That They May Be Many: Voices of Women, Echoes of God

Wetherilt, Ann Kirkus

ISBN 10: 0826406912 / ISBN 13: 9780826406910

Published by Continuum Intl Pub Group, 1995

About this Item

Near fine book and jacket.

Seller Inventory # 105898

Bibliographic Details

• Title: That They May Be Many: Voices of Women, Echoes of God
• Publisher: Continuum Intl Pub Group
• Publication Date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0826406912
• ISBN 13: 9780826406910
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Non-Fiction

About this title

Synopsis

The relationship of "The Word" to notions of unity/oneness has served often as a tool of tyranny and oppression in Christian history. Static, authoritarian religious institutions have formed and developed the central tenets of their faith, excluding from participation the voices of those who do not "image" the reality of the power brokers - overwhelmingly white, Western, heterosexual, and male. Yet other voices have continually emerged in multiple locations to challenge the hegemony of "The Word," and to claim authority and agency in the struggle for basic rights and justice. Some of these voices are explicitly religious, others not. All challenge the adequacy of a unilateral "Word" to embody the dynamic and all-encompassing movement of the sacred in the world.
This book suggests that a metaphor of "voices" provides possibility for the intercourse of many diverse expressions of holy power in the world without insisting upon either a primal or an ultimate "oneness."
The implications of this shift are many. The sources where such revelations of the divine appear must be broadened to include many "texts" not traditionally seen as "theological." Conceptions of community are revolutionized, to include not only comfortable groupings of like-minded individuals coming together for mutual support and nourishment, but also coalitions of diverse persons, who share no particular social or cultural identity but rather their commitment to work together for a more just world.
Traditional theological categories are re-named and redefined, as their original definition and subsequent development are disclosed as limiting and inadequate. And the God whom we have been told is One is revealed as many-faceted and articulate, "speaking" through and among a radical multiplicity of created and creative beings who struggle together to live authentically in the world.

About the Author

Ann Kirkus Wetherilt is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Co-Director of Women's Studies at Emmanuel College, Boston, USA.