This was originally posted on May 4, 2020 Imagine my surprise when, a few days ago, I looked out my window to see a dappled horse munching on flowers in the field across the street from my house. In the… Read More ›
Feminism and Religion
What is Wrong with This Picture? Rewriting Eve by Caryn MacGrandle
One of my oldest friends who I met when I was eight years old reached out to me the other day saying that if there was ever anything she could do, please let her know. She lives in another state… Read More ›
The Norns, Spiritual Mystery and Me, Part 2 by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
Part 1 was posted yesterday. You can read it here. The Norns were explaining the mess they had made when they got drunk at a Valhalla party. The Norns looked at me with sadness. “We knocked over one of our… Read More ›
The Norns, Spiritual Mystery and Me, Part 1 by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
In 2020, I began writing my biography because some weird things were happening in my life including some which were time-bending. To help make sense of it, I wrote up “conversations” with the mythical characters of Persephone, Inanna and the… Read More ›
Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Let Us Proclaim the God Who Bleeds Now
This was originally posted November 19, 2018 we need a god who bleeds now we need a god who bleeds nowa god whose wounds are notsome small male vengeancesome pitiful concession to humilitya desert swept with dryin marrow in honor… Read More ›
From the Archives: Embracing Fierceness by Mary Sharratt
This was originally published on September 9, 2015 This essay is inspired by Donna Henes’s brilliant post, I am Mad. Too often as spiritual women, we are told we have to perform niceness all the time, even if it means compromising our… Read More ›
From the Archives: A Feminist Retelling of Noah’s Ark
This was originally posted on May 4, 2018 My daughters came to me after Sunday School one day, concerned about a story they had heard in which God drowned almost everyone on Earth. So I sat down and thought about… Read More ›
The Legacy of Carol P. Christ: “We Say the Silence Has Been Broken”
We treat the physical assault and the silencing after as two separate things, but they are the same, both bent on annihilation. Rebecca Solnit When I was in my twenties and in therapy I had a recurrent dream in which… Read More ›
The Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Was Ariadne the Most Graceful Bull-leaper of All? Deconstructing and Re-visioning Greek Mythology
This was originally posted on March 3, 2014 Sometimes we think of Greek myth as a pre-patriarchal or less patriarchal alternative to the stories of the Bible. After all, Goddesses appear in Greek myths while they are nearly absent from… Read More ›
The Legacy of Carol P. Christ: What if Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine Are Not Oppositional Categories?
Moderator’s Note: The blog was originally posted May 18, 2015 A friend who is a spiritual teacher speaks often “bringing back the values associated with the Divine Feminine.” For her this has to do with helping women to understand the… Read More ›
The Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Who Is Jephthah’s Daughter? The Sacrifice of Women and Girls
Moderator’s Note: The was originally posted on January 20, 2014 Last week I reflected on Angela Yarber’s insightful essay and painting on Jephthah’s daughter. For those who did not read the earlier posts, the story of Jephthah’s daughter is found… Read More ›
A Visionary History of Women: Part 3
The Pendle Witches As a spiritual person, I am fascinated with women’s experience of the sacred. We women, for the past five-thousand years of patriarchy, have been side-lined and marginalized by every established religion in the world. But in every… Read More ›
My Daughter’s Religions by Sara Frykenberg
I find it interesting how certain or settled we often expect our little ones to be instead of getting curious about them or acknowledging that they are curious.
Exploring Dance as Spiritual Practice by Eline Kieft
Nature and dance are my gateways to the mystery, where I can bring my worries, exhaustion, prayers, celebrations and gratitude. These gateways open to places deep within and far beyond my perception and imagination. They create an impromptu sacred space… Read More ›
The Daughters of Zelophehad and the Five Feminine Powers of the Kabbalah by Rabbi Jill Hammer
This summer, I visited Iceland, a beautiful and magical land. While I was there, I saw the Kerid Crater, which is a caldera: a volcanic crater with a lake inside. My family and I hiked around the edge of the… Read More ›
Moses and the Rambo Problem by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
Moses is an interesting character is in the pantheon of religious leaders. He is such a major personage, considered the founder of Judaism and yet there are no extra-biblical accounts of his life and his deeds. He only exists in… Read More ›
In Memoriam – Carol P. Christ by Joyce Zonana
“thea-logy begins in experience” – Rebirth of the Goddess It is hard to believe that Carol P. Christ – Karolina as she dubbed herself in her beloved Greece—has been gone for a year. She remains such a vivid presence in… Read More ›
The Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Dance of the Bees: Reading the Language of the Goddess
This blog was originally posted on December 1, 2014 The image from an ancient Cretan bowl (c.1700 BCE) from the Sacred Center of Phaistos pictured here has often been interpreted as an early depiction of Persephone’s descent or rising. But… Read More ›
A Visionary History of Women: Part 2
You can read my essay: A Visionary History of Women: Part 1 here. I’m on a mission to write women back into history, because, to a large extent, women have been written out of history. Their lives and deeds have… Read More ›
Remembering Rosemary Part 2 by Janice L. Poss and Theresa A. Yugar
Editor’s Note: A more formal memorial to Catholic Feminist Theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether was posted here at Feminism and Religion at the time of her passing. Now we are delighted to share these memories of her by two scholars, Theresa… Read More ›
Remembering Rosemary Part 1 by Janice L. Poss and Theresa A. Yugar
Editor’s Note: A more formal memorial to Catholic Feminist Theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether was posted here at Feminism and Religion at the time of her passing. Now we are delighted to share these memories of her by two scholars, Theresa… Read More ›
Advancing Our Feminist and Womanist Theologies by Xochitl Alvizo
I recently completed a chapter for a book on Latinx theologies; it’s the second edition of the Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Latino/a Theology, edited by Orlando O. Espín, but this time with the slightly changed title of Companion to Latinoax Theology—aiming… Read More ›
The Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Weaving and Spinning Women: Witches and Pagans by Max Dashu A Review
Moderator’s Note: This was originally posted on September 19, 2016 Max Dashu’s Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion 700-1000 challenges the assumption that Europe was fully Christianized within a few short centuries as traditional historians tell us. Most… Read More ›
In Memoriam: Rosemary Radford Ruether by Elizabeth Ann Bartlett
Yet another of my great feminist and spiritual teachers has died. Rosemary Radford Ruether, ecofeminist Catholic theologian, died on May 21st. Her work challenged my thinking and gave me new understandings and perspectives. She was a prolific writer, authoring hundreds… Read More ›
A Visionary History of Women
Part One: Hildegard’s Holy Wisdom I’m on a mission to write women back into history, because, to a large extent, women have been written out of history. Their lives and deeds have become lost to us. To uncover their buried… Read More ›
I’m Not “Fit” to Judge Another Woman’s “Fit”ness by Liz Cooledge Jenkins
In recent conversations around abortion rights—spurred by a leaked draft of a Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade—everyone has opinions. The financially comfortable, often-white, often-evangelical women in my circles have opinions. And these opinions often involve the… Read More ›
Carol P. Christ’s Legacy: Are Most of Us Abused Children? And is Child Abuse the Root of Evil?
This was originally posted on July 16, 2012 Child abuse does not have to be physical or sexual. The most widespread forms of child abuse are psychological, and therefore harder to see, acknowledge, and eradicate. As abused children, we unconsciously… Read More ›
Hearing Grief by Xochitl Alvizo
I was writing this blog post on the same day that Rosemary Radford Ruether died, receiving the news during my writing process. The timing of that still has me feeling something I cannot yet express… One of the most meaningful… Read More ›
Rosemary Radford Ruether, 1936-2022
Rosemary Radford Ruether, 1936-2022Catholic Feminist Theologian Pioneering Catholic feminist theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether, accompanied by her daughters Mimi and Becky, died peacefully on Saturday, May 21, 2022 at 3 PM PDT in Pomona, California after a long illness. Arrangements are… Read More ›
Symbols of Hope – Event in Support of Ukrainian Refugees
Womanspirit Ireland has organized an event for this coming Sunday, May 22nd, to exchange cultural themes with Ukrainian Refugees and to raise funds for the 30,000 refugees who have already arrived in Ireland, and the many more expected. All donations will go to… Read More ›