ABSTRACT
After a summary of findings, this chapter suggests directions for future research and consideration. It offers feminist and practical theologies the metaphor of a spider’s web as an organising model for depicting processes of transformation such as that identified in earlier chapters and summarised here. Exploring possible reasons for feminist theology omitting to engage with chosen practices of silence, it also considers the role that such engagement may have within developing responsible relationships and sustainable communities. This discussion culminates in questioning whether the discourse of feminist theologians has evaded exploration of contemporary women’s chosen silence because, through this discipline, God draws us towards apophatic silence, where egoic self-identity – whose actualisation and agency is prized by feminist theologians – must gradually be relinquished in the journey towards awareness of the graced authenticity experienced in divine union. Acknowledging that a comprehensive response is beyond the scope of any individual, it offers an initial platform to begin reflection on this question based in consideration of the incongruities that exist between the ‘public’, ‘private’ and ‘personal’ voices identified by Tina Miller. Finally, a reflective piece of creative writing draws the book, and the reader, towards a concluding silence.
