Is Jesus a Feminist? Feminist and Womanist Theologians' Answer to the Question of Reconciliation

By JoDeanne Francis '17

Thesis Advisor: Professor Michèle Barale

Abstract: My own journey and experiences have prompted the question of the reconciliation of feminism and Protestantism - a question that I believe impacts both feminists and Christians in as well as outside of the academy. In chapter one, I will show the history of this question and argue that scholars have demonstrated its reconcilability through their arguments about feminist theology. Chapters two and three will expand on feminist theology. In chapter two I will focus on how feminist theologians' arguments about hermeneutics, exegesis, and language present a more feminist appeasing reevaluation of marriage. Similarly, in chapter three, I will examine how the biblical interpretations of the past have extended outside of the private sphere and into the public sphere of the church. I will argue that reconciliation of feminism and Protestantism can occur in the matter of women's role in the church. Within chapters four and five, I will present Womanist theology, a theology which presents a more inclusive view of reconciliation. I will argue in chapter four that Black women's historical societal and religious experiences shapes their relationship to as well as practice of Christianity, experiences which differ from that of the white authorship of feminist theology. Thus, I will argue in chapter five that Womanist theology addresses the absence of the experiences of minority women in its construction and present the ways in which black women have related to the the Trinity, scripture, and theology.