Women’s spirituality and feminist theology: A hermeneutic of suspicion applied to ‘patriarchal marriage’

Abstract

This article focused on feminist theory, feminist theology, the origins of the patriarchal marriage, and hermeneutics of suspicion. It aimed to provide language for articulating past and present experiences of women from a theological and hermeneutical perspective. The article discussed women’s spirituality and the failure of the patriarchal marriage to nurture self-perception (how I see myself), life orientation (where I am in the world) and identity (who am I in the world), with regard to women’s spirituality. The article also gave details about the variety of feminisms that exist in theology both in the past and in the present.

Keywords

• Feminist theory
• feminist theology
• feminist exegesis
• epistemology
• women’s knowing
• women’s experiences
• identity theory
• patriarchal marriage