ABSTRACT
If feminist theology conceptualizes women-church in socio-political terms with radical democracy as its norm,100 then it can conceptualize the ekkle¯sia of women as a positive theoretical site from which to think about feminist political strategies. Such a theoretical frame could displace the ‘otherness’ – construct of woman with the democratic construct of the ekkle¯sia of women, which is at one and the same time an ideal vision and a historical reality. It is already present in society and church but not yet accomplished, real but in the process of realization. Historically and politically the image of the ekkle¯sia of women, in the sense of the democratic assembly, the synod or the congress of women is an oxymoron, i.e., a combination of contradictory terms. Its translation by ‘women-church’ as antonym to patriarchal church identifies Christian community and theology as important sites of feminist political-religious struggles for transforming Western patriarchy.
