“Church in the Round”: Feminist Ecclesiology

Feminist Ecclesiology means a transformation, a re-framing of ecclesiological discourse. It also means rethinking all aspects of the life of the church. Two important aspects are: the search for a feminist liberating spirituality and the church as a community of justice.

The Presbyterian minister Letty Russell in her book The Church in the Round, argues for a feminist spirituality of connection and choice. Choice for her means the active choice to be a woman and to understand being a woman, having a woman’s body as a celebration of being in the image of God rather than despises and rejected by patriarchy.

1. Feminist Critique of the Kyriachal Church

In 1982 at a conference of the centre for concern, a North American Civil Rights organization Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza coined a phrase, “Women are Church and have always been Church.” This is the beginning of Women-Church Movement. Fiorenza argued that throughout the history of the church, none of the church councils had actually represented the full Ekklesia, as women had always been denied access and representation by them. The Ekklesia is the assembly or congress of those who have full citizenship and the right to vote.

Natalie K. Watson argues that Women-Church is a movement of “self-identified women and women-identified men” which claimed that the patriarchal church can no longer claim to be the sole representation of being church and that church cannot be church in its fullness until women are fully incorporated into it and fully participate in its decision-making body.

Women-Church did not seek to found a new organization or institution, but understood itself as a loose network of different groups and organizations affirming such values as equal rights, social justice, and mutuality. Women’s claiming to be church not only refers to struggling for admission to the existing hierarchy (even the lowest ranks), but the transformations of the church as such. Women-Church movement is based on Latin American Liberation Theology and can be described as three steps: women move from “impacting the church through identifying as church” to “proclaiming women-church” through the praxis of feminist liturgical base communities and civil rights organizations.

Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza developed the original concept of women-church and Rosemary Radford Ruether reflected theologically. Ruether identifies three areas in which women have been marginalized in the church: sacramental celebration, theological education and ecclesial administration.

Letty Russell suggests that the church cannot be the church if it does not fight for justice for those who are oppressed and on the margin. Justice from a feminist perspective means power-in-relation. The church becomes the visible sign of god’s justice and proclaims the justice of God for all through its very being. Feminist theologians struggles not only for justice for women within the church, but also in all aspects of life as feminists refuse to be restricted to man-made institutional boundaries.

2. “Church in the Round”: Church as a community of disciples and equals

Letty Russell in her book The Church in the Round explored Church as a community of disciples and equals.

The life and ministry of Christ is one that open to all, and to those on the margins of society (including women); it is the focal point and the ultimate criterion of all ecclesial praxis. Ruerther understands women-church as the exodus community that leads the church in its exodus from patriarchy. Mary E Hunt understands the choice between conformity and separations as an expression of patriarchy itself, which no longer has meaning for being church. The existing clerical structures are to be replaced by models of ministry that empower and encourage the use of the gifts of all believers within the church as a community of disciples and equal.

Letty Russell proposes a “round-table ecclesiology” that embodies a feminist spirituality of connection as a theological paradigm that takes its starting point from the experience of ecclesial praxis and advocacy of those on the margins of society and the church. For Russell, Feminist Ecclesiology is a feminist re-evaluation of all aspects of the life of the church. The church for Russell is the “community of Christ where everyone is welcome.” The church is the bearer of the prophetic tradition that criticizes patriarchy and announces liberation for all humanity; it anticipates God’s New Creation. Russell suggests that “justice” should be understood as a fifth mark of the church (along with unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity).

3. Feminist perspectives on Ministry and Mission.

Regina Coll in her book, “Christianity and Feminism in Conversation” states that women in contemporary churches are suffering from linguistic deprivation and Eucharistic famine. They desperately need primary communities that nurture their journey into wholeness, rather than constantly negating and thwarting it.

Lynn Japinga proposed three areas of church life or ministry and mission have been particularly challenging women in church ministry: worship and liturgy, power and authority and the sacraments. God language in worship and liturgy is androcentric and the maleness makes it difficult to worship. The locus of power and authority in church ministry confines to men. The role of sacraments is limited to women and almost confine to men. Many Protestants arhue that the Bible prohibits women from holding leadership position in the church. They believe that the Bible clearly says that women are not permitted to speak in church or to have authority over men.

Samuel Johnson summarized the attitude towards women in ministry as “A women’s preaching is like a dog walking on his hinder legs.” Ordination for women is regarded as unnatural and inappropriate and sees women enter the ministry because of selfishness and egoism rather than because of genuine call. Most feminist theologians respond to these objections be affirming the equality of women and men, the giftedness of women for ministry, and God’s call to women.

Feminist theologians also recognize that the ordination of women carries with some problems, particular the idea that ordination of women carries with it some problems, particularly the idea that ordination admits clergy into a special caste, with privileges and duties that are denied to other Christians.