ABSTRACT
The story of Exodus has supported world-making criticisms of injustice by Jews and Christians alike. This critical stance was echoed by the Prophets, who stressed compassionate social relationships as much as ritual purity. This chapter discusses some of the essential aspects of the feminist challenge, emphasizing broad lessons about the relation between religion and politics as two ways of world making. The feminist challenge begins with the simple but profound observation that all the world’s widely held religions have been deeply patriarchal. Their founding texts were male authored and interpreted; men have held virtually all positions of institutional authority; and in numerous ways their theologies have bolstered the idea of male spiritual superiority. In a breathtakingly short time, feminist theology, woman-oriented rituals, and female power in religion’s institutional life have led to the most dramatic change of religious structures in history.
