Feminist Theologies

Abstract

The entry summarizes and analyses some of the main theological trends within Jewish feminisms. Taking a broader sense of theology as the conceptual religious underpinning that serves as a lens through which new options for interpreting the Jewish canon emerge, it focuses on five main themes: God’s ‘masculinity’ and the marginality of women and nonbinary persons, feminist Midrashim, God’s image and transgender theology, revelation, and Halakhah (Jewish Law). The contributions of feminist theologies include an expanded range of gender references to God, attention to the attitude towards the feminine, and the inclusion of nonbinary persons; the creation of a theological infrastructure that supports more intimate and immanent ideas of divinity; a broadening of the concept of revelation to reconcile the tension between the deep masculine bias that permeates scripture and the divine and revelatory status of the word of God; and new readings of the traditional texts, including the normative Halakhic works, so that they can incorporate feminist ideas.

Keywords

• feminism
• religious feminism
• jewish theology
• jewish feminist theology
• midrash
• imago dei (image of god)
• lgbt+
• transgender
• halakhah (jewish law)
• gender
• revelation
• immanence