Religion, Feminism, and the Family

Christian Century, August 26, 1998 by R. Marie Griffith

Viewing the family from a different perspective, Religion, Feminism, and the Family analyzes the intersection of the three categories of its title with the keen insight into "religious feminism" one expects from Anne Carr and Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen. Van Leeuwen notes that the varied contributors together "wish to affirm core religious norms of justice and reconciliation by showing that feminist insights are an asset rather than a threat to the healthy development of those norms. We also wish to show that feminist theory and activism are less than complete if they ignore insights about, and from, women who profess allegiance to a religious worldview." As both editors and contributors note, religion, feminism and the family are rarely considered together, and yet they are linked in crucial ways. Those committed to a feminist, family-centered faith will be especially pleased at how this collection clarifies those links.

The book's opening essays define the terms. The second part examines Jewish and Christian families from exegetical, historical, sociological and ethical perspectives. The third section gives historical background for the present context, including essays on religion, women and the family in the medieval period (Robert Sweetman), the early modem period (Merry Wiesner), the antebellum women's rights movement (Catherine Brekus) and late 19th- and early 20th-century America (Margaret Bendroth). The fourth part addresses modern-day familial issues in personal and practical ways, as the authors develop concrete suggestions for dealing with problems ranging from poverty (Pamela Couture) to the Supermom syndrome (Bonnie Miller-McLemore) to finding new models for fatherhood (Rob Palkovitz) to womanist theory in relation to religion and family issues (Toinette Eugene) to competing ethnic definitions of familial obligation (Jung Ha Kim). Together these essays undermine the tired myth that feminism has been bent on destroying the family by encouraging women to enter the paid work force. They show that both historical and contemporary feminist thought, particularly when informed by a liberative faith, have been resolutely profamily.

Carr's conclusion ties together the often disparate views of these essays. She shows how they challenge secular feminism to acknowledge the importance of religion and the churches in winning broad support for feminist goals. They challenge religion, especially Christianity, to acknowledge the patriarchal assumptions about women's subordination that continue to govern many church policies on family life, and to affirm instead familial ideals of mutuality, equality and respect for embodiment--ideals central to both feminism and Christianity. And they challenge families to "integrate family love within the broader notion of Christian neighbor-love" in a way that neither dishonors the immediate family nor ignores the society beyond. Family theorists are also challenged to appraise the gains of feminist history, theory and theology in their assessments of American family life and, again, to champion familial patterns of mutuality and equality. The optimism of the book's editors and authors that these challenges can be met by people of good faith will bring hope to all who share their goals. Like the other volumes in the series, the two reviewed here are of great practical use and deserve sustained attention and reflection.