well… Read More ›
Appreciating the Sacrament of the Present Moment by Michele Stopera Freyhauf
In order to be at peace, it is necessary to find a sense of history – that you are both part of what has come before and part of what is yet to come. Being thus surrounded, you are not… Read More ›
Lady of the Trees by Mama Donna Henes
Her roots reach to the very center of the Earth where they wind around the sacred wells, the deep source of wisdom… Possessing the potent powers of fertility, growth, resilience and longevity, the tree is widely seen as the progenitor… Read More ›
Orientations: Body, Space, Authority by Linn Marie Tonstad
In her book Queer Phenomenology, Sara Ahmed investigates how we orient ourselves in space with respect to tables – the tables around which we sit, at which we eat with friends and families of choice and birth, and at which… Read More ›
Purim and the Value of Courage by Ivy Helman
The Jewish Festival of Purim and the book of Esther offer us an opportunity to reflect on the value of courage from a feminist perspective. The online Webster’s Dictionary defines courage as, “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and… Read More ›
The Full Spirited Four-Fold Goddess: The Maiden, the Mother, The Queen and the Crone by Mama Donna Henes
The Queen paradigm promotes a new understanding of what it might mean to be a middle-aged woman today who accepts complete responsibility for and to her self, and it celebrates the physical, emotional, and spiritual rewards of doing so. Although… Read More ›
Imagine a Catholic Church that Loved as only a “Woman” Loves by Michele Stopera Freyhauf
I came across an abhorrent display of ignorance Saturday when reading an article quoting the Pope’s theologian, Dominican priest Wojciech Giertych, on why women cannot be ordained. This man is in charge of reviewing speeches and texts submitted to the Pope… Read More ›
Blessed By Gratitude and Sharing by Xochitl Alvizo
Carol Christ’s post yesterday has gotten me thinking about the differences between Christianity and earth-based spiritualities. Of course, there are many differences, that goes without saying. However, being someone who comfortably stands at the intersection of them both I am usually more… Read More ›
Truth and Consequences–This Feminist’s Perspective? by Marcia Mount Shoop
In John’s Gospel, Pilate’s response to Jesus’ self-identification as the one who “came into the world to testify to the truth” is a simple question: “What is truth?” His question hangs in the air as he moves from that conversation… Read More ›
Three Sisters by Deanne Quarrie
From time to time I dive into the idea of seeing the Triple Goddess as Sisters rather than Mother, Maiden, Crone. I have to confess that the idea of Sister Goddesses, complete in their familial connectedness, representing unity, connection, and… Read More ›
Body Talk by Kelly Brown Douglas
The more I reflect upon the complex and multiple ways in which various bodies are put upon and disregarded, the more I am persuaded that we have a body problem. Our bodies communicate to us in many ways. They are… Read More ›
Connection to Ancestors in Earth-based Theology by Carol P. Christ
“I am Carol Patrice Christ, daughter of Jane Claire Bergman, daughter of Lena Marie Searing, daughter of Dora Sofia Bahlke, daughter of Mary Hundt who came to Michigan from Mecklenburg, Germany in 1854. I come from a long line of women,… Read More ›
Embody the Sacred – Engaging Through the Senses by Deanne Quarrie
The human body is designed to utilize all senses. We, human beings, have drifted away from our natural state through which, at one time, we engaged with all of life through our natural senses, including the intuitive. This change has… Read More ›
Touching Roots: An Incredible Lightness Of Being by Carol P. Christ
A few days ago, a German-speaking friend spoke with an Eiloff relative of mine who lives in St. Nikolaus, Saarland. My relative remembered hearing the story that Heinrich Eiloff, my 2x great-grandfather, emigrated to the United States in the mid-1800s. … Read More ›
Imix: Primal Mother and Dawn of a New Age by Michele Stopera Freyhauf
If you are reading this, then we survived another apocalypse. People are fixated on end-times; especially predictions, prophecies, etc. Specials on Nostradamus, the Book of Revelation, TV Evangelists looking for end signs plague television shows, movies, and writings. Countdown clocks… Read More ›
SPECIAL AAR SERIES Part 2: Gamer-Player/ Gamer-Avatar: The Potential of a Video-Gaming Body by Sara Frykenberg with introduction and response by Mary Hunt
Introduction: This is one of four papers presented in Chicago at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, November 17, 2012, in a session entitled “Feminism, Religion and Social Media: Expanding Borders in the Twenty-First Century,” organized by… Read More ›
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