Ellen T. Armour shows how the writings of Jacques Derrida and Luce Irigaray can be used to uncover feminism's white presumptions so that race and gender can be thought of differently. In clear, concise terms she explores the possibilities and limitations for feminist theology of Derrida's conception of "woman" and Irigaray's "multiple woman," as well as Derrida's thinking on race and Irigaray's work on religion ..."

Drawing from poststructuralist, postcolonial, and queer theory, this text explores the challenges of cultivating attentiveness to difference in women's experiences and reflects on the impact of race and sexuality on feminist theology.

This volume provides an introduction to the 'deconstuctive' criticism of Jacques Derrida, discussing its relevance to feminism in general, and to feminist interpretation of the Bible in particular. The first part of the book provides a critical overview of current trends in feminist exegesis, and proceeds with an outline of some key strategies in Derridean theory which could prove useful for feminist critical purposes. The theological implications of deconstructive biblical interpretation are considered, and the book's final chapter offers a reading of Genesis 2:4b-3:24 in which some of these reading strategies are put to work. This study addresses a wide range of current issues in theology and biblical criticism, and offers a valuable perspective on the advent of postmodernism in contemporary religion.

By all accounts, feminist theology is at a crossroads. Even as the longstanding consensus wanes that women's experience is the source and norm of feminist theology, the specific and often contradictory experience of different groups is now highlighted, and new theoretical frameworks are being proposed. This landmark volume explores central issues of female subjectivity and feminist identity, gender and embodiment, tradition and norms, and their impact on theology. Leading thinkers in this new generation of feminist theologians rethink the central claims of feminist theology and offer proposals for the future.

Long past the time when philosophers from different perspectives had joined the funeral procession that declared the death of God, a renewed interest has arisen in regard to the questions of God and religion in philosophy. The turn to secularization has produced its own opposing force. Although they declared themselves from the start as not being religious, thinkers such as Derrida, Vattimo, Zizek, and Badiou have nonetheless maintained an interest in religion. This book brings some of these philosophical views together to present an overview of the philosophical scene in its dealings with religion, but also to move beyond the outsider's perspective. Reflecting on these philosophical interpretations from a fundamental theological perspective, the authors discover in what way these interpretations can challenge an understanding of today's faith. Bringing together thinkers with an established reputation - Kearney, Caputo, Ward, Desmond, Hart, Armour - along with young scholars, this book challenges a range of perspectives by putting them in a new context.

This title was first published in 2003. Can difference be subordinated to identity, simplicity or diversity? Or does it make a difference to the entire way in which we think? This book challenges the dominant agenda in the discipline of philosophy of religion by exploring issues of difference that have hitherto been obscured. It draws together some of the most innovative work in philosophical thinking about religion by some of the most creative and radical new thinkers in the field. Moving beyond debates between believers and skeptics, the contributors draw on critical theory to address differences in rationality, gender, tradition, culture and politics, showing how it is possible to think differently. Assumptions about rational neutrality, belief, tradition, experience and identity that undergird the rational exploration of classical theism are deconstructed. Instead it becomes important to explore a critical ethical reasoning, religious performance, internal religious tensions, location in culture, and a relation to exteriority as the groundwork for a future philosophy of religion.

What difference does theological thinking make? Does Christianity have any relevance for our secular, globalized, environmentally threatened world? Specifically formulated for undergraduate and seminary courses in theology, this volume answers a resounding yes. Gathering many respected and original Christian thinkers who have been inspired by the example and work of theologian Sallie McFague, this book engages such topics as God, Christ, revelation, eschatology, and church in three intertwined and pressing areas: (1) our religious life and language in a secularized, pluralistic society, (2) our newly globalized economic life, and (3) our threatened environmental life.

Feminist theology is a significant movement within contemporary theology. The aim of this Companion is to give an outline of feminist theology through an analysis of its overall shape and its major themes, so that both its place in and its contributions to the present changing theological landscape may be discerned. The two sections of the volume are designed to provide a comprehensive and critical introduction to feminist theology which is authoritative and up-to-date. Written by some of the main figures in feminist theology, as well as by younger scholars who are considering their inheritance, it offers fresh insights into the nature of feminist theological work. The book as a whole is intended to present a challenge for future scholarship, since it critically engages with the assumptions of feminist theology, and seeks to open ways for women after feminism to enter into the vocation of theology.

Feminist theory and reflections on sexuality and gender rarely make contact with contemporary continental philosophy of religion. Where they all come together, creative and transformative thinking occurs. In Feminism, Sexuality, and the Return of Religion, internationally recognized scholars tackle complicated questions provoked by the often stormy intersection of these powerful forces. The essays in this book break down barriers as they extend the richness of each philosophical tradition. They discuss topics such as queer sexuality and religion, feminism and the gift, feminism and religious reform, and religion and diversity. The contributors are Hélène Cixous, Sarah Coakley, Kelly Brown Douglas, Mark D. Jordan, Catherine Keller, Saba Mahmood, and Gianni Vattimo.

Over the last twenty years materialist thinkers in the continental tradition have increasingly emphasized the category of immanence. Yet the turn to immanence has not meant the wholesale rejection of the concept of transcendence, but rather its reconfiguration in immanent or materialist terms: an immanent transcendence. Through an engagement with the work of Deleuze, Irigaray and Adorno, Patrice Haynes examines how the notion of immanent transcendence can help articulate a non-reductive materialism by which to rethink politics, ethics and theology in exciting new ways. However, she argues that contrary to what some might expect, immanent accounts of matter and transcendence are ultimately unable to do justice to material finitude. Indeed, Haynes concludes by suggesting that a theistic understanding of divine transcendence offers ways to affirm fully material immanence, thus pointing towards the idea of a theological materialism.