Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Humanities
First Advisor
White, Heather
Keywords
Feminism, Kabbalah, Spirituality
Area of Concentration
Religion
Abstract
Feminist spirituality is a contemporary religious movement created in order to abolish the harmful remnants of explicit and subtle patriarchal influence within various religious traditions. To counteract the ubiquitous androcentricity found within many religions, along with the pervasive masculine notions of God, practitioners of feminist spirituality integrate a feminine divine figure, or goddess, into their religious retinue. This thesis examines the religious phenomenon of feminine divine appropriation through two case studies. The first chapter explores the contemporary Jewish Renewal movement and its appropriation of the Kabbalistic divine feminine figure, Shekhinah. The second chapter analyzes Western feminists' and scholar-practitioners' use of the Tantric deity, the dakini, both for feminist ends and to justify the egalitarian nature of the Tibetan Tantric Buddhist tradition. The work of Cynthia Eller, prominent scholar of feminist spirituality, informs my model of interpretation for evaluating these two case studies. The goal of this thesis is to analyze these examples of feminine divine appropriation and to determine whether or not these models for creating a feminist interpretation of religion indeed dismantle the patriarchal structure of religion or unintentionally reinforce it. I ultimately critique both movements on the basis of the essentialist and dualistic ideology that informs their actions.
Recommended Citation
Rayor, Zoe, "The Divine Feminine A Feminist Study of Goddess Appropriation within the Jewish Renewal Movement and Western Interpretations of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism" (2012). Theses & ETDs. 4665.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/4665