By Arden Berry | Staff Writer
Students, faculty and staff gathered in Draper to discuss feminism, but this time through a Christian lens.
A variety of professors came together to discuss feminist issues within their disciplines at the Christian Feminisms: Faith, Gender, and Justice panel on Thursday afternoon.
The panel was sponsored by the Women’s and Gender Studies department and co-sponsored by the Institute for Faith and Learning. Dr. Theresa Kennedy, director of Women’s and Gender Studies, introduced each panelist, who then spoke for about ten minutes each on a feminist topic within their discipline. The presentations were followed by a short Q&A and a reception.
Dr. Beth Allison Barr, endowed professor of history, introduced the panel’s focus on feminism and Christianity. Barr described how Minette Drumwright, who established Baylor’s Drumwright Family Lecture series, concluded that the biblical interpretation of women as subordinates was incorrect and went on to argue for women’s ordination. However, Barr said Drumwright rejected the label of feminist.
“And herein lies the conundrum,” Barr said. “For those of us who profess faith from the Judeo-Christian tradition, we believe in a God who proclaims that women are fully human and fully reflect the divine image just in the same way as men, yet we worship in a church culture that fears feminism and, more often than not, actively works against it.”
Dr. Andrea Turpin, associate professor and graduate program director of history, applied Christian feminism to Madeline Southard, president of the International Association of Women Preachers at its founding in 1919. Southard believed the association unified both liberal and conservative ideas, which was a unique perspective with the religious controversies between fundamentalism and modernism at the time, Turpin said.
“It wasn’t just that Southard believed that spreading the Christian message was sufficiently urgent that all hands, including women’s, should be on deck for it, although she did,” Turpin said. “Southard also believed that women’s unique perspective on theological issues mandated their participation in the vocation of preaching.”
Dr. Gia Chevis, director of innovation in accounting data and analytics, presented on women’s traditional and modern working roles, displaying the unseen work of caregivers with examples from the Bible, history and popular culture.
“Visible work — real work — has three qualities,” Chevis said. “First, it’s done outside the home. Second, it’s paid. Third, men do it. That makes it real. Most other work is invisible, taken for granted like clean air and water, which we don’t miss until the regulations that provide it disappear, but so invaluable that we don’t think we have to pay for it.”
Dr. Emilie Cunningham, clinical associate professor of medical humanities, based her presentation around childbirth, describing shifting Christian perspectives of women’s pain in childbirth and comparing early social childbirth to the sterility and isolation of modern delivery rooms.
“The key piece in embracing these promises is it leaves social childbirth behind,” Cunningham said. “No one moves with the mother into the hospital setting. She gives birth by herself, usually with strangers. And she does not have control. She is obedient to the systems and the procedures in place.”
Dr. Cynthia Shafer-Elliott, associate professor of the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament, presented on Christian feminism and Eve in Genesis, contrasting traditional interpretations with feminist biblical scholar Phyllis Trible’s interpretation.
“By unpacking the Hebrew terms, Trible’s interpretation overturns centuries of readings that have justified male headship and female subordination in this passage,” Shafer-Elliott said. “Instead, it affirms a vision of human relationships grounded in equality and shared dignity from the very beginning of creation.”
The audience was comprised of faculty and students, some of whom received class credit for attending.
Aliso Viejo, Calif., freshman Hailey Klein said she considers herself a Christian feminist, so the lecture immediately drew her attention.
“I was especially interested as someone who would consider myself a Christian feminist,” Klein said. “I loved especially the Q&A part with [Shafer-Elliott]. Actually, I’m going to go talk to her and go email her and figure out if I can take her class, because she seems amazing.”
Though the topics varied, the Christian feminist perspectives from the panel did not.
“I believe that the fear we have been taught about feminism in our church spaces is not just misguided, but is wrong and is contrary to human flourishing,” Barr said. “The question isn’t ‘How can a Christian be a feminist?’ The question is, ‘Why isn’t every Christian a feminist?’”
