This book stands at the intersection of feminist theology and religious diversity. Written by a Christian theologian, it employs feminist methodologies to open new horizons in comparative practice and theological anthropology. The book presents three substantial case studies of women in interreligious encounter and draws out of each theological insights that emerge from women's interfaith practices. These textured studies flesh out what the volume promises in its opening introduction: an inductive approach to our theological thinking about religious diversity and a new feminist, interreligious ... More

This book stands at the intersection of feminist theology and religious diversity. Written by a Christian theologian, it employs feminist methodologies to open new horizons in comparative practice and theological anthropology. The book presents three substantial case studies of women in interreligious encounter and draws out of each theological insights that emerge from women's interfaith practices. These textured studies flesh out what the volume promises in its opening introduction: an inductive approach to our theological thinking about religious diversity and a new feminist, interreligious theological anthropology. Chapter 1 follows Catholic women religious of the Maryknoll order into the mission fields of China and reads their letters and diaries for a multi-dimensional sketch of their encounter with Chinese women. Chapter 2 takes as its point of departure the Chinese mothers the Christian women met as a starting point for a feminist theological anthropology that takes our embedded relationality as foundational. Chapter 3 shares the format of investigating a case study to cull theological insights, this time the secular women's movement as a global phenomenon offers resources for thinking about our being human. Chapter 4 refashions modern theological anthropology by moving from our inherited conception of the human person as fundamentally a free individual, to recognize our constitution as relational individuals always engaged in ‘creativity under constraint’. The final case study moves into the contemporary moment, with interviews from a group of women meeting together for over ten years in interfaith dialogue. From their insights, chapter 6 pursues further a renewed theology of religious pluralism.