| Description |
‘If God is male, then the male must be God’ (Mary Daly). Since the 1960s at the latest, male-dominated liturgical language and forms of worship have been the subject of public criticism – especially from the women's movement and feminist theology. Since then, awareness of inclusive language and gender-sensitive worship has grown steadily in many churches and religious traditions. In recent years, however, the discussion about (sexual and spiritual) abuse has sharpened the perception that the exercise of “holy authority” and clericalism are enduring phenomena – in all churches. This also applies to worship and liturgy.
The analysis and critique of patriarchal and androcentric social and gender orders have continued to evolve. This applies to both methodological diversity and theoretical approaches. More recently, feminist approaches have been joined by critical men's studies and gender studies, as well as queer theoretical approaches that reflect on, among other things, the diversity and fluidity of gender. Gender theories and their discussion have now found their way into all theological disciplines, including liturgical studies and liturgy. Here, recent research focuses on topics such as the exercise of power, but also on the construction of gender identities. In concrete terms, this also includes prayers and hymns, read (Bible) texts and their interpretation, liturgical roles and vestments, with a focus on the question of how they once again privilege, normalise or disrupt gender orders and roles that seemed to exist ‘forever and ever’. Finally, with regard to forms of worship, feminist and queer liturgists in many countries have developed new practices at the grassroots level, thereby contributing to their integration into academic discourse.
This opens up a wide range of topics for our seminar. We will examine the eventful history and development of the relationship between liturgy and gender from an ecumenical perspective. We will discuss contributions to liturgical studies and gender theory from different periods, denominational cultures, generations and regions of the world, and we will also analyse specific worship services, liturgical forms, prayers and hymns.
Literature for preparation
Teresa Berger, Gender differences and the making of liturgical history: lifting a veil on liturgy’s past, Farnham 2011.
David Plüss and Heike Walz, Theologie und Geschlecht. Dialoge querbeet, Zurich 2008.
Susan K. Roll et al. (eds.), Ritual and Liturgy of Women, Peeters: Leuven 2001.
Saskia Wendel, Leiturgia. Grundvollzug verkörperter Glaubenspraxis, in: Theologie der Gegenwart 63 (2020), 33-44.
Further literature will be announced at the beginning of the semester. |
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