ABSTRACT
In exploring the identity of Christian feminist theologies it is helpful to place the emergence and subsequent development of these theologies into some kind of historical perspective in order to establish an overall framework for analysis. The cultural, social and religious contexts out of which such theologies arose bear testimony to the shape and motivations of these theologies and so hold important clues to understanding their subsequent development and contemporary forms. The emergence of feminisms as discernible theological perspectives shadows the rise of feminisms generally. Like the wider feminist movement, feminist theologies are largely understood to have developed in two main impulses, the first in the late nineteenth century and the second beginning in the late 1960s and 1970s. The impact of the work of Mary Daly in forging the identity of feminist theologies is without comparison, and the issues and questions she dealt with stand as fundamental concerns to the feminist task in Christianity.
