Catherina Halkes:

Feminism and Spirituality

Major elements of American feminist spirituality
are interpreted in a European context as promise
and challenge for Christian theology and
liberation.
Dr. Catherina Halkes is professor emerita at the
University of Nijmegen, Holland, and a leading
figure in European feminist theology. This article
is token from the text of her farewell speech on
her retirement rom the chair of Feminism and
Christianity in 1986 translated by Joan van der
Sman. (Ed. note: Gratitude is also due to Patricia
E. McVay and Judith E. Beckett for their invaluable
assistance in contributing and preparing Dr.
Halkes' article for publication.)
SPIRITUALITY presents a sensible way to approach the subject
of "feminism and Christianity." My intention is to recognize the
mutual tension between them; not to reconcile them too soon,
but to keep them confronting each other. In this respect,
because of its connections with both feminism and
Christianity, spirituality supplies a useful component.
I
In the 1970s, a new phenomenon appeared within the
women's movement in the United States under the name of
"feminist spirituality." This movement came to Europe around
1980. It arose from the insight that the origins of women's
estrangement go deeper than the polarization of sex-roles
between man and woman. Its roots lie in the dualism between
spirit and body which characterizes patriarchy itself. In titles
such as Woman Spirit (a magazine) and Woman Spirit
Rising (a well-known book), this 'spirit' becomes visible as the
new dimension of a feministic consciousness which wants to
redefine reality.

In the following ten to fifteen years many other new

phenomena appeared which can be treated under the heading
of feminist spirituality. But If I am correct, there are three main
elements: the goddess movement, the witch movement, and
a current based more on esoteric, psychoanalytic, and
therapeutic processes.
GODDESSES
In the goddess movement two aspects of feminist spirituality
coincide: the connection with the old pre-patriarchal religions
and women's search for their own strength and life style.
Now-familiar objections have been raised from many sides
against the god-images in the dominant patriarchal religions
Jewish, Christian, and Islamic. Further, many women have
come to prefer the Goddess as the feminine expression of the
divine. In her they experience recognition and identity. They
experience their being-as-woman affirmed rather than ignored
or belittled.
The Goddess symbol stands for the life force and the
processes of birth, death, and rebirth. That is how we have
known her for a long time from religious studies and
mythology - the Great Mother, the Goddess with the many
names.
The movement places strong emphasis on immanence,
understood in the first place as "the Goddess within yourself,"
through which you become strong, become creative, and
gather strength from your own resources. Purportedly, in a
matriarchal societies power was widely shared, life was more
peace-loving (Crete is an obvious example), and people had a
sense of strong ties with nature and respected it. It is also
generally accepted that in a society in which the Goddess was
central, women played an important role in religion as well as
in public life. Even though none of this can be proved, it is still
of vital importance for this movement to see in the Goddess
and what she symbolizes a utopia from which women can
draw life.

Starhawk, an important recent author, stresses the

importance of immanence in the cosmic sense of the great
connection on which everything depends. For her, the
Goddess is the image for this immanence as the divine
presence in nature but also in human beings and our bodies.
Thus estrangement from nature, from other people, and from
within our own selves is reversed. With regards to women,
Starhawk mentions an extra dimension, namely their
sexuality. For "In the empty world of the machine, when
religious strictures fall away, sex becomes another arena of
performance, another commodity to be bought and sold. The
erotic becomes the pornographic."(1)
Finally, the Goddess cannot be contained in one image, but
takes many forms, associations, and colors. With regard to her
being woman, she finds three expressions: the young girl, the
mature woman or mother, and the old wise woman -- symbols
for independence, fertility, and the wise ordering of life.
In the Dutch anthology In the Name of the Goddess, Heleen
Crul shows that the encounter with what the Goddess stands
for, and what she appeals to, is essential for everyone
involved in constructing a more truthful portrait out of the
debris of the false image of 'woman.'(2) Various goddesses
express singly the many aspects of ourselves. Clearly,
theoreticians of this movement, particularly in Europe, are
strongly influenced here by the theories of C. G. Jung, to
whom they often refer. They recognize that the gods' images
are projections. The essence of the Divine and Absolute
cannot be captured or named. But, according to Crul, a certain
form of religion can bring us into direct contact with the
collective subconscious. As a result, respect and awe for the
unfathomable Mystery will grow again.(3)
WITCHES
In my description of the goddess movement, I mentioned
several elements which are also found in two other streams,
witchcraft and psychology.

In some measure, the witchcraft movement came from

America to Europe in the 'seventies together with the goddess
movement. A sort of religion, it is on one side a militant
protest movement and on the other it wants to give
expression to mutual bondedness through magic and selfcreated rituals. The protest element is already manifest in the
militant name of "witch," which objects against the historic
witchcraft persecutions. But this image also bears a positive
meaning. In one way it deals with the knowledge of nature, its
healing powers, and herbs. In another, it concerns defiance
and resistance, as witches take to the street in protest against
what befalls women, from being ogled to being raped. They
demand the return of night and darkness for women so that
they will feel safe and free to move.
Witches appeal to "the witch in every woman," that is, to the
power to change negative self-associations into a positive
selfimage, self-confidence, and militant self-expression.
Nevertheless, while they see themselves constituting a
religion and a spiritual movement, their rituals are not
directed towards the sacred but more towards the profane, if
in a light way.
PSYCHOLOGY AND THERAPY
In the third current within feminist spirituality, the accent falls
primarily on women's search for "self" in therapeutically
oriented groups, through psychoanalytical process, and by
means of esoteric movements. What is important in all this is
the process of change, in which ideas about reality shift and
women acquire a different vision of the cosmos and human
nature. This manner of changing is variously called
transformation, reforming, re-creation.
Christine Quispel convincingly describes these processes of
change, particularly as they occur both in individual women
and in the women's movement as a whole.(4) She also shows
the connection between how women manage their personal
transformations and their contribution to the larger
movement. This conversion enables women to look at their

situation and problems in a new way and guides them towards

solutions which are more effective, satisfying, and meaningful.
With wider scope, they no longer need to fix their attention on
a single problem and thus experience greater freedom and
creativity.
The idea of transformation which is often mentioned in
feminist spirituality, as it is in all sort of New Age movements,
can be used in a variety of ways. In Jungian psychology it
expresses the process of individuation in which women
develop their "animus" and men their "anima," and the dark
side of the subconscious is integrated into the personality as a
whole. "Transformation" is also used by mystics to describe
the way towards enlightenment. It always deals with a change
of consciousness, "awakening" in Carol Christ's terminology,
waking up. As a result, a new idea of the self emerges in
which the experience of wholeness is central, a wholeness
which transcends the dualities of spirit and body, reason and
feeling, life and death which have so long influenced Western
consciousness.
When the self joins with the greater Self, love and strength
arise. And past the collective self, a transcendental universal
self is being realized. All this occurs in a process of selfdevelopment and total involvement. A new sense of
responsibility appears along with a sense of being called to
fulfil a specific mission. According to Quispel, so far as this
transformation concerns feminist women, their own depth as
well as new social possibilities are being recognized. Sexism
no longer seems inevitable.
Simultaneously, then, a reformation within the women's
moment is occurring which expresses itself in working for
change in society, a growing bond between women, and
experiences of transcendence in feminism itself. Within such
feminist spirituality, transformation is being experienced as
contact with streams of strength and energy at work in all
natural and social processes.
THE ETHICAL ELEMENT

If we reflect on the overall spiritual movement within

feminism, we thus encounter several elements:
first, awareness -- growth, development, and transformation,
both of women personally and the women's movement as a
whole. Secondly, we find religious elements, primarily in the
image of the Goddess, which points towards both
transcendence and immanence, but also in the form of rituals,
play, and magic as expressions of this spirituality. In third
place we find ethical elements, about which I can be brief as
far as theory is concerned.
There is in fact only one ethical principle in both the Goddess
and witch movements: do what you want but harm no one.
This rule has to be understood from the viewpoint that the
Goddess is immanent in the world and present in all forms of
life. She implies respect for life and service of the power of
life. Consequences include involvement in the environmental
movement, the peace movement, and the liberation
movement of Native Americans with regard to their respect
for Mother Earth.
Witchcraft does not promote feelings of guilt and self-hatred
among its members but responsibility for personal conduct,
partly from the motive that any evil done to others returns to
oneself threefold.
Fourth and finally, political elements are part of feminist
spirituality, which is often criticized as an escape from political
activities. After extensive study of this subject, such criticism
seems wrong to me. The title alone of the collection edited by
Charlene Spretnak, The Politics of Women's Spirituality, clearly
demonstrates the opposite. She explains that the term
"spirituality" refers to our attitude towards life. For her the
meaning of the word "political" is the manner in which we
experience power, make that visible, and use it. Spretnak sees
that in and through feminist spirituality women are regaining
their inner strength in order to use it for the whole while
sharing power. Ultimately the aims of spirituality and of
revolutionary politics are the same: the creation of a world in

which love, equality, and fulfillment of both the individual and

the collective are being made possible (Starhawk).
As a whole the feminist movement resists revolution based on
violence and dominated by a small group. Rather it advocates
a revolution based on consensus, which can only occur
through a process in which insights are shared regarding the
roots of evil as well as strategies to overcome them.(5)
INTERMEZZO: ON THE TERM "SPIRITUALITY"
Before moving on, I would like to include a brief intermission
in order to catch our breath. I imagine that some are rather
puzzled about using the term "spirituality" for the new
movements with which I have been dealing up to now. For a
long time this term has been translated by "inner life,"
"spiritual life," "personal piety," or "striving for perfection,"
with overtones of asceticism and self-denial. But I urge you to
suspend your judgment, because in circles in which Christian
spirituality is being systematically studied, we discover a
number of new insights allied to the currents being dealt with
here. Not all that is new comes from feminism!
Until the Second Vatican Council, spirituality had in fact been
defined in contrast to matter, the world, the physical; in terms
of temporal vs. eternal life; or individual piety vs. social
activity. This polarization is slowly but surely being overcome.
In the first instance, spirituality is understood as the mental
attitude with which people conduct their lives and labor, and
within which, if it is conducted positively, now and then a
moment of transcendence will occur. Empirically, the humane
sciences have made sure that the process does not go too fast
or too high or too far. First of all, each person has to discover
his or her own roots in order to realize the personal context of
his or her life. Therefore, a sound, i.e. contextual, spirituality
starts from the concrete world and shared life situation.
Christian spirituality is thus an attitude oriented towards the
Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ inspiring us to live in justice and
love, in liberty and authenticity, and, moving out from there,

in availability for God and for people. In other words: a life in

which this Spirit moves freely.
With regard to the second point of this intermezzo, it is
remarkable to me that talk about feminist spirituality always
means the type of spirituality I described earlier. As a
theologian, I feel challenged to reflect on the possibilities for a
Christian feminist spirituality. Is it possible that Christian faith
and tradition have no elements and no models which concur
with the new self-experience of women and with their desire
to give that concrete form?
II
Within feminist theology, a number of aspects can be
identified which could become part of a renewed Christian
spirituality. I will present them in a certain order, although
with some arbitrariness because the selection is made out of
my own life and faith experiences. Other women might find
certain elements important which are not mentioned here.
More research will be necessary. What I am presenting here is
at most an outline or sketch.
CHRISTIAN FEMINISM AND LIBERATION SPIRITUALITY
In the first place, such a spirituality ought to be one
of liberation. The theological basis lies in the courage to be,
which means the courage to choose life. "Life and death I give
you, blessing and curse. Choose life," says the bible (Deut.
30:19). By loving God, by listening to God's voice, and
remaining united with God, our life will become fruitful.
Liberation spirituality starts off uneasy with and in revolt
against all structures in society and church based on manwoman relations and the resultant limitations these place on
women's autonomy. Uneasiness and revolt put women on
their toes. They raise their voices to break out of their
anonymity, recognize each other and go on their way, in
search of a personal calling and responding to it. The "exodus"
of women has biblical connotations and reminds us of Miriam,

who led the victory song in joy and gratitude to the Voice
which had called the Hebrews to leave the house of slavery.
(6) Such a moment of transcendence, a response to a
beckoning Voice, can also break through on the way towards
women's liberation. Here, as a community, women can fulfil
an intercessory function, moving in the domain of the Spirit
who sets us free from all external constraints. Living in the
Spirit of Christ encourages us not to allow ourselves to be
enslaved anew.
Whoever has dared to go through the process of awareness
and liberation (it takes a whole lifetime!) comes not only to a
reordering of her personal life, but also to a re-ordering of the
foci of attention in the Christian message, emphasizing its
unknown or forgotten aspects. We distinguish what is
important from the inside. We convert ourselves to greater
sensitivity to and a deeper solidarity with other marginalized
people, first and foremost with women who sometimes have
to fight in a threefold way -- not only as women, but as women
who are poor, and as women who are discriminated against
because of their skin color.
The restriction or suppression of women is one side of the
alienation in which we live and from which we want to liberate
ourselves. More complicated because of its subtlety is the
liberation of women from their acceptance of established
positions and the sometimes comfortable structures in which
they find themselves because of their emancipation. This is a
form of alienation of which they are not conscious or wish to
ignore by suppressing their discomfort. They still do not
understand what feminism is all about when they repeat: "I do
not feel oppressed at all." They not only deny themselves but
unknowingly deny millions of women who are being sold,
raped, and sexually mistreated because of their female body.
Such women are our 'neighbors.' Whether they will ever
become our sisters depends on our solidarity with them.
Liberation spirituality is therefore also a militant spirituality
which can be fruitful only if it fuses together elements of the
journey to Tabor, the Transfiguration, and the return journey to

the Jerusalem of death and resurrection. For liberation is

finally a way to freedom: freedom to love, to celebrate
ordinary life, to become open to the Mystery of our existence
which we call God. There we find space to live attentively and
to listen, which is the basis for the liberation struggle.
If I may establish a link between Latin-American liberation
theology and feminist liberation spirituality, it strikes me as
significant that Gustavo Gutierrez places special emphasis on
the experience of God's grace.(8) For him, "Communion with
God and with all people is first and foremost a gift."
Feminist theologians are reluctant to use the word "grace."
Our prime feeling is that perhaps it is up to us to liberate
ourselves. Words such as gift, grace, openness, emptiness (in
the mystical sense) are still too closely linked with terms from
a past not yet superseded, such as: waiting, receiving, the
empty womb which yearns to become fruitful. Women have
become allergic to such terms. It requires a real maturing
process to experience the threefold journey from imposed
passivity via self-initiated activity towards authentic and
creative receptiveness.
POSITIVE SEXUAL ATTITUDES
In the second place, feminist spirituality is manifested by a
positive experience of (female) sexuality and the processes
connected with it. Spirituality concerns the whole human
being and not only the spirit, and certainly not the spirit
versus the body. It aims to abolish all dualistic thinking.
Women have been alienated from their own bodies by
patriarchal domination and decision-making. But women no
longer experience the changes and rhythms of our bodies as
shameful or unclean, rendering us unworthy of the sacred.
Neither a patriarchal nor a mechanical vision of sexuality is
humane. But we still await a healthy "Spirit-in-matter"
mentality which transcends sexuality, not by sublimation and
rejection, but by an affirmation and integration in which
affection, games, and communication are necessary

components.8 Such an appreciation of sexuality must receive

more attention in the liturgy, for example, in dance. In such
ways we become more familiar with our bodies, our means of
expression and communication for celebrating creation and
making this celebration viable.(9)
CREATION SPIRITUALITY
An intense experience of the earth and the whole of nature as
God's good creation is another positive aspect of a Christian
feminist spirituality. But realizing how we belong to and
participate in the cosmos as a whole does not mean returning
to nature-religion, but rather living and thinking so as to
include nature.
Creation is not thus deified, as in nature-religions, but neither
is it rendered godless. There are traces of God in creation. And
human beings are called to be co-creators. "God needs
people" is the Dutch title of Dorothee Slle's book To Work
and to Love.
Thus, women will protest against a strong anthropocentric
doctrine of creation extolling man as 'Lord of creation,' which
in practice means domination over women, children, and
slaves, and a ruthless subjection of nature. Women are
witnesses for a re-direction towards the proper use of nature.
Modern physics itself teaches us that we human beings are
part of nature, or of the cosmos (which means something
quite different). Similarly, many women experience a profound
need for connectedness and thus oppose an exclusive,
divisive way of thinking. They resist a mechanical,
technological domination of the world. They believe in an
ecological world community.
CREATIVE INTEGRITY
One aspect of creation-spirituality concerns women in
particular. Masculine, western thinking tends to identify
women with nature because of their bodily processes, while
associating men with culture and spirit. Thus, in reaction to

the deification of the female principle in the old religions, a

devaluation occurred with the rise of masculine monotheism.
The resulting demonization of woman has done incalculable
damage to women, to humanity in general, and to culture.
Now that the phase of humanizing woman has arrived, and
women are becoming human beings again, it is time for a
revaluation which will underline the connection and balance
between nature and culture, between women and men. If
Christianity really espouses an incarnate faith, which means
that God became human, it must take seriously the humanity
of all little and despised people.
Similarly, a dominant theology of redemption tends to neglect
creation theology. It would therefore be helpful if images and
symbols of Mother Earth, Sister Moon, and Brother Sun were
more present in our liturgies so that we could thereby
incorporate the celebration of heaven, the earth, and the
human world in dance and play.
An increasing number of theological publications independent
of the feminist quarter are already promoting creation
theology. With regard to spirituality, they warn us not to put
one-sided emphasis on social crisis and social changes, but to
devote our attention equally to our relationship with nature.
Rather, in opposition to a one-dimensional and too-strongly
humanistic culture there ought to develop a spirituality which
overrides all 'man-nature' dualism and leads to greater
concern for all living creatures as well as to inner-subjective
experiences instead of technological subject-object thinking.
Solidarity with the poor demands solidarity with nature and
with the earth, which is 'for all of us.'(10)
Again I have something to say in this regard concerning the
liturgy. On one hand the Catholic liturgy has from of old
incorporated many natural elements, such as fire, water, and
oil. The prayer-times of monasteries and convents were
adapted to the rhythm of day and night, light and darkness.
The liturgical year still has its seasons and their changes. But
from the feminist point of view one can pose the question

whether the Roman liturgy after Vatican II does not bear the
stamp of purely male rationality, what Jacques Pohier calls the
mono-sexual character of the magisterium and theology of
the Roman Catholic Church.(11)
On one hand we have a spirituality of the symbolic, on the
other the efforts of renewal in the 'social-critical' climate of
the 1960s. Matters have not improved. What remains to
celebrate has been buried under a heavy layer of socio-ethical
warnings. Isn't it time to give the deeper levels of human
experience a new opportunity in the liturgy, to retrieve for a
moment old symbols and rituals which direct us beyond
ourselves and our daily activities, not to escape reality, but to
derive motivation from such moments of transcendence in
order to act critically?
GROWTH IN TRUTH AND LIFE
Women who have got up and started to move experience their
lives as a 'way which they want to discover themselves, and
as a 'process' of creative development. As we saw earlier, we
can speak of away-in-growth' psychologically, but the'way' is
also a symbol biblically and theologically. Here I am thinking of
images of exodus, a way out of oppression and a journey
through a desert of uncertainties where now and then an oasis
appears as a feast of recognition with other women. In the
young Christian communities the new religion itself was called
the Way (Acts 9:2).
Christian feminists want to go that way in the Spirit of Christ.
For them, that means more than ever a way on which they set
out for themselves. Here I think of the words of Christ: "I am
the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). During the last
few years, these words have become more meaningful for me.
Jesus of Nazareth is not a fixed model which has to be
imitated unhistorically. On the contrary, Jesus is rather a
'model breaker; as Mary Daly once wrote.(12) This means that
we ought to go about our life-way in the Spirit of Christ, who is
first and foremost "the great updater of Jesus,"(13) the

creative and illuminating power that brings Jesus into our time
with concrete questions about women in a new era.
Christ also says: I am the Truth. Here too I am touched more
by the element of movement than of fixation. The Greek word
for truth is aletheia, which means 'un-hiddenness; that which
lights up in our life as the center, but which needs to be
cleared of many veils and cleansed to reveal the gleaming
center of our existence. Courage is always needed to go a way
which demands constant openness to the impulse to question
the meaning of the gospel both earlier, and now for women.
Christian spirituality means living pre-eminently through the
Spirit and in the freedom of the Spirit. Today, many women
experience a strong desire for originality and authenticity. This
demands letting go of everything that has been imposed on
us and has alienated us from ourselves, so that we can accept
the emptiness which can grow into the space to live creatively
and recreatively. This is what Dorothee Slle means when she
pleads with us to leave everything behind in ultimate
abandonment to the center of our existence.(14) We know the
biblical invitation not to hold on to the old, but to leave the
well-known and take the risk of reaching towards the
unknown, in confidence that God's Spirit is present in new
situations. Letting go and following a new way, in search of
their origin, is now particularly important for women.
THREE FEMINIST VIRTUES
In feminist theology there is often talk of the 'triad' of anger,
pride, and hope. Anger at the present non-recognition of
women as human and autonomous persons can be very
effective as the motive force of a new creativity. But it must
not degenerate into bitterness or vengeance, because such
attitudes enslave and restrict us. Pride also has two sides: a
creative impulse which gives us the sense that we are
worthwhile beings, and a sterile pride which cuts us off from
others in a self-satisfied attitude. I think the word "strength"
might be better for the former. "High-spiritedness" was a key
word in the work for Hadewych of Antwerp, the twelfth

century mystic, for whom it had a relational, dialectical

meaning with respect to Minne (Divine Love).(15)
Feminism is not only a movement of struggle but also of hope
-- hope of a healed world, for hope is healing. I regret that
sometimes even liberation theologians do not understand the
liberation movement of western women. They see it as a sort
of luxury, a self-centered indulgence out of place with regard
to the needs of the poor. It escapes these theologians that it is
exactly the feminist critique of all patriarchal domination and
colonialism which could form the basis of a contextual
European liberation theology, and work for increased justice in
the world as a whole.
However hopeful this may sound it is not a simple task for
women to pursue such a Way. They who dare to embark on it
become marginalized, living on the border between two
worlds, living on the boundary, as Mary Daly says. In principle,
you have left the old country but you still have to work there.
Every day you encounter people who do not understand.
Living on the boundary you can see the contours of the new
land, full of promises, but will we ever reach it? We are gaining
inner strength, which is the first necessity, but we are not
gaining in the combined power necessary to effect change. I
do not mean the power of domination and lust, but taking
positions where it becomes possible to create conditions and
structures which can change and reform thinking and acting
so that more people achieve justice.
Being marginalized is a characteristic of our lives. We
continually trek between the old and the new, relying on each
other to keep going. It creates distance, which is painful but
also potent. It sharpens our vision, empowering us to reflect
critically on experiences and to develop our ideas. For me
moments of crisis in life and faith belong here, because over
and over again we come to new life through pain and
emptying.
CREATIVE SUFFERING

This brings me to a final aspect of our possible spirituality: the

meaning of the cross and resurrection. Feminist theology often
rightly accuses Christianity as it is practiced of being a
necrophilic religion far too oriented towards suffering and
death because of the image of a suffering Christ and the
influence of a specific mystique of suffering. The Goddess
supposedly offers a more 'biophilic' religion founded
specifically on life and the meaning of the cosmos.
Over the centuries, Christian history has indeed given that
impression. But whoever goes back to the origin discovers
that it is not a true one. In the first place, the Christian faith is
an Easter faith, a resurrection faith, and the risen Christ is
central to it. As St. Paul has said already: if Christ was not
risen our faith would have no content (1 Cor. 15:14).
The essence of the mystery of Christ is the passover from
suffering and death to victory and resurrection. Suffering and
death do not exist for their own sake but as a route to new
life. Therefore from of old the Cross was seen to be the tree of
life. Not long ago in Paderborn, I was touched by a cross in a
Catholic church there in the form of a tree with two branches
on which Christ was hanging. It truly presented the Cross as a
sign of life, like a fruit tree.
A second observation: about which life are we speaking? We
can give two meanings to the word "life": in nature-religions,
life and death alternate and life comes out of death anew, like
the growth of grain from the dying seed and the spring
arriving after the death of winter. The myth of the eternal
return pertains here with regard to physical life (bios) and
physical death. But there is another death, namely that of a
human life which has been deprived of dignity through
oppression, torture, and domination. This must have been
evident in Israel because of the Hebrews' historical experience
of slavery in Egypt and their experience of a Covenant-God
which led to the liberation of humanity. From then on, a double
understanding of life and death developed in scripture: in
addition to bios was found the word "zo," human life which
transcends physical life. It refers mainly to the quality of

human life, its history, and future, which is also endangered

because of abuse and deficient personal choices.(16)
As marginalized, women have to work through crises in order
to go further. In other words, we have to go through suffering
and death to come to new life, a resurrection which may even
require rebellion or revolution in order to give form to that
new life. This passover is repeatedly necessary for those who
have not been taken seriously or made suspect because their
choices have been rejected. Crisis is not a serene process, but
rather an obstinate "matter of life and death."
NOTES
1. Starhawk, "Consciousness, Politics and Magic," in
Charlene Spretnak, The Politics of Women's
Spirituality (New York: 1982), p. 177.
2. Heleen Crul, Uit Naam van de Godin (In the Name of the
Goddess), ed. H. Crul (Haarlem, 1985), pp. 13-14.
3. Ibid., pp. 20-35.
4. Christine M. Quispel, Speling 2 (1983): 17-23.
5. Cf. Dorothy R. Riddle, "Politics, Spirituality, and Models of
Change," in Spretnak, op. cit., pp. 373-381.
6. Cf. H. Langer et al., Mit Mirjam durch das Schilfmeer:
Frauen Bewegen die Kirche (With Miriam through the Red
Sea: Women Changing the Church), Stuttgart: 1982) and
K. Waaijman, "Het lied van Mirjam (The Song of
Miriam)," Speling, ed. cit., 56-61.
7. See Otger Steggink and Kees Waaijman, Inleiding
Spiritualiteit: een Workboek (Introducing Spirituality: a
Workbook) (Nijmegen: Heerlen, 1982), pp. 17-19.
8. See Ursula King, "Women in Dialogue: A New Vision of
Ecumenism," The Heythrop Journal 36, 2 (1985):125-42,
and June O'Connor, "Sensuality, Spirituality,
Sacramentality," Union Seminary Quarterly Review 1 & 2
(1985): 5970.

9. R. Buezmanjer, "Wees Realisties, in het Onmogelijke (Be

Realistic in the Impossible)," Werkschrift voor Leerhuis
en Liturgie 3, 2 (1982):31-32, an d 4,1(1983): 125-27.
10.

Steggink/Waaijman, op. cit., pp. 22-23.

11.
Jacques Pohier, God in Fragmenten (God in
Fragments) (Hilversum: 1985), pp. 166ff.
12.
Cf. Mary Daly, Beyond God the Father (Boston:
Beacon Press, 1973).
13.
Cf. Raymond E. Brown, Crises Facing the
Church (London: 1975), p. 106.
14.
Dorothee Slle, "Mysticism, Liberation, and the
Names of God," Christianity and Crisis, June 22, 1981, pp.
179-85.
15.
Marieke van Baert, Fiere Herte Doelt na Minnen
Gronde (A High-Spirited Heart Searches the Depths of
Love) (University of Tilburg: Faculty of Theology, 1984).
16.
Cf. R. van Kessel, "Gezen en Huwelijk in Christelijk
Perspectief (Marriage and Family in Christian
Perspective)," Huwelijk en Gezen (Family and Marriage),
ed. by R. A. deMoor (Baarn: 1985), pp. 140ff.