Religion
Related: About this forumMy Take: Five women in religion to watch
March 5th, 2012
04:00 AM ET
Kecia Ali, Nadia Bolz-Weber, Anthea Butler, Esther Fleece and Karen King are five women to watch for in religion this year
Editor's Note: Sarah Sentilles is a scholar of religion and the author of three books, most recently a memoir, "Breaking Up with God: A Love Story." She tweets as @sarahsentilles.
By Sarah Sentilles, Special to CNN
(CNN) - The year 2012 has only just begun and already women are revolutionizing what it looks like to be religious, to study religion and to engage in social change. Here are five women to watch in 2012:
Kecia Ali
Kecia Ali, a feminist scholar who focuses on Islamic jurisprudence and women in early and modern Islam, is one of the organizers of Muslim Women and the Challenge of Authority, a conference that will be held at Boston University in March. Participants will be asking crucial questions about who has the right to speak for or about Muslim women, important work at a time when the image of the veiled Muslim woman is still being used to prove the supposed inferiority of Muslim cultures and to justify Islamophobia. Ali is the author of "Sexual Ethics and Islam" and, most recently, "Imam Shafii: Scholar and Saint" (2011). Her current research focuses on biographies of Mohammed. She is an sssociate professor of religion at Boston University.
CNNs Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories
Nadia Bolz-Weber
Nadia Bolz-Weber is changing what church looks like and shes changing what ministers look like while shes at it. The tattooed founding pastor of House for All Sinners and Saints is a leading voice in the emerging church movement, what people like Diana Butler Bass are calling a new Reformation. Bolz-Weber is committed to the belief that the Bible still matters, that you shouldnt have to leave parts of yourself behind when you show up at church and that the Lutheran tradition can be revolutionary. The House for All Sinners and Saints is social justice oriented, queer inclusive, incarnational, contemplative, irreverent and progressive. You can even buy a church T-shirt with the slogan Radical Protestants: Nailing sh*t to the church door since 1517 emblazoned on the back. Bolz-Weber is the author of "Salvation on the Small Screen? 24 Hours of Christian Television." More of her writing can be found in The Christian Century and her own blog, the Sarcastic Lutheran.
Anthea Butler
Anthea Butler models what engaged scholarship looks like in the 21st century. Butler, an associate professor of religious studies and graduate chair in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, brings a scholars eye to contemporary politics and decodes the work religion is doing in the public square. Shes a regular contributor to Religion Dispatches and a prolific tweeter. Whether shes discussing politics, popular culture, Pentecostalism or the history of African-American womens religious lives, Butler demonstrates an unceasing commitment to telling the truth and holding people accountable. Her newest book, "The Gospel According to Sarah: How Sarah Palin's Tea Party Angels are Galvanizing the Religious Right," will be published this summer by the New Press. It explores Palins Pentecostal roots and the fervent Christianity of her followers, revealing what Jeff Sharlet calls a new kind of pietya supersized folk religion thats part Pentecostalism, part evangelicalism, part Catholicism, and part high heels. In the meantime, Butler will be tweeting about the presidential election and the pedophilia scandal in the Philadelphia Archdiocese (she tweets as @AntheaButler).
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/05/my-take-five-women-in-religion-to-watch/
madrchsod
(58,162 posts)i`m going to have to check out the books