Durham University – Feminism and Religion

Reviewing Gender and Career Progression in Theology and Religious Studies by Michele Stopera Freyhauf

Abstract from the Study: The low proportion of women within the subject areas of Theology and Religious Studies has long been observed, and is increasingly recognised as a serious problem for staff and students. In this new study, Mathew Guest, Sonya Sharma and Robert Song chart patterns of gender imbalance among staff and students across UK Theology and Religious Studies departments, exploring why such patterns remain so persistent. Drawing on interviews with Theology and Religious Studies academics across the country, the report examines the professional life of female university staff, and makes recommendations for how universities might address the inequalities of opportunity and practice that emerge.

The Report can be found at this link: http://trs.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Gender-in-TRS-Project-Report-Final.pdf

While this report focused on UK institutions, it is an important study for this field of study and did garner feedback outside of the U.K. Some of the findings that may be of interest:

Females outnumber males at the undergraduate level in theology and religious studies (60/40). When moving to the taught post-graduate level, the proportion of female students drop to 42%, and at the post-graduate research level (Ph.D. program) another drop to 33%.
Women make up 29% of academic staff in the field of theology and religious studies. 37% amount early career academics and lecturers, 34% senior lecturers, and only 16% amount professors.
Comparing the field of theology and religious studies to other disciplines across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences reflect the same trajectory of gradual female withdrawal in tandem with academic progression. The drop-out rate seems to be more dramatic in theology and religious studies, especially between the undergraduate and taught postgraduate levels.
Structural factors influencing this pattern include the tendency of theology and religious studies departments to recruit postgraduates from international contexts in which a form of Christianity that favors the authority of men is prominent.
Interviews with academics in the field reveal additional factors which include entrenched connections to Christianity and Christian churches, the gendered style of academic engagement in some of the sub-discipllines, and the up-hill struggle to develop the confidence to succeed in a male-dominated environment.
Generic issues include poor allowance for childcare and family responsibilities as well as bullying.
Advisors have a profound effect as well as interaction with the faculty.
Often, women are pressured to perform better than their male counterparts in order to stand out from the other female candidates.
Gender stereotypes that work against “women’s entrance and mobility” in academic jobs, especially those related to leadership positions.
Collegiality focused on “male sociability”whereby women’s ideas are suppressed or they find themselves on the margins within their departments.
Being the lone voice or scapegoat in the department for “women’s issues.”
Studying stereotypical topics and migrating away from traditional “male” disciplines.

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St. Thecla: Transvestite Saint and Woman Apostle by Michele Stopera Freyhauf

The story of Thecla is an intriguing one – it is above all a story that demonstrates a woman in active ministry – a story that shows a woman as an Apostle. The story found is found in the apocryphal literature called Acts of Thecla (sometimes found in “The Acts of St. Paul and Thecla) and seemed to attract the ire of Tertullian and the writers of the Pastoral Epistles. In fact, some of the names in this story also appear in the New Testament writings. Thecla used to be a Saint in the Catholic Church, and is still a Saint in the Byzantine Rite. Please note that what I say here is not my original work but a compilation of various interpretations of stories about St. Thecla.

St. Paul was travelling in Iconium with his two companions, Demas and Hermogenes. They were offered hospitality at the house of Onesiphorus. Paul was giving a sermon praising virginity, stating that eternal reward awaits anyone who lives a chaste life. Thecla overheard his sermon from her window and became enamoured by his teaching to the point that she was unable to move from her window for three days and three nights. Continue reading “St. Thecla: Transvestite Saint and Woman Apostle by Michele Stopera Freyhauf”

And Thus God made a Covenant with Hagar in the Wilderness by Michele Stopera Freyhauf

We are familiar with the covenant God made with Abraham and Moses, but are you aware that God also made a covenant with Hagar?

In the wilderness Hagar encounters a deity at the well named Beer-lahai-roi (Genesis 16). Water and wells are important because they symbolize fertility and life. Wells for women are common places where they met their future spouses. Because wanderers in the desert need water to survive, water itself becomes a symbolic of life-giving or life.

In the seemingly barren dessert, the fertile Hagar finds out that she is pregnant and going to be the mother of many children. Hagar is promised progeny in a motherless state. According to Pamela Tamarkin Reis, this is called the “after-me” descendants, which guarantees Hagar that her children will live for “immeasurable generations;” a pattern that fits within the scope of this promise. This same promise of progeny is also given to Eve in Genesis 3:20, providing and interesting parallelism between Eve and Hagar.

It is worth pointing out the irony exists in this promise. Sarai uses Hagar to “build her up.” According to Nahum Sarna, to be built up in terms of the number of children that you have, implies that you are mother to a dynasty. In this pericope, however, it is Hagar, not Sarai that is built up through this divine promise.

This patterns of promise exists within the birth narrative through the annunciation of Ishmael and the promise of progeny. It is through this narrative that Hagar enters into a covenantal relationship with the deity. According to J. H. Jarrell, birth narratives have six common elements that establish this relationship: mother’s status, protest, offer, son’s future forecast, Yahweh naming, and acceptance of the contract. Hagar’s story contain these elements:

Mother’s Status: Hagar is without child because she is a virgin (16:1).
Protest: Hagar flees from her mistress (16:8).
Offer: Return to your mistress and submit to her authority (16:9).
Son’s Future Forecast: He will live at the east of all his brothers (16:12).
Yahweh Naming: You will bear a son Ishmael because the Lord has given heed to your affliction (16:11).
Acceptance of the Contract: She called the name of the Lord (16:13).

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