Description
Book SynopsisWhy did it take so long for the United Church of Canada to respond to violence against women? Tracy Trothen looks at the United Church as a uniquely Canadian institution, and explores how it has approached gender and sexuality issues. She argues that how the Church deals with these issues influences its ability to name violence against women.
Trade Review``In her thorough examination of The United Church of Canada's view of gender and sexuality and how they intertwine with the Church's stance on violence against women, Trothen provides invaluable description and appraisal as well as crucial analytical tools that can be used to probe these issues in other contexts. This well-written book promises to be significant for anyone interested in understanding how churches might grapple with their own complicity in violence against women.'' -- Pamela Dickey Young, Head, Department of Religious Studies, Queen's University, Kingston
``Tracy Trothen provides a unique ethical study of key arenas in sexuality and social order. She digs into the archives of one religious institution, The United Church of Canada, to illumine how violence against women -- eventually, and with much struggle -- made it onto the agenda as a moral issue mandating concerted response. With a vibrant feminist approach, Trothen offers crucial resources to assess structural dynamics whereby issues of gender and sexuality, in particular male violence against women, are elided or named as ethical and theological issues. Her clear voice of advocacy admirably encourages intellectual and pastoral practices of justice-seeking as the heart of social ethics.'' -- Marilyn J. Legge, associate professor of Christian ethics,Emmanuel College, Victoria University, Toronto
``A careful examination of how one institution was able to take a courageous look at the way in which it was systematically promoting gender-based inequality and injustice through both its belief and its practices....While providing a window into the history and workings of one particular denomination, this book is worth the read even if one is not a member. Trothen's discussions of the various factors that have sustained an environment that is oppressive toward women -- a moral code that is based too much on sexual acts rather than on relationships, the dualistic thinking emerging from the spirit/body split, an over-emphasis on the preservation of family -- are worthy of serious reflection.'' -- Richard J. Gilmartin, Southdown Institute, Toronto Journal of Theology -- 200409
Table of Contents
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Linking Sexuality and Gender: Naming Violence against Women in the United Church of Canada by Tracy Trothen
- Acknowledgments
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1.Methodology
- Author's Standpoint
- Ethical Framework
- 2.The Development of The United Church of Canada's Approach to Human Sexuality
- Birth Control
- Redemptive Homes
- The Marital Relationship and Marriage Breakdown
- Pornography
- Abortion
- Concluding Remarks
- 3.The Development of The United Church of Canada's Approach to Women's Roles and the Family
- Definition of Family and Gender Roles
- Women and Ordination
- Women's Church Groups
- ""New Freedoms""
- Concluding Remarks
- 4.Case Study: In God's Image...Male and Female
- Process, Methodology and Working Style
- Theological Claims
- Scientific and Experiential Claims
- Biblical Authority and Hermenuetics
- Ethical Decisionmaking
- Intimacy and Sexual Exclusivity
- Sexism
- Concluding Remarks
- 5.Case Study: Gift, Dilemma and Promise
- Process, Methodology and Working Style
- Sexuality and Selfhood
- Marriage
- Intimacy
- Sexism
- Concluding Remarks
- Working Style
- History
- Content Methodology
- 6.Case Study: The Task Force on the Changing Roles of Women and Men in Church and Society
- Mandate and Purpose
- Membership
- Sexism Is the Issue: Naming Feminism and Theological Method
- Institutional Reform
- .""Structures and Systems""
- Inclusive Language and Imagery
- Pornography and Other Forms of Male Violence Against Women
- Networking
- 1984 General Council and ""Sacred Space""
- Concluding Remarks
- 7.Taking Stock: A Contextual, Retrospective Look at Sexuality, Gender, Violence and The United Church of Canada
- A Summary of Some Emerging Policies and Protocols, 1982-93
- The United Church of Canada Located in the Wider Canadian Context: Prophetic or Followers?
- A Summary of the Factors that Blocked or Contributed to the Recognition of Violence against Women
- Human Sexuality
- The Family and Gender Roles
- Critique
- Solidarity
- Concluding Remarks
- Notes
- Selected Bibliography
- Index
