As an outspoken feminist, I’ve always felt a small thorn in my side when two important spheres of my life, religion and feminism, cross paths. For me, and perhaps many others, religion and women’s issues bring up bitter connotations of female submission, expectations of purity, and Eve being made out of Adam’s rib.
However, after attending a recent conference hosted by Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and Foreign Affairs and altFem Magazine, I can thankfully say I’ve learned three incredible lessons about the relationship between faith and feminism.
1. “You Can’t Be What You Can’t See”
Female role models are essential to how we think of femininity. You strive to be what you see around you. By looking at inspirational faith figures such as the “mother of the Church,” Mary, and the “mother of Islam,” Khadija, women can see strong, powerful, and faithful role models.
Christy Vines, from the Institute of Global Engagement, noted it was not a coincidence that women shared some of the most important news in the Bible.
"Jesus chose a woman to carry the message of resurrection. Mary [Magdelene] wasn’t just there,” she said.
For me, Mary is a great feminist figure. She was fearless in listening to God’s call to bear his son, she challenges Jesus in John’s reading of the wedding at Cana, and, holistically, Mary was both a leader and a mother.
Within Islam, Mohammad’s first wife Khadija was not only the Prophet’s senior by 20 years, she was also his employer. Khadija was a wealthy merchant in Mecca who supported Mohammad during the early stages of his prophetic visions. Some say she was the first convert to Islam. In Khadija, I see a strong vision for economic equity and mutual respect in marriage.
Historical women of faith such as Mary, Khadija, and Mary Magdalene provide examples that feminist role models are not only found in secular arenas. You can be a strong and religious woman—you’ve just got to see it.
2. Female Empowerment Isn’t Always About “Power”
One of the most interesting conversations at the Berkley Center focused on the desire for power in feminist discourse. In some ways, the feminist aspiration for power in terms of fiscal gain only perpetuates the patriarchal emphasis on economic power as the only definition of success.
One definition of female power that has its roots in Scripture is the power to be seen as equal before God. The concept that God created “man in his own image; male and female he created them” is imperative to feminist theory of shared power between sexes.
Another broader aspect of feminism that gets lost in a strict definition of power is the power of being heard. Like Mary speaking the truth of Jesus’ resurrection, having power means women’s voices are heard and respected among all people.
If we only define having power as women making capitalistic progress in our markets, we lose important aspects of divine femininity that render both male and female equal in the eyes of God.
3. Human Dignity for Each Being is Divine
Throughout the New Testament, Jesus continually reminds his disciples of the dignity found within every human—he sits with the Samaritan woman at the well, he dines with tax collectors and sinners, and he cures a man with leprosy. During Jesus’ ministry, people that society deemed as socially or ethnically “lesser” are risen up and affirmed by the divine dignity within them.
“Looking at the Scriptures,” Vines said, women can find themselves “wholly empowered” by the inherent worth of each individual.
Paul’s letter to the Galatians maintains, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
The Bible is not the only religious resource for this affirmation. The Qur’an also affirms, “God has given dignity to the children of Adam” (The Noble Qur’an, 17:70). All humans regardless of gender, race, class, or any other social construction of worth are equal in the presence of God’s grace.
The inherent worth of each woman is not strictly common sense or logical in a secular theoretical framework. It is deeply rooted in the teachings and practice of the Christian faith. At its core, Christianity is a religion that affirms the dignity of each individual who lingers on the outskirts of societal norms: the sick, the poor, the oppressed, and women. Jesus stood by them all. By looking at feminism through the lens of Christ, one can see the fusion of flesh and spirit acting as inspiration for the divine dignity within each being.
Kaeley McEvoy is Campaigns Assistant for Sojourners.
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