Volume 16, Number 1
EDITORS’ INTRODUCTION

The contributions to this volume of JFSR explore in various ways a key question of feminist theory and theology, the construction, representation and ritualization of the body and embodiment. In the opening essay "The Spiritual Body," Anne Daniell revisits the dichotomous separation of nature, body, and matter from culture, mind and spirit. She does so by bringing the Pauline notion of body and embodiment in conversation with the philosophical work of Judith Butler in order to locate the construction of subjectivity and modes of embodiment at the interface of feminist theology, Christian tradition, and poststructuralist theory. She is well aware of the possible pitfalls of such a theoretical move. Rather than suggesting that Butler’s and Paul’s modes of thinking are commensurable and their understandings of embodiment are "the same," she engages Butler’s theory wanting to interrupt hegemonic Christian interpretations and traditions of incarnation and parousia.

Cynthia Eller approaches the topic by focusing attention on the display and representation of women’s bodies in Goddess iconography. Feminist spirituality knows of an abundance of female divine images that are considered to be sacred and powerful. She argues that feminist representations of the Divine body remain caught up in the artistic practices that have objectified wo/men. Spiritual feminists have no problem with seeing women as representing nature, sex and the body. Rather they object that wo/men’s bodies along with sex and nature have been defamed and objectified. Hence, spiritual feminists do not reject and disrupt the representations of wo/men’s bodies but seek to redeem them from misogynist cultural stereotypes that disempower wo/men. Yet in doing so they still objectify wo/men’s bodies and make them available to the male gaze. It is not wo/men but men, Eller argues, who need to get in touch with the value of nature and body. Hence, she suggests wo/men might want to concentrate on representing male embodiedness and producing sexual images of men in order to interrupt the objectifying iconization of the female body. Moreover, she suggests that feminist spirituality can undermine this objectifying tradition by invoking a Goddess who is unseen, unknowable and numinous, a Goddess who is beyond representation but as immanent mystery still saturates the natural world and embraces us with her power and strength.

Wioleta Polinska’s essay also addresses the objectification of wo/men’s bodies and their commodification. Like Eller she points out that in the western artistic tradition wo/men were made the objects of men’s gaze and not allowed to develop their own tradition of looking. Also like Eller, she points out that this tradition, especially in its representation of the nude female body, has eroticized white heterosexual wo/men’s bodies but not that of lesbians. This tradition of the nude has not only objectified white wo/men but also subjected wo/men of color to the white male painter’s colonizing and mastering gaze. The tradition of the active male artist and the passive objectified naked wo/man is not only sexist and heterosexist but also racist, classist, and colonialist. However, Polinska also points to an emerging feminist artistic tradition of portraying nude wo/men that resists objectification and empowers wo/men to insist on the visibility of all body types and all bodies marked by age, race, exploitation, pregnancy or surgery as sacred. This emerging feminist tradition will enable feminist theology to explore the image of wo/men’s nakedness and to articulate it as the message of the goodness of all godlike bodies regardless of cultural norms.

Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh autobiographically reflects on wo/men’s bodies, rituals and hegemonic religious traditions by movingly describing the burial of her mother and the questions it raised for her. Her experiences of exclusion from this solemn and intimate ritual trigger the realization of her second class citizenship as a wo/man. Although Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was deeply conscious of the victimization of wo/men and raised his voice for justice to wo/men, present day Sikhism is as patriarchal as any other established religious community. Hence Kaur Singh argues for the "refeminization" or better the reclaiming of ritual and tradition for wo/men. Such a reclaiming of the profound power of ritual and sacred text entails a transformation through which wo/men become active religious subjects rather than passive objects and move toward a new praxis of possibility, justice and solidarity.

The poems of Rachel Srubas speak in a different voice about the same issues of wo/men’s womb, barrenness, tradition and religion: "The history of G*d is a history of sons" categorically states the "Midrash for Hannah." Nevertheless the "Miriamic Hymn" confidently proclaims: "Yet this water is suffused with your breath; you will not allow its depth to silence me forever." Wo/men become speaking subjects by exploring nature, body and the sacred.

In the following editorial, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza joins the chorus of millennium discourse ringing in the year 2000 and critically reflects on its pitfalls and dangers. Nevertheless, she argues, feminism needs utopian visions that inspire the ongoing and continuing struggles for justice and the wellbeing of all wo/men.

The "Living It Out" section usually explores instances of feminist praxis. Hence we thought it was appropriate to include in this issue the panel discussion originally entitled "Publish and Perish: Reflections on Feminist Publishing on the Fifteenth Anniversary of the JFSR" which took place at the 1999 AAR/SBL Annual Meeting in Boston and attracted a broad audience. Here we publish the panel under a new heading, "Publish Not Perish: Celebrating Fifteen Years of Struggle." We are grateful to founding co-editor Judith Plaskow for organizing and coordinating the panel and to the participants for their work and support. By critically reflecting on the material conditions and political challenges of publishing feminist work in general and an autonomous feminist journal in particular, panelists Katie Cannon, Mary Hunt, Elizabeth Pritchard, Kathleen McPhillips, and Letty Russell also explore in different ways the emergent topic of the present issue of JFSR: feminist publishing as feminist embodiment. Feminist publishing creates a body of knowledge that is an integral part of feminist praxis and struggles for justice, as the contributions in different ways remind us. We publish their reflections and challenges in the "Living It Out" section of the Journal in order to signify such an embodied understanding of our work.

We regret that we do not have a transcript of the lively and engaged discussion that ensued after this challenging and invigorating session. We hope that those of our readers who participated in this discussion, and those who participate in it now virtually by reading it, will share with us their reactions, suggestions, insights, and contributions to this key question: how can we continue to produce an international journal that shapes the field of religious studies and creates a network of feminist thinkers committed to engendering the Millennium of Wo/men? Should we, as several of the participants suggested, organize a network of JFSR supporters who like the editorial board would meet regularly at the annual AAR/SBL meeting? We are looking forward to hearing from all of you.

After fifteen years of publishing with Scholars Press, which last fall discontinued all journal publication, JFSR, Inc. has contracted the services of the Society of Biblical Literature for publishing and distributing the journal. In the process we found that we have a considerable overstock of some past issues which we would like to make available at cost together with a gift subscription to wo/men’s groups, educational and other institutions, religious groups, or individuals who would benefit from reading the JFSR but cannot afford to subscribe to it. Hence, we hope that you our readers will consider making such designated or general gift subscriptions or that you will persuade your friends, wo/men’s group, or institution to sponsor such subscriptions. May we count on your support and praxis of embodiment? Please contact the JFSR editorial office if you would like to help.

Last but not least, we want to thank Ilene Stanford, Julie Lytle and Deborah Whitehead for midwifing our new website and invite you to visit us at www.hds.harvard.edu/JFSR or to email us at JFSR@hds.harvard.edu. We are looking forward to your visit and to hearing from you.