Grace Goodley- Outside Readings: Rosemary Radford Ruether “Feminism, Future Hope, and the Crisis of Modernity”

 After completing our term paper assignment, the topic of ecofeminist and feminist theologians really piqued my interest. In researching a bit Rosemary Radford Ruether seems to draw on a discussion I am more closely familiar with through my gender communication background. In her piece titled “Feminism, Future Hope, and the Crisis of Modernity” Ruether illustrates that to move toward the future hope that modern feminism strives for, deeply rooted manifestations of the patriarchy within Christianity have to be addressed (p.69). On an even broader scale, Ruether calls out western Semitic religions as most of them were founded on this patriarchal, or male lead, view of society and its relationship to God who acts as the ultimate patriarch. God, as depicted in western theology creates and rules over the cosmos and all within it, reinforcing power structures that we see played out in society today. Variations of these arguments from communication and intersectional theorists like Patricia Hill Collins and Kimberlé Crenshaw, see these structures coming from domains of power in which Ruether’s discussion on religion would fall within the hegemonic(cultural) domain. The patriarchy as a system of power or domination can be directly related to other systems such as capitalism, both of which stand to negatively impact the environment through prominent patriarchal themes such as superiority and economic privilege. 


Ruether, Rosemary Radford. “Feminism, Future Hope, and the Crisis of Modernity.” Buddhist-Christian Studies, vol. 18, 1998, pp. 69–73. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1390437.

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