Winter 2020

GWS 390R, section 2
TTh 9:30–10:45 a.m.
3 credit hours

This course taught by Deidre Nicole Green will examine the development of contemporary feminist theology from 1960 to the present. Students will be introduced to how feminist religious scholars approach theological, philosophical, and ethical issues, including by making women’s experience an authoritative source, arguing for women’s epistemic authority, redefining the nature of sin, challenging the Western tradition’s investment in theodicy, problems with self-sacrifice, including how it engenders excessive selflessness in women. Students will gain an appreciation of the breadth of approaches for engaging religious topics through a feminist lens and identify resonances with the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The course will begin with historical background on how feminist theology and feminist philosophy of religion began as disciplines in the 20th century and highlight women’s impact on the fields of theology, philosophy of religion, and theological ethics, so that students can understand the valuable contributions women make to religious debates by asking questions from their unique perspectives. We will address the importance of contextualizing women’s issues and look at the array of cultural and ethnic approaches within the broader field of feminist studies in religion.