6. Gender Radicals and Spirituality

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we move from religious reform to religious radicalism and reinvention, focusing in particular on: (i) the work of Daphne Hampson and the concept of 'post-Christianity'; (ii) the work of Starhawk, especially her book 'The Spiral Dance' (1979), and the rise of neopagan beliefs and rituals; and (iii) the practices, beliefs and gender politics of Wicca, a religious movement that was developed in England in the first half of the twentieth century.

Course

In this course, Professor Linda Woodhead (Lancaster University) explores religion through the lens of feminism/gender studies. In the first module, we explore some classic feminist critiques of Christianity, including the work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) and Mary Daly (1928-2010). In the second module, we think about why women appear to be more religious than men, before turning in the third module to consider why some women living in gender-liberal societies choose to convert to gender-conservative forms of religion. In the fourth and fifth modules, we look at the work of two religious reformers – Fatima Mernissi and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza – before turning in the sixth modules to a range of women who took a more radical approach to the problem of misogyny in the religion they were brought up in. Finally, in the seventh module, we move beyond the major, institutionalised religions (e.g. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc.) to consider more 'everyday' religious beliefs and practices, e.g. checking one's horoscope in the newspaper, visiting a psychic or medium, etc. and exploring the extent to which these too are patterned by gender.

Lecturer

Professor Linda Woodhead is Distinguished Professor of Religion and Society at Lancaster University. She has written widely on religion in modern society. Her recent publications include That Was The Church That Was: How the Church of England Lost the English People (2016) (as co-author), Christianity: A Very Short Introduction (2014), and Everyday Lived Islam in Britain (2013) (as co-author).