Academic Affiliation: University at Albany, SUNY Title: Clergywomen, Women’s Ordination, and “Women’s Issues”: Women’s Representation in American Religious Congregations Abstract: Using data from the 2018-2019 National Congregations Study, I explore the relationship between women’s descriptive and substantive representation in American religious congregations. In particular, I examine the relationship between the presence of clergywomen or egalitarian
Affiliation: Guilford College Title: Evolving RCWP: Ministerial Modeling and Practicing New Priesthoods Abstract: The Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP) movement started in 2001 with the contra legem (“against canon law”) ordinations of 7 women to priesthood. To date, roughly 250 women have been ordained through RCWP. While the women in the movement are not recognized by Rome and
Academic Affiliation: Indiana University Title: The Other Pastors: Towards Legitimacy and Authority Abstract: This paper looks at the experiences of women of color clergy in mainline Protestant denominations. I argue that women of color clergy are often viewed as “the other pastor,” that is, occupying another category of pastor alongside their peers and colleagues. Although
Academic Affiliation: Groton School Title: “Muslim Feminist Thought Leadership and Feminist Theology” Abstract: Over the past forty years, Muslim Feminist theology has emerged as a transformative field of constructive theological inquiry. As scholarly investigations into the gendered dimensions of classical Islamic ethics and jurisprudence proliferate, Muslimah theologians engage the Qur’an and authoritative early Islamic sources
Academic Affiliation: Utah Tech University Title: “You might change your mind!”: Early Responses to Women’s Ordination in the 1980s RLDS Church Abstract: Scholars have documented reasons given by Christians and Jews for supporting women’s ordination, noting that very little changed in terms of formal rationales between the 19th and 21st century (Chaves, 1997; Naddell, 1999;
Academic Affiliation: The Jewish Theological Seminary Title: “Partner, Pioneer, Principal: Female Jewish Religious Leadership in North America” Abstract: How did Jewish women in North America exercise religious leadership before they could become rabbis – and then, when the doors to ordination first opened to them? In the present, how do these earlier generations of female
Academic Affiliation: Springfield College (MA) Title: “NFP is Pro-Women:” Catholic women & 21st century reproductive health Abstract: In 1968, Paul VI officially disagreed with a group of lay men and women who had advised him to reverse the Catholic ban on contraception. Most versions of Catholic women and reproduction focus on how many Catholic women
Academic Affiliation: Yale Divinity School Title: The Apostle Pauli and the Spirituality of Risk-taking Abstract: Pauli Murray was a path-breaking poet, activist, attorney, professor, and Episcopal priest whose legacy of human rights work continues to reverberate. This lecture will explore the foundations of Murray’s preaching ministry, drawing on acts of protest, poems, letters, and sermons.
Fifty years ago, there were virtually no women who served as primary religious leaders in local congregations, synagogues, mosques, or temples in the US. Today, a handful of groups have gender parity, and groups long considered locked into gender-binary patriarchies now have established groups that advocate for women’s religious leadership. Our conference asks the following