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Women in the Orthodox Tradition brings feminist insights into dialogue with Orthodox Christianity to theologically identify and respond to challenges of gender equality.
Orthodox Christianity places great importance upon tradition, from doctrinal formulas and sainted teachings to festal commemorations and a hymnic liturgy. But what does this mean for women who are often missing, misrepresented, or outnumbered in the androcentric historical tradition? Women in the Orthodox Tradition engages with feminist insights to argue that ignoring this bias in Christian tradition is theologically problematic for Orthodox faith. By critically examining the spiritual values that shape Orthodoxy, the commemorations of women saints within it, and liturgical and doctrinal expressions that shape it, author Ashley Marie Purpura makes the case that it is theologically necessary to unsay the patriarchal limits of tradition and seek a more inclusive approach instead.
In acknowledging the messy entanglement between tradition, theology, and historical patriarchal values, Women in the Orthodox Tradition advocates for women’s voices, contributions, and diverse humanity within the church.
“A compelling and bold example of Orthodox feminist theology, Purpura lays bare the theological inequalities and social challenges Orthodox Christian women have and continue to face, asking us to reckon with systemic oppression and patriarchal androcentrism.” —Sarah Riccardi-Swartz, author of Between Heaven and Russia
“This is the first book-length attempt to bring feminist theory and theology into conversation with women in the Orthodox Church. That alone makes it invaluable.” —Carrie Frederick Frost, author of Church of Our Granddaughters
"Purpura's remarkable and innovative work...presents the first full-scale attempt to enact a critical contextualization of the Orthodox tradition with feminist concerns...no previous work has offered such a thoroughgoing, encompassing, and multifaceted account of the Orthodox-feminist interface that goes beyond specific issues. That itself will make this a landmark volume for Orthodox studies and for feminist studies in religion going forward." —Studies in Religion
"Women in the Orthodox Tradition is a bold and novel effort. . . . As Purpura develops her thesis, she carefully examines and peels away the layers in Orthodox tradition regarding women’s roles and agency, which ultimately range far beyond the kinds of left-right cultural bifurcations that are familiar to Christians in the United States." —The Christian Century
"Ashley Purpura distinguishes herself from feminist theologians who view Christianity as hopelessly patriarchal through an approach that seeks to foreground theological resources—within the Christian, and particularly the Orthodox, tradition—that affirm women and other persons marginalized within the Church as equals." —Religion & Society in East and West
Ashley Marie Purpura is an associate professor of religion in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Purdue University. She is the author of God, Hierarchy, and Power: Orthodox Theologies of Authority from Byzantium and co-editor of Orthodox Tradition and Human Sexuality and Rethinking Gender in Orthodox Christianity.
Introduction: Toward an Orthodox Feminist Theological Engagement with Tradition
1. Acknowledging Tradition's Gendered Limitations
2. Commemorating the Patriarchal Woman
3. Spiritual Values and Gender Equality
4. Theology and Women's Full Humanity
5. Approaches for Unsaying Patriarchal Androcentrism
6. Resources for Advocating for Women in Tradition
Conclusion