Woman

Description

This theological investigation explores the significance of woman in the Christian tradition from various perspectives. It is written as an open-ended quest for meaning in the form of a 'theopoetics' rather than as a systematically developed argument. Weaving and circling around the Christian idea of woman, the book offers an unfolding vision of the problems and possibilities inherent in the story of Christ and the Church, with its historical legacy of silencing and exclusion and its unfulfilled promise of freedom and flourishing. Tina Beattie concludes that woman is not a form of being but a way of becoming, a dynamic and unfolding discovery of self in relation to God, humanity and nature which is always in process, never completed. From a Christian perspective, this project of becoming a sexed human being - man or woman - needs to be understood as part of a larger and more encompassing human vocation to become divine according to the orthodox concept of 'theosis', through the ongoing incarnation of God in Christ, the Church and the world.

Tina Beattie is married with four children. After taking a degree in Theology and Bristol University, she moved on to study for a PhD on 'Images of Mary.' She is Lecturer in Christian Studies at the University of Surrey, Roehampton.

"Beattie provides a fresh consideration of what it means to be a woman before God... In ten chapters she covers a lengthy historical spectrum, grapples with profound theological issues and questions, and draws upon a surprisingly wide range of sources to demonstrate her points. She covers a full range of feminist thought and offers timely challenges to cherished ideas. ... This is a book that will frustrate as many readers as it inspires but, either way, they will be engaged in a thought-provoking journey that is worth the time and effort." -Deryn Guest, Reviews in Religion and Theology, Volume 11, Issue 4, September 2004 'One of the liveliest UK Roman Catholic theologians...this contribution to an inclusive theological anthropology should be taken very seriously' -- Ann Loades * Theology *