Gender

Feminist theology is gender-conscious, liberation-oriented, contextual, and experience-based theology. As such, it represents an important interdisciplinary perspective within theological reflection. It is therefore particularly important today to understand feminist theology as a theology that incorporates the construction and deconstruction of gender into every facet of its reflection. Personal experiences have been and continue to be the impetus and motivation to embark (anew) on a theological and scholarly journey in search of answers.

• Systematic Theology

Intersectionality identifies the mutual interpenetration and interaction or “intersection” (Überkreuzung) of different aspects of identity and discrimination. Developed in the 1980s by US lawyer Kimberlé Crenshaw , it has since been adopted in anti-discrimination work and social science-oriented analyses in various disciplines, including theology. In addition to the initial aspects of identity – namely, race, class, and gender – that were integral to the development of Black feminism (womanism), others have been added to the current discussion, such as disability, age, sexual orientation, and religious affiliation.

This article establishes nonbinarity as an important fold in the evolution of human sexuality. Having social, political, cultural, and religious implications, this article fleshes out the landscape that is shaped by the interlocking systems of meaning making. This article also addresses the current context in the United States in which the authors are living and cites care as an important factor to consider when creating social policies that might impact a segment of the population.

• Anthropology

Postcolonial theologies critically examine the influence of colonialism on theology and develop strategies for dealing with its problematic effects in the present day. They emerged from a global academic movement aimed at coming to terms with the legacy of colonialism. They now cover virtually all areas and topics in theology.

• Systematic Theology

The term transgenderism or transgender is used by those affected to describe the experience – which they describe as central to their identity – of incongruence with external definitions of gender that infer one’s gender identity based on specific physical characteristics. For people on the trans spectrum, assuming gender positions that correspond to their inner experience is a matter of life itself. On the one hand, therefore, transgender identity has increasingly become part of a theological consensus regarding the diversity of the foundations of experience and expressions of personality based on physicality. On the other hand, in society – and spurred by authoritarian and right-wing populist political styles – there is an increasing tendency to link transgender identity with debates that cast doubt on or vehemently reject the ethical and political legitimacy of non-binary bodily representations, sometimes even attempting to justify this stance with biblical arguments. This article orients debates about gender, transgender identity, and queer theology and discusses the systematic-theological relevance of transgender identity.

• Anthropology