What is the essential teaching of Christian feminism?

Woman PrayingAnne Eggebroten responds:

We could sum it up this way:

“You is kind, you is smart, you is important,” as Aibileen tells two-year-old Mae Mobley in the film and novel The Help.

Christian feminists are first of all women and men who have chosen to follow Jesus; we call others to become disciples, too.  That involves turning the other cheek, obeying the Golden Rule, and practicing other forms of kindness as well. Additionally, Christian feminists call women to respect their own instincts and intelligence, and to understand their own importance.

Contemporary societies too often devalue women and do not want their voices to be heard.  We who are Christian feminists remind ourselves and others that to ignore God’s call and/or bury our gifts is wrong.  Every day, we must decide how we are to carry out Jesus’ great commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19).

For further reading:

All We’re Meant to Be: Biblical Feminism for Today by Letha Dawson Scanzoni and Nancy A. Hardesty (1974; 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,1992).

Human Liberation in a Feminist Perspective: A Theology by Letty Russell.  (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1974).

Rev. Rebecca Kiser serves as a pastor in the Presbyterian Church, USA. She describes her faith life as “… like one of those funnel gadgets, being raised in the extremely narrow end of fundamentalism, then moving into the gradually widening scope of the evangelical, through orthodox Reformed theology, and now probably more progressive." Dr. Anne Linstatter is a professor and founding member of EEWC-CFT. She teaches on women and religion at California State University, Northridge. She describes herself as a writer, mother, (somewhat) radical feminist, and born-again Christian. She collected and edited personal stories for her book, "Abortion—My Choice, God’s Grace: Christian Women Tell Their Stories." Her commentaries appear on Women’s eNews and Christian Feminism Today, as well as on her blog Martha y Maria: Women’s Lives, Women’s Rights.

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