Seeing beauty and injustice
Since her death in 1943, Simone Weil’s philosophy has impacted dozens of writers, thinkers and theologians. T.S. Eliot named her a saint. Simone de Beauvoir envied her spirit. Now, in The Literary Afterlives of Simone Weil: Feminism, Justice, and the Challenge of Religion, Cindy Wallace examines how nine writers, including Adrienne Rich, Annie Dillard and the Mennonite…
Menno theology in light of feminist critique
In their appreciative foreword to Mennonite theologian Lydia Neufeld Harder’s retrospective essay collection, Kimberley Penner and Susanne Guenther Loewen write of the time, hospitality and encouragement that Harder provided to both of them during their PhD studies and dissertation writing. The care and attention that she has shown to the task of cultivating theological vocation…
Wrestling with challenging texts
Most upper-level university classes end with a final essay, not a photography project, prayerful meditations or a “yarn-bombed” tree. Sheila Klassen-Wiebe, however, took the road less travelled for Feminist Perspectives on Bible and Theology. Last fall, Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) offered this feminist theology class, which was taught by Klassen-Wiebe, an associate professor in biblical…
Studying the Bible through a feminist lens
Around 10 women and female-identifying people sit in a circle at Erb Street Mennonite Church in Waterloo, every week, drinking tea and discussing biblical texts through a feminist lens. Jessica Reesor Rempel, 29, a member of Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church in Kitchener, started Feminist Bible Study to create a space for women to discuss issues…
Remembering the mothers of the ‘disappeared’
When I was a young child, my family lived in Chile, where my parents worked at an inter-Protestant seminary. We happened to be there to witness the end of the brutal, U.S.-backed military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, as he was peacefully voted out of power in the late 1980s. Even as a child, I knew…
Missing the Crucified Woman
The sculpture above stands on the grounds of my theological college, Emmanuel College in Toronto, of the United Church of Canada. I used to walk by her almost daily, on my way to class or the library. She has become more and more meaningful to me as I’ve learned more about her and as my…
Christ as Christa
Earlier this year I was invited to give a lecture on feminist Christology to a class of undergraduate students. Now feminist Christology is something very dear to me, even though a lot of people’s eyes glaze over with incomprehension when I say those words! Briefly put, it’s about who Jesus Christ is in women’s experience.…
