a work in progress
(Also see “women and religion: buddhism“)
Buddhism, Eva K. Neumaier (Women in the Buddhist Traditions, “Women and Religious Traditions“) states, is one of the religions that begin with a historical founder and presents itself in the form of dialogue. Since the dialogue is within a cultural context it portrays itself as a contrast to the contemporary […]
Lynda Clarke (Women in Islam, “Women and Religious Traditions“) points out that there is no cognizant group within Islam that is able to re-establish or re-investigate aspects of the religion in the perspective of women. She does not claim that Islamic women do not question or blindly follow, but instead they are restricted within the […]
Jacoba Kuikman alludes to the idea that Jewish women within the private sphere have balanced the public role of men, which may as well have helped the survival of Jewish tradition. Since women were “delegated” to the private sphere, they were charged with the responsibility of raising the children. Children were raised generation after generation […]
Unlike other major world religions, Hinduism has a multitude of feminine deities. This, of course, is a result of the millions of celestial entities that comprise the cosmology within Hindu thought. The feminine deities of Hinduism often represent the traditional characteristics of femininity such as compassion and nurturing, although there are still many that symbolize […]
There is a paradox in how women are treated in major religions. A woman’s body, as child-bearer garners respect and admiration. Yet a woman’s body, especially as a sexual being, is surrounded by fear-driven taboos. This paradox should be incompatible with the core teachings of many of the major religions. Yet doctrine, subsequent writings, and […]
The founder of Buddhism, as in other world religions, did not explicitly condone the subordination of woman from what we understand. On the contrary, Siddhartha Gautama was quite revolutionary for his time in his acceptance of women among his followers. However, by the 2nd century BCE Buddhism became increasingly institutionalized by the Mauryan king, Ashoka […]
Everyone knows that by far the happiest and universally enjoyable age of man is the first. What is there about babies which makes us hug and kiss and fondle them, so that even an enemy would give them help at that age? - Desiderius Erasmus
It has been a crazy 24 hours. Kristy (my wife) and […]
Normally, I would not dispute this, but when the headline from Agape Press reads, “A Good Election Loss for the GOP“, I start to question myself. See, Agape Press is the CNN for evangelical Christians. While FOX News may be the secular front for the right-wing community, Agape Press makes no excuses for being the […]
It is currently just past 1:30am MST as I attempt to finish a paper that is due tomorrow (no, I was not procrastinating - it has just been one of those weeks). I watched tonight as the Democrats took the House in the United States and await threat of a recall in Virginia if the […]
Today is the one year celebration of marriage with my beautiful wife. It has been a hectic but ultimately awesome year, which in all honesty, I was not expecting. I only say this because I have always been told that the first years of marriage can be extremely challenging. Well, since Kristina is thirty-nine weeks […]