The title of this book plays upon the central place a theology of the cross holds in Lutheran theologies, especially potent in Luther's Heidelberg Disputation (1518). The 500th anniversary of this document coincided with the 70th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations wherein the preamble points to a global aspiration of a common good shaped by freedom, justice and peace. This book is located at the intersection of these two themes, asserting that the cross has material content in being the means by which Christ in suffering solidarity with individuals, communities, and the cosmos advances freedom, justice, and peace. Employing a variety of methods, and exploring a broad range of geographic locales, the contributors illumine the misuse of Reformation themes and offer a corrective in service of a common good that is publicly accountable and theologically sound. The book thereby explores how contemporary Lutheran theology has utility both for analyzing injustice and for advancing justice in local as well as global contexts.

Why should feminists care about Christianity? This book asks and answers some fundamental questions that Christians and feminists have about each other in a new century and a new generation. The questions reflect suspicions encountered in a meeting of the two, and the answers reflect the twenty-first-century realities that now inform both. It is time for a renewed conversation between feminism and Christianity if anyone inside or outside the two groups thinks that either is no longer relevant. Feminism has transformed the lives of women and men irrevocably, and Christianity remains a powerful and ever-changing tradition with enormous influence around the world. Before explaining these things more closely by getting to the questions and answers, some history and basic terminology needs to be explained. The book is structured so that an individual, group, or class could dip in and out of it as interest and time permit. The first half of the book looks at feminist questions to Christianity. It is written to address the questions from feminists suspicious of Christianity. It could be of special interest to feminist activists and women's studies students. The second half of the book looks at Christian questions to feminism and is written to address questions from Christians suspicious of feminism. It could be of special interest to individual Christians and their congregational reading and study groups.

Description: Why should feminists care about Christianity? Why should Christians care about feminism? In Feminism and Christianity Riswold presents a collection of concise answers to basic questions like these in order to generate discussion about how the two can challenge each other and can even work together in the twenty-first century. Situated firmly in the third wave of feminist activism and scholarship as well as in contemporary Christian theology, Riswold addresses issues such as race, class, gender, and sexuality with an affirmation of tradition alongside a push for change. This book is an opportunity for Christians to gain a fuller understanding of feminism, moving beyond stereotypes and assumptions and into history and contemporary society. Simultaneously this book is an opportunity for feminists to understand the ongoing relevance of a religion whose social power and core commitments can contribute to a vision of a just human community. Endorsements: ""Riswold's talent as a teacher comes shining through as she confronts the suspicions Christians and feminists hold of one another, calling for appreciation of the complexity and diversity in both traditions. Rather than simply reviewing past interactions between Christianity and feminism, she boldly takes the conversation into the twenty-first century by engaging the pressing issues of race, ecology, sexuality, and interreligious understanding. A must-read for students, book groups, and scholars alike."" --Deanna A. Thompson, Professor of Religion Hamline University ""Even though the conversation between feminism and Christianity has developed for decades, no other book so clearly names and answers the leading questions they ask of each other . . . Riswold's book is a delightful introductory resource for individuals, classes, and groups as it touches on and aptly answers all the main questions and fears I have heard expressed from students in women's studies and religion courses concerning feminism and Christianity. All in all, Feminism and Christianity exemplifies Riswold's gift for thorough, broad scholarship presented in a very clear, engaging, and accessible style."" --Marit A.Trelstad editor of Cross Examinations: Readings on the Meaning of the Cross Today About the Contributor(s): Caryn D. Riswold is Associate Professor of Religion and chair of Gender and Women's Studies at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois. She is the author of Two Reformers: Martin Luther and Mary Daly as Political Theologians (2007) and Coram Deo: Human Life in the Vision of God (2006).

Description: ""By them we have been carried away out of our own land, as into a Babylonian captivity, and despoiled of all our precious possessions."" Martin Luther, 1520 ""Their goal is our deracination, which is 'detachment from one's background (as from homeland, customs, traditions).' Thus women and other Elemental creatures on this planet are rendered homeless, cut off from knowledge of our Race's customs and traditions."" Mary Daly, 1984 What is this land, this world of which these two theologians are speaking? Why do the two statements above sound similar in the authors' longing for a true home, for our own land? And who is this ""them"" who carries us away and cuts us off? Could it be possible that Martin Luther and Mary Daly, different in almost every way, are saying something similar? Why do these key figures in the Christian theological tradition, who come from different times, places, and politics, engage in such a parallel task? How is this possible? This book examines a series of surprising parallels between two key reforming figures in the Christian theological tradition and suggests that the two are in fact engaged in the same task: political theology. Applying a new label to familiar theologians enables readers to see both of them as well as their reformations in a new light. The sixteenth-century Reformation and second wave feminism are viewed through the pioneering work of Luther and Daly here to further establish the political content and consequence of these theologians. Endorsements: ""Of Two Reformers it can be said that a daring thesis is half of an accomplishment. The reader gets the audacity already in the cover, and the other half of the accomplishment in the pages that follow, in a remarkable journey of recovering the political meaning of theological and ecclesial protest. Caryn Riswold's book finds a way of bringing together voices of dissent in the utter dissonance of the contexts of two thinkers that theology cannot afford to ignore or read apart from the political causes they in common espoused and from their frailty in the struggles they shared."" --Vitor Westhelle author of The Scandalous God (Notice the accented ""i"" in ""Vitor."") About the Contributor(s): Caryn Riswold is Associate Professor of Religion and Gender and Women's Studies at Illinois College, Jacksonville, Illinois. She is also the author of Coram Deo: Human Life in the Vision of God (2006).

Description: ""In order to adequately address the issues of atonement and christology, we must understand how it is that we think about the relationship between God and the human being. The way in which we understand and interpret the life and death of Jesus and his role within that relationship then impacts our theology of the sacraments, particularly the eucharist. ""Further, the questions continue to confront and be confronted by my inescapable identity as a Lutheran Christian. I use the term 'inescapable' because I find myself working from and with theologies and theologians that are unabashedly critical of patriarchal religious doctrine and paternal theological construction, yet I cannot be convinced that the tradition which formed me is irretrievable or irrelevant. . . . ""I am seeking to use Luther as one of my sources, but I am working to reinterpret him and offer a more adequate constructive alternative that embodies what is useable in his tradition. I find the potential for a liberating message within Christian theology, and I find a critical theological resource in Luther."" --from the Introduction About the Contributor(s): Caryn D. Riswold is Assistant Professor of Religion at Illinois College. She is the author of the forthcoming Two Reformers: Martin Luther and Mary Daly as Political Theologians.