Stacy Boorn, the minister for herchurch, uses feminist theology in the church's expression of faith, worship, learning, mutual care, and acts of justice.[3]Megan Rohrer is the Associate Pastor and is openly gay. Rohrer was ordained extraordinarily in defiance of ELCA rules.[4][5] Rohrer is rostered by Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, which is "committed to the full participation of persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life and ministry of the Lutheran church."[4][6]
Since 2007, Ebenezer Lutheran has annually on the first weekend in November sponsored a three-day conference on faith and feminism, often with a focus on reviving traditions of honoring the sacred feminine as manifested in the Hellenistic and Jewish concept of Sophia, and in the faith-traditions of minorities.
The 2009 conference focused on the ahistorical idea held by various dissenting Christian groups over history that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, an idea featured prominently in Dan Brown's famous novel The DaVinci Code.
The 2009 conference focused on the ahistorical idea held by various dissenting Christian groups over history that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, an idea featured prominently in Dan Brown's famous novel The DaVinci Code.
Ebenezer HerChurch is a member of the Evangelical and Ecumenical Women's Caucus."
Source
Sophia
"Sophia (σοφία, Greek for "wisdom") is a central idea in Hellenistic philosophy and religion, Platonism, Gnosticism, Orthodox Christianity, Esoteric Christianity, as well as Christian mysticism. Sophiology is a philosophical concept regarding wisdom, as well as a theological concept regarding the wisdom of the biblical God.
Sophia is honored as a goddess of wisdom by Gnostics, as well as by some Neopagan, New Age, and feminist-inspired Goddess spirituality groups. In Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christianity, Sophia, or rather Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom), is an expression of understanding for the second person of the Holy Trinity, (as in the dedication of the church of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul) as well as in the Old Testament, as seen in the Book of Proverbs 9:1, but not an angel or goddess."
"The goddess Sophia was introduced into Anthroposophy by its founder, Rudolf Steiner, in his book The Goddess: From Natura to Divine Sophia and a later compilation of his writings titled Isis Mary Sophia. Sophia also figures prominently in Theosophy, a spiritual movement which Anthroposophy was closely related to. Helena Blavatsky, the founder of Theosophy, described it in her essay
What is Theosophy? as an esoteric wisdom doctrine, and said that the "Wisdom" referred to was "an emanation of the Divine principle" typified by "...some goddesses -- Metis, Neitha, Athena, the Gnostic Sophia..."
A New Age Ascended Master Teachings esoteric interfaith spiritual community currently has its center at what it calls Sancta Sophia Seminary located in Tahlequah, Oklahoma"
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"Feminist theology is a movement found in several religions, ncluding Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and New Thought, to reconsider the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of those religions from a feminist perspective. Some of the goals of feminist theology include increasing the role of women among the clergy and religious authorities, reinterpreting male-dominated imagery and language about God, determining women's place in relation to career and motherhood, and studying images of women in the religion's sacred texts and matriarchal religion."
"Feminist theology attempts to consider every aspect of religious practice and thought. Some of the questions feminist theologians ask are:
How do we do theology? The basic question of how theologians may go about creating systems of thought is currently being reinterpreted by feminist theologians. Many feminist theologians assert that personal experience can be an important component of insight into the divine, along with the more traditional sources of holy books or received tradition. (The relevance of personal experience to the policies of groups of people is a familiar notion to veterans of the feminist movement.)
Who is God? Feminist theologians have supported the use of non- or multi-gendered language for God, arguing that language powerfully impacts belief about the behavior and essence of God.
Where are women in religious history? Feminist historical theologians study the roles of women in periods throughout history that have impacted religion: the Biblical period, the early Christian era, medieval Europe, and any period of import to a particular religion. They study individual women who influenced their religion or whose religious faith led them to impact their culture. The work of these scholars has helped feminist theologians claim historical figures as their predecessors in feminist theology. For example, Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" speech pointed out, "And how came Jesus into the world? Through God who created him and the woman who bore him. Man, where was your part?" Elizabeth Cady Stanton produced The Woman's Bible, excising the traditional Christian text of all references she thought contradicted the positions of women's rights.
Development of theology[edit]
According to Grenz and Olson in their review of Feminist Theology, "it was developed in three distinct steps. They begin with a critique of the past” such that they review the ways women have been oppressed; “they seek alternative biblical and extrabiblical traditions that support” the ideals Feminists are trying to advance; and finally “feminists set forth their own unique method of theology, which includes the revisioning of Christian categories.”[1] Grenz and Olson also mention, however, while all feminists agree there is a flaw in the system, there is disagreement over how far outside of the Bible and the Christian tradition women are willing to go to seek support for their ideals.[2]
It has frequently been said that feminist theology draws on women's experience as a basic source of content as well as a criterion of truth. There has been a tendency to treat this principle of "experience" as unique to feminist theology (or, perhaps to liberation theologies) and to see it as distant from "objective" source of truth of classical theologies. This seems to be a misunderstanding of the experimental base of all theological reflection. What have been called the objective sources of theology; Scripture and tradition, are themselves codified collective human experience"
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"Christianity and Neopaganism overlap when the beliefs or practices of one religious path influence, or are adopted by, the other. Historically, Christianity sometimes took advantage of traditional pagan beliefs when it spread to new areas – a process known as inculturation. Thus newly established churches took on sites, practices or images belonging to indigenous belief systems as a way of making the new faith more acceptable.[1][2]
More recently, in a parallel process, some followers of modern pagan paths have developed practices such as Christopaganism by blending Christian elements into Neopagan practice"
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Goddess - Sacred Feminine
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