Ursula King is Professor and Head of Department in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University
of Bristol, UK. She has published many books and articles. Her most recent publications include Women and Spirituality:
Voices of Protest and Promise (1993) and an edited reader on Feminist Theology from the Third World (1994).
Review
"It is a rich and varied collection that is accompanied by full and informative bibliographies. Accessible
to those with non-specialist knowledge, it will be of interest to any who are curious about altering perceptions
of maleness and femaleness and 'genderedness' as an analytical category within religious studies as a whole."
--Esther D. Reed, University of Exeter
Blackwell Publisher's Web Site, May, 2000
Summary
Over the past decade gender studies have set an entirely new agenda for religious studies, and work in this
area has expanded rapidly. In this book, an international group of women scholars from Europe, North America, South
Africa and Australia provides an overview of these new theoretical and critical perspectives with special attention
to new developments.
A substantial introduction provides a systematic overview of the key issues and developments in the field. In the
first part epistemological and hermeneutical discussions are brought together with reflections on the Sacred, God
and Gender and the new Goddess Spirituality. The second part considers important methodological and empirical issues
raised by gender studies in religion. It includes new historical material on women scholars in the study of religion
and new contemporary data on women in African and Japanese religions. Also considered are the contributions of
women's studies to a new understanding of the Christian tradition and wider questions raised by gender for academic
teaching and research on religion. The volume also includes an up-to-date bibliography of the most significant
publications in the field.
Religion and Gender will be of interest to a broad range of readers in both religious studies and gender studies.
It will provide an ideal introduction to debates in the field for students and researchers concerned with the impact
of women's studies and wider gender issues on religion around the world.
Table of Contents
Introduction:
Gender and the Study of Religion: Ursula King.
Part I: Theoretical Reflections:
1. The Epistemological Significance of Feminist Research in Religion: June O'Connor.
2. Feminist Anthropology and the Gendering of Religious Studies: Rosalind Shaw.
3. Religion and the Hermeneutics of Gender: Erin White.
4. Disputing the Sacred: Some Theoretical Approaches to Problems of Gender and Religion: Penelope Margaret Magee.
5. God and Gender: Some Reflections on Women's Invocation of the Divine: Morny Joy.
6. The Return of the Goddess: Psychoanalytic Reflections on the Shift from Theology to Thealogy: Naomi Goldenberg.
7. Religion and Magic in the Modern Cults of the Great Goddess: Donate Pahnke.
8. Spirituality, Consciousness and Gender Identification: A Neo-Feminist Perspective: Felicity Edwards.
Part II: Empirical Investigations:
9. Women Researching, Women Researched: Gender as an Issue in the Empirical Study of Religion: Kim Knott.
10. A Question of Identity: Women Scholars and the Study of Religion: Ursula King.
11. Women's Studies of the Christian Tradition: New Perspectives: Kari Borresen.
12. Women and New Religious Movements in Africa: Rosalind I. J. Hackett.
13. Liberator or Pacifier: Religion and Women in Japan: Marilyn F. Nefsy.
Notes on Contributors.
