Burn's Women Across Cultures

Front 1

Religious Fundamentalism

Back 1

committed to the authority of ancient scriptures and believe them to be infallible; hold religion to provide a total worldview from politics; idealize a past when gender spheres were seperate; require women to be modest and subordinate and regulate their sexuality; reject norms of universal human rights and multiculturalism; and have an "us versus them" mentality

p.176-177

Front 2

Benevolent Sexism

Back 2

Has three domains: protective paternalism (i.e., men should protect and provide for women); Complementary Gender Differentiation (i.e., women are naturally suited for traditional female-specific gender roles); and Heterosexual Intimacy (i.e., heterosexual romantic relationships are essential).

p.177

Front 3

Ambivalent Sexism

Back 3

when benevolent sexism coexists with "hostile sexism," the perception of women as enemies or adversaries.

p.177

Front 4

Feminist Theology

Back 4

reconsiders the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of religion from a feminist perspective with a commitment to transforming religion for gender equality.

p.178

Front 5

Essay Topic

Critiques of dominant religions

Back 5

1. Masculine God Language - male imagery used by so many of the world's religions and regard it as both a source and a reflection of patriarchy such as "Our Heavenly Father."

2. Sexism in Religious Texts - historically, in all major religions, it is men who have composed. transmitted, and interpreted the sacred writings. Over time, these writings and interpretations increasingly reflected men's activities, achievements, and power as well as societal views of male superiority.

3. Gender Segregated Religious Practices - a number of the world's religions have different rituals and forms of worship based on gender. In general, the religious practices of males are more public and the practices of women are conducted in the home.

p.178-181

Front 6

Masculine God Language

Back 6

androcentric language arising from the patriarchal historical context in which the world's major religions emerged

p.179

Front 7

Feminist Hermeneutics

Back 7

generally emphasize the importance of historical contextualization. These include: a hermeneutics of suspicion (texts are not taken at face value; patriarchal interests are critically examined); a hermeneutics of remembrance and historical reconstruction (efforts are made to reconstruct women's history); a hermeneutics of proclamation (texts, passages, etc. are analyzed for their oppressive or liberating potential); and a hermeneutics of creative actualization (creative reading, interpreting, and envisioning of women in religious texts).

p.180-181

Front 8

Essay Topic

Gender Segregated Religious Practices

Back 8

In general, the religious practices of males are more public (for example, in the church, temple, or synagogue) and the practices of women are conducted in the home (for example, they prepare ritual and religious holiday meals).

Front 9

Leadership roles in religions are usually reserved for males. Passages in religious texts are often used to justify why women should not hold religious leadership positions. Many religions also keep women theologically illiterate, thus ensuring that they are unqualified to hold high positions within the religion.God's messengers on earth are male, and it is often said that only males may represent them. some religions also maintain that women are spiritually inferior to men and that they are therefore unsuitable for religious leadership.

Back 9

Women's religious roles frequently provide the support necessary for the growth and maintenance of the tradition. Religious women often have a sense of importance in their religions from the knowledge that without them, those parts of religious traditions that take place in the home would not occur.One benefit of sex-segregated nature of religion is that it provides women with a womanspace - where power and integrity come from their shared experiences and visions as women.p.181-182

Front 10

Essay Topic

Feminist Reform and Reconstruction Efforts

Back 10

1. Seek inclusive god and prayer language - these efforts include avoiding the use of gendered pronouns altogether and not referring to God as the "Father" or alternating gendered pronouns and using God the "Mother" as well as the "Father."

2. Use religious texts and history to promote gender equality - efforts are made to recover women's scriptural stories and to interpret texts in light of women's experiences.

3. Promote women's theological literacy - so that they are not dependent on male interpretations of scriptures that may be biased by patriarchal lenses. Feminist theologists promote women's access to scriptures and encourage women to read them for themselves.

4. Increase number of women in religious leadership - women who felt called to religious leadership and found themselves barred from these vocations have been instrumental in the fight for the right to become religious leaders.

p.182-183

Front 11

Shari'ah

Back 11

Islamic law based on sayings attributed to Muhammad; often conservative and supportive of traditional gender roles.

p.184

Front 12

Islamists

Back 12

Muslim fundamentalists who use strict scriptural interpretations that restrict women and favor a state governed by religious law.

p.185

Front 13

Essay Topic

Gender-Segregated Religious Practices Across Religions

Back 13

1. Buddhism, especially in the Theravada tradition - teachers, students, monastics, and meditators have favored men. It has been expected that women show devotion through their domestic duties as wives and mothers, in lay devotional practices, and by feeding monks.

p.194

Front 14

Protective Paternalism

Back 14

the passages in the Bible that are consistent with benevolent sexism. For instance, the verse from the King James version of the Bible says, "But I would have you know, that the head of every man os Christ; and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God."

p.197

Front 15

Gender Complementarity

Back 15

Suggested by this passage, "Wives, in the same way, be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives."

p.197

Front 16

Stained Glass Ceiling

Back 16

Referred by Christian and Catholic feminists as the barriers in the way of women's progression through the church hierarchy.

p.197

Front 17

Liberation Theology

Back 17

Activist theologies that focus on justice and equality for all people and use religious texts and specific stories and passages as a means to empower the poor and oppressed.

p.199

Front 18

Post-colonial Theology

Back 18

Some African and Asian feminist theologies that seek to rediscover nonpatriarchal religious traditions and interpretations common before colonization.

p.199

Front 19

Womanist Theology

Back 19

a newly developing Black woman's feminist theology that began as a Protestant Christian African-American endeavor but increasingly includes the voices of other Black women. It brings Black women's social, religious, and cultural experiences into the theological discourse. It is a liberation theology in that it emphasizes justice for women and the oppressed and is envisioned as an instrument for theological and social change.

p.199

Front 20

Mujerista Theology

Back 20

a Latin American feminist theology, that has as its goal the liberation of Latinas (and all people) and the changing of church structures such that Latinas may participate fully in them. It also emphasizes the discovery and affirmation of God in Latina's daily lives and communities.

p.199

Front 21

Native American Theology

Back 21

Theologies that challenge the patriarchal and colonial histories of Native Americans, histories in which women are often absent and subordinate. they use oral tribal histories, rather than archival histories biased by colonization, to recover women's voices in Native American religion

p.199-200

Front 22

Paganism

Back 22

an umbrella term for a wide variety for pre- and nonbiblical religions that include female images of the divine. these ancient religions are rich sources of positive female imagery and have the advantage of being rooted in tradition

p.200

Front 23

Feminist/women's spirituality movement

Back 23

began in the 1970s and is mostly found in the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain. these religions are among the few living religions created and led by women.

p.200

Front 24

Goddess Spirituality

Back 24

Pagan religions focused on goddess worship and based in the belief that humans lived in peace and harmony during a goddess-worshiping pre-history.

p.200

Front 25

Dianic Witchcraft

Back 25

a feminist form that worships the feminine divine in mostly all-female covens. they believe that before recorded history there were peaceful gender-egalitarian societies that worshiped the goddess but that these were displaced by patriarchal forces through violence.

p.201