The growing body of feminist literature in the late 20th and early 21st centuries demonstrates the phenomenal advances of feminist thought and movements in the context of church and society. Characteristic of this growth is the re-location of issues from the global North, and broadening of focus to include voices from the global South.
In the context of globalization new vistas and voices are emerging that trace new directions and seek to rephrase the central questions in the feminist discourse. This volume aims to highlight the changing face and color of feminist theological discourse, recognize innovative research in the field, and facilitate a global conversation among feminists engaged in theological ethics in the world church.

An introduction to Catholic theological ethics through the lens of its historical development from the beginning of the church until today.

Studying the various movements among women in the Catholic Church in Asia, the author argues that the preexisting male-dominated church rooted in the colonial era is now being challenged to recentralize itself and exercises an inclusive and participatory ecclesiology in which women should become fuller members of the church and participate in the decision-making processes of the church. For only when the church in Asia discovers and recognizes the richness of women’s potential, leadership, charisma, and vision, will it be able to witness to the Gospel values and fulfill its vision of mission in Asia. The author shows that Asian Catholic women have played and continue to play a crucial role in designing and carrying out multiple areas of the church’s ministries that men failed to do. Furthermore, the author shows that through the interactions and dialogue with Asian bishops in recent decades, Asian Catholic women have gradually influenced the Asian bishops’ consciousness of women’s issues and concerns.

Christian ethics is a wide and varied field; so diverse are the methods and approaches, theological perspectives and starting points, and scopes of inquiry and purposes—dare we even call it a discipline?—that the field is rarely considered as a whole. Christian ethics includes historical, descriptive, critical, constructive, and applied projects on countless topics. Lending creative energy to this field of study are a range of partner disciplines, including, most prominently, theology, philosophy, and sociology, each containing multiple schools themselves. To envision the entire field of Christian ethics is a difficult task; to reenvision the entire field may perhaps be impossible for one person. Thus, this publication includes original research by multiple scholars, each offering a distinct perspective from their primary partner discipline. Chapters include Roman Catholic and Protestant voices from Europe, Asia, and North America. In aggregate, these writings contribute to a composite reenvisioning of Christian ethics, refracting our collective vision through the prisms of diverse academic and methodological perspectives in this vast field of inquiry, study, and practice.

Religious traditions in the United States are characterized by ongoing tension between assimilation to the broader culture, as typified by mainline Protestant churches, and defiant rejection of cultural incursions, as witnessed by more sectarian movements such as Mormonism and Hassidism. However, legal theorist and Catholic theologian Cathleen Kaveny contends there is a third possibility—a culture of engagement—that accommodates and respects tradition. It also recognizes the need to interact with culture to remain relevant and to offer critiques of social, political, legal, and economic practices. Kaveny suggests that rather than avoid the crisscross of the religious and secular spheres of life, we should use this conflict as an opportunity to come together and to encounter, challenge, contribute to, and correct one another. Focusing on five broad areas of interest—Law as a Teacher, Religious Liberty and Its Limits, Conversations about Culture, Conversations about Belief, and Cases and Controversies—Kaveny demonstrates how thoughtful and purposeful engagement can contribute to rich, constructive, and difficult discussions between moral and cultural traditions. This provocative collection of Kaveny's articles from Commonweal magazine, substantially revised and updated from their initial publication, provides astonishing insight into a range of hot-button issues like abortion, assisted suicide, government-sponsored torture, contraception, the Ashley Treatment, capital punishment, and the role of religious faith in a pluralistic society. At turns masterful and inspirational, A Culture of Engagement is a welcome reminder of what can be gained when a diversity of experiences and beliefs is brought to bear on American public life.

"In 2009, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR)--an organization representing 300 orders of sisters in the United States--suddenly gained wide attention following a critical doctrinal assessment issued by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Many became interested in the way the LCWR and its members exercised leadership. One of their members described it as “transformational leadership”--a “way-of-being-in-in-the-world.” To better understand this way of leadership, LCWR regularly conducts interviews with some of the most engaging and passionate of contemporary thinkers. In this volume of interviews, eighteen theologians, psychologists, educators, and religious leaders from various fields and disciplines share their wisdom about a way of leadership able to meet the deep challenges of today's world. Transformational Leadership offers the opportunity to learn from notables such as Walter Brueggemann, Judy Cannato, Joan Chittister, OSB, Constance FitzGerald, OCD, Donald Goergen, OP, Marty Linsky, and Margaret Wheatley. Transformational Leadership, although originally addressed to American Catholic sisters, provides thoughtful and practical suggestions for living a Gospel-centered life and its unique collection of personalities and insight makes it of interest to all men and women seeking to live and lead with purpose and depth"--

An eminent theologian addresses an enduring--but newly urgent--question Is it possible to be both a faithful Catholic and an avowed feminist? Earlier generations of feminists first formulated answers to this question in the 1970s. Their views are still broadly held, but with increasing tentativeness and a growing sense of their inadequacy. Even now, Catholic women and men still say, "It's my Church and I'm not leaving," "Change will only happen if people like me stay and fight," and "The Church's work for social justice is more important than the issues that concern me as a feminist." Yet in a post-#MeToo, #ChurchToo moment, when the Church seems disconnected from struggles for racial justice and LGBTQ inclusion, those answers sound increasingly insufficient. Today, tensions between Catholicism and feminism are more visible and ties to Catholic communities are increasingly weak. Can Catholic feminism survive? Julie Hanlon Rubio argues that it can. But if it is going to do so, it is necessary to rethink how women and men who experience the pull of feminism and Catholicism can credibly claim both identities. In Can You Be a Catholic and a Feminist? Rubio argues that Catholic feminist identity is only tenable if we frankly acknowledge tensions between Catholicism and feminism, bring forward shared concerns, and embrace the future with ambiguity and creativity. Rubio explores the potential for synergy and dialogue between Catholics and feminists through various lenses, including sexual violence, gender theory, pregnancy and pre-natal loss, work-life balance, relationships and family life, spirituality, conscience, and what it means to be human. This book gives those who struggle to balance Catholicism and feminism a credible path to authentic belonging.

This book surveys a broad panorama of Christian and African traditions to discover and assess the components that will illuminate and motivate a Christian and African ethic of women’s political participation. The author’s primary lens for diagnosing the problems faced by women in Africa is Engelbert Mveng’s concept of “anthropological poverty” that results from slavery and colonialism. It affects women in unique ways and is exacerbated by the religious and cultural histories of women’s oppression. The author advocates an interplay between the sacredness of every individual’s life, a salient principle of Christian ethics, and the collective consciousness of solidarity distinctive to African cultures. This interplay can, in turn, foster a more enlightened approach to African masculinity. Using a “sophialogical” hermeneutic, this in-depth study undertakes a moral imagination through narrative criticism. It argues that the existential reality of African women must be addressed as an essential element in the development of Christian socio-political ethic. The righteous, solidaristic, and resistant anger of women can transform patriarchy and inform Catholic social teaching. The author draws on The Circle of concerned African women theologians, postcolonial theorists, inculturation theology, African males, and Jon Sobrino's liberation theology to present an innovative Christian ethic that will radically affect the lives of African women and inform feminist theology.