Religion 50, Liberation and 20th Century Christian Thought
Spring 2011

Reading questions for essays by Valerie Saiving, Rosemary Radford Ruether, and Mary Daly in Womanspirit Rising

1)	What sources of information does Saiving turn to for information about what constitutes ‘feminine experience’?   What at bottom accounts for the existence of a distinction between masculine and feminine experience according to her?

2)	What difference does appreciating the distinctiveness of female experience make for understanding the Christian doctrine of sin, according to Saiving?  What implications do her argument have for theological ethics? 

3)	What is the narrative that Ruether offers concerning the development of the oppression of women?  What role does Christianity play in this narrative?   What kinds of alterations to the social structure does Ruether indicate will be needed to achieve ‘full humanity’ for women?

4)	In what ways does the symbolic inheritance of Christianity need to change in order to overcome its patriarchal character, according to Daly?  Why does it need to change in these specific ways?