Alexandra Gripenberg’s Feminist Christianity

Abstract

The rise of organized feminism in nineteenth-century Western societies heightened the debate about the role of Christianity in the modern project.¹ This debate centered on the question of whether Christianity could be reconciled with women’s emancipation and gender equality. One can argue that religion served as a crucial terrain in the feminist struggles.² A rich body of research on various national contexts confirms the central, and very often positive, role religion played in many feminists’ lives and campaigns. According to these studies, the majority of feminist activists argued that Christianity was in favor of women’s rights. Consequently, religious vocabulary was used to express radical demands about gender relations. It was stressed that the message of freedom that was the cornerstone of Christianity had been suppressed as a result of the patriarchal interpretation of the Bible. Furthermore, several studies show that, in many cases, feminist consciousness grew out of commitment to religious ideals. Many of the feminists who argued that religion could be seen from the perspective of empowerment had previously been engaged with religious activities—for instance, in the field of philanthropy.³