Women, Faith, and Social Action

Catalog description

Religious faith has long provided essential spiritual resources and practical organizing structures necessary for launching and sustaining activist movements. This has been especially true for women. This course explores connections between gender, religious belief, and social activism in the late twentieth-century and early twenty-first century. We examine faith traditions and activist mobilizations that connect—and divide—women and LGBTQ+ people around the world. Drawing from sources that include theology, history, journalism, and memoir, we will examine the spiritual underpinnings of a variety of approaches to social justice as well as the tangible work of local and transnational activist movements. We will inquire into the theological and activist interventions of women representing a variety of faiths, including Islam, Christianity, Indigenous spiritualties, and new religious movements.