Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 35:3 (Summer 2021)
Article: Book Review "Imagining Equity: The Gifts Of Christian Feminist Theology" By Karen Strand Winslow (Wesley’s Foundery Books / General Board Of Higher Education And Ministry, The United Methodist Church, 2021)
Author: Jeff David Miller

PP 35:3 (Summer 2021) p. 29

Book Review
Imagining Equity: The Gifts Of Christian Feminist Theology
By Karen Strand Winslow (Wesley’s Foundery Books / General Board Of Higher Education And Ministry, The United Methodist Church, 2021)

Jeff Miller

Karen Strand Winslow opens her latest book with a rhetorically powerful introduction, challenging readers to “visualize no sexism” and to “imagine the history of the church with women of all races standing with their brothers on platforms of authority.”1 Winslow does not claim such a history would solve all problems, but she does insist it would have given us “a very different and better world” (1).

The introduction goes on to explain the subtitle’s terminology, “Christian Feminist Theology.” Winslow does not disparage similar terms such as egalitarianism and mutuality.2 Nevertheless, she prefers “feminism” and, more precisely, “Christian feminist theology,” describing it as follows:

Christian feminist theology challenges traditional theology and church practices that have restricted half of the people of God from serving God and the church as priests, pastors, teachers, and baptizers. It is constructive in that it finds in the Bible examples of dynamic adaptation and revision of customs in narratives, prophecy, and wisdom, including especially the incarnation and Jesus’s life and teaching. (5)

The introduction closes with a five-page “tour” of the book’s six chapters. This robust summary is an example—as are the epilogue and Winslow’s writing style—of the book’s user-friendly character. Indeed, the author herself calls it “a primer . . . an accessible introductory volume” (6).

Chapter 1, “A Christian Feminist View of Sexism and Religion,” digs deep into the origins of sexism, asking and answering foundational questions. Drawing not only from biblical studies, but also from the sociology of religion, Winslow identifies roots of sexism and patriarchy in ancient sacrificial systems: “Sacrifice was a male bonding ritual that excluded females from its practice and benefits and thereby established patriliny, which is tracing descent through the male line in order to transmit property, names, and family heritage” (15). She then identifies Greek dualism as another ancient source of sexism and traces its influence through the church fathers, medieval theologians, and beyond. Reflecting the book’s subtitle, “The Gifts of Christian Feminist Theology,” ch. 1 concludes as follows: “Those who use their gifts for liberating biblical interpretation and theology can thereby untangle sexism from Christianity and steer present and future genera...