Religion, Feminism, and the Family (Studies in Family, Religion, and Culture)

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Summary: Reconciling and renewing traditions, institutions, & change
Review: Proponents of religion, feminism, and the family often appear to have irreconcilable differences and incommensurable objectives. In this book, a product of the Religion, Culture, and Family Project at the University of Chicago Divinity School, Anne Carr and Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen have assembled a provocative collection of essays on the relationship and mutually reinforcing qualities of religious tradition, feminist thought, and familial relations. The contributors bring a range of historical, theological, social scientific, and pastoral perspectives together to bear in an overall argument that religion, feminism, and family need not be incurably antagonistic to one another.

The argument has three basic components. First, feminism must recognize and retrieve the religious precedents for its deepest convictions about equality and freedom. Second, religion must take into account the insights and concerns of contemporary feminism in order to remain relevant in contemporary society. Finally, families need a feminism that is religiously articulate and a religion that is sensitive to the needs of families. These points emerge over and over as the contributors examine Jewish and Christian theologies of gender and family, the history of religious and feminist influences on the family in the West, and a number of current family issues in which that religious and feminist is much in evidence. This wonderfully ecumenical volume is highly recommended for anyone interested in the interrelation of religion, feminism, and family in the past and present.