Issues of race, gender, nationality and religion have been the breeding ground of conflict and oppression throughout history. This book provides an engaging assessment of the dangers of defining the self against the other.

This article examines what it is to think through queer eyes, that is what may queer theory offer to the study of theology. It shows what queer is in this context and challenges the reader to think in other ways. The article examines how queer theory helps to illuminate the radical nature of incarnation at the same time as examining some of the concerns expressed by theorists about the nature of the queer theological project.

Lisa Isherwood, one of the founding editors of Feminist Theology journal reflects on the development of Feminist Theology over the past 20 years and looks to its future. Avenues for the future include development of the area of Atonement Theologies and working to get it disseminated to seminaries and various clerical training institutions. Feminism in Europe, particularly Central or Eastern Europe, also has a place in the next 20 years of Feminist Theology and the journal.

Has Christianity, a religion with incarnation at its heart, devalued the flesh through an over-emphasis on the cross? In this article Lisa Isherwood's response is an overwhelming 'yes'. Isherwood argues that the devaluation of the flesh has hindered Christianity's efforts to address the genocidal realities of global capitalism. She suggests that a return to the tree found in Eden and sensuously engaged with by our foremother Eve, will provide a sounder base for the development of a Christo-ethic (...) that can offer alternatives to advanced capitalism. (shrink)

In this exclusive Interview Ada María Isasi-Díaz responds to questions about her work in theology, and the social and political challenges for Mujerista Theology in the first half of the twenty-first century. She discusses some of the biggest shifts in theology since she first engaged with it, and the challenges of growing ‘a Hispanic garden in a foreign land.’ A focus of the interview is Mujerista Theology and how it has developed over the last 20 years and is adapting for (...) the future. (shrink)

This paper asks whether Christianity has always been queer, is the very nature of it beyond what one might expect from reality? Does the core of Christianity destabilise the categories by which subsequent Christian leaders have created doctrine, developed ethics and controlled the faithful? Is this queer core located in the very notion of incarnation itself, an event that truly changes all we thought we knew about the nature of materiality? The paper is not attempting to find a queer past (...) in order to justify a queer present and solidify a queer future but rather to suggest that fluidity, rupture and unexpected outcomes should be at the heart of the Christian enterprise. It also follows that if the categories which have been used to exclude are themselves queered then Christianity becomes a far more inclusive way of living. The paper also asks whether the very notion of monotheism itself is a barrier to what may be understood as the fluid volatile core of incarnational religion. What does the queer theologian do with the ONE? (shrink)

The author argues that Christian theology needs to examine itself in the light of the events surrounding September 11th. Not only has some Christian theology lent itself to the creation of imperialistic mindsets that could be argued to be the root cause of the violence before and after September 11th but it now seems to sit on the fence. The author suggests that this, like so many in Christian theology, is ultimately a christological question and that we need to dislodge (...) the dualistic lens through which we view Jesus if we are to make progress in this bleeding world. Dualism lends itself to hierarchy and hierarchy to division and exploitation against which background even the most horrifying acts can be understood. Christianity can no longer hide its head and claim that exploitative interpretations are misunderstandings—it needs to look again at its central doctrines. (shrink)

This article is a response by a body theologian to Indecent Theology written by Marcella Althaus-Reid. The author takes Eve Ensler as a companion in a journey which attempts to spit out phallocentric meaning and engage with wicked and wordy cunning linguists as they move towards more honest telling-theology from the body. The author examines the divine masquerade, which is encouraged by some Christian theology and calls for a stripping away of such pretence and an acknowledgement of what play we (...) are actually engaged in so that we may come closer to what it is we are attempting to express about the divine. (shrink)

This article demonstrates the levels of domestic abuse in the UK and USA. The author argues that it is a mistake to see this as a purely private and therefore pastoral matter but it is rather a public and systematic problem and such is the stuff of public theological and ethical debate. The article demonstrates some ways in which Christian theology has been used to devalue women and thus create a climate in which abuse and death are both possible and (...) even acceptable. The author considers how theology can be instrumental in the creation of more mutually empowering models of masculinity and femininity. (shrink)

This paper takes issue with the Slim for Him programmes which suggest that Christianity has no place for the fleshy, indeed that the devil lurks in ample bodies. It investigates the way in which women have suffered a reducing rhetoric which has had its genesis in certain kinds of theology but has exacted a great price on the flesh of women. The paper therefore offers a fleshy Christology as a counter rhetoric in the hope that women may once again dance (...) in their skins and offer another set of values on their broad hips. (shrink)

This article considers the question of capitalism and the underlying aspects of Christological construction through comparing the approach of a Radical Orthodoxy theologian and feminist theologians. The author is concerned that feminist scholarship has been hijacked by male theologians who wish to offer a quite conservative agenda while appearing radical. The article shows that we can not change the outcomes if we are not willing to examine and change the underlying theories even if they are matters of doctrine.

This paper examines how a radical incarnational starting point would change the way we view the economic order. It highlights the way in which the current system creates extreme poverty and suffering for the many and asks if this can be tolerated by Christians. It also examines the Christian underpinnings of such a system and suggests that other Christian roots would lead to alternate and more inclusive systems.