The relationship of a scholar's identity to the scholarship he or she produces is a central concern in the academy and this volume is the first attempt to approach the special problems it presents for religious studies.

Features some of the most well-known scholars in religious studies offering critical reflections on the relationship of identity to scholarship in their field. The authors offer a collection on sexual identity and gender, ethnicity, race and religious affiliations and their relations to the study of religion.

Theologians are increasingly looking to cultural criticism, rather than philosophy, as a dialogue partner for cross-disciplinary studies. This book explores the importance of this shift by bringing together scholars from a variety of theological perspectives to analyze different contemporary theories of cultural movements. The book is divided into two parts. The first examines the theoretical relationship between theology and cultural studies. The second consists of theological analyses of a series of controversial topics (including race, class, resistance movements, and identity politics) that cry out for theological reflection.

Theologians are increasingly looking to cultural criticism, rather than philosophy, as a dialogue partner for cross-disciplinary studies. This book explores the importance of this shift by bringing together scholars from a variety of theological perspectives to analyze different contemporary theories of cultural movements. The book is divided into two parts. The first examines the theoretical relationship between theology and cultural studies. The second consists of theological analyses of a series of controversial topics (including race, class, resistance movements, and identity politics) that cry out for theological reflection.

The 200-year-old notion that concepts, ideas, and theories are all influenced by or occasioned by historical circumstances is today a commonplace in all fields, and lays bare the historical character of our most cherished convictions, honored traditions, and dogmatic formulations. With clarity and skill, Davaney's authoritative text traces the history of historicism and its various meanings from the German Enlightenment through its Continental and distinctly American developments to its contemporary postmodern incarnations. She demonstrates how it has forced theology to pioneer methods that specifically acknowledge social locatedness, particularity, and pragmatic intent, effectively replacing theology's metaphysical and dogmatic basis with a largely historical one. Yet, says Davaney, Christian theology has yet to come to terms fully with historicism and its imperatives, and her final chapter charts a possible future course.

By all accounts, feminist theology is at a crossroads. Even as the longstanding consensus wanes that women's experience is the source and norm of feminist theology, the specific and often contradictory experience of different groups is now highlighted, and new theoretical frameworks are being proposed.

This landmark volume explores central issues of female subjectivity and feminist identity, gender and embodiment, tradition and norms, and their impact on theology. Leading thinkers in this new generation of feminist theologians rethink the central claims of feminist theology and offer proposals for the future.