CHRISTIANITY AND THE LIBERATION OF WOMEN (FEMINISM, THEOLOGY)

Can Christianity, despite its misogynist history, empower women to experience their liberation? Can it call women to speak in their own voices?; Concerned to explore whether or not Christianity can empower women to their liberation, this dissertation begins with an exploration of women's experience. Chapter I explores women's bondage, their process of liberation, and the way in which they understand their liberation. It discovers that women's liberation is a journey of awareness and selfcentering in which women dare to name their oppression and begin to name themselves, speaking in their own voices.; Chapter II considers the arguments of Rosemary Radford Fuether and Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza that Christianity offers women a tradition that can empower women in their liberation journeys. Particular attention is given to Fiorenza's reconstruction of Christian origins and her argument that Christian communities were non-patriarchal, egalitarian, and characterized by service and altruism.; Chapter III tests Fiorenza's reconstruction against contemporary women's experience to determine whether it can empower women to experience their liberation today. It explores the more recent works on women's development and, on the basis of these works, argues that service and altruism are not liberating concepts for women today.; Although service and altruism may not be liberating for women, these terms have been used to characterize the Christian experience of liberation. Chapter IV re-examines service and altruism with the intention of finding how these terms have functioned within the Christian community. It argues that service and altruism do not adequately describe the Christian experience of liberation nor do they call it into being.; Chapter V argues that freedom is a more adequate way of describing the Christian experience of Liberation. It examines the nature of liberation/freedom and asks whether freedom contradicts service and altruism, and whether it can empower women to their liberation. It concludes that women can be empowered to experience their own liberation through the freedom called into being through Christianity.; The intent of this dissertation is two-fold. Concluding that Christianity can empower women to their liberation today, it hopes both to make that power more available to women in their journeys and to reclaim Christianity from those who are using it to reinforce patriarchal oppression and submission.