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Asian feminist theology is a Christian feminist theology developed to be especially relevant to women in Asia. Inspired by both liberation theology and feminist theology, it aims to contextualize them to the conditions and experiences of women and religion in Asia.

History

The first recognizable collective attempt to do Asian feminist theology can be traced to the late 1970s, which saw the formation of theological networks and centres that aimed to study the gendered dimension of both theology and society.

The Conference of Theologically Trained Women of Asia was founded in January 1981 followed by The Women's Commission of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT) in 1983. The first Asian women's theological journal In God’s Image was founded in 1982 and helped form the Asian Women's Resource Centre for Culture and Theology in 1988.

These organizations, networks and centres allowed Asian female theologians to discuss strategies for dealing with patriarchy in society, the church and theology, which they saw as unhelpfully dependent on the West.

Context

Kwok Pui-lan

The decolonization of Asia saw the rise in the 1960s of new Asian theology being written by figures such as M. M. Thomas, Kosuke Koyama, and D. T. Niles. However, these men tended to look to traditional Asian cultures and practices as sources for their theology, neglecting the experiences of women and romanticizing Asian traditions without properly critiquing their patriarchal elements. Chinese theologian Kwok Pui-lan writes "challenging the colonial legacy, these theologians sometimes were too eager to embrace the cultural traditions of Asia, without taking sufficient notice of their elitist and sexist components." Wai-Ching Angela Wong furthers this point, noting that "Asianness and nationalism alike will easily fall into the old trap of orientalism, which fixes 'the Orient' in time and place"; this is especially oppressive to Asian women.

Problems were also found within Western feminist theology which was accused of:

1. speaking from a tradition where Christianity was dominant, which was largely irrelevant for most Asian women
2. a tendency to universalize Western experiences as representative
3. being insufficiently radical – it failed to consider the axes of colonialism, cultural imperialism, religious pluralism, and internalized colonialism
4. some displayed racist or ethnocentric orientations that essentialized Asian women

Bibliography

1. Kinukawa H. (2005) Biblical Studies in the Twenty-First Century: A Japanese/Asian Feminist Glimpse. In: Wicker K.O., Miller A.S., Dube M.W. (eds) Feminist New Testament Studies. Religion/Culture/Critique. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-11204-0_11
2. Pae, Keun-Joo Christine. "Feminist Activism as Interfaith Dialogue: A Lesson from Gangjeong Village of Jeju Island, Korea." Journal of Korean Religions 5, no. 1 (2014): 55-69. Accessed March 2, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23943335.
3. https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199273881.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199273881-e-1
4. Kim, Grace Ji-Sun, and Hilda P. Koster, eds. Planetary Solidarity: Global Women's Voices on Christian Doctrine and Climate Justice. Minneapolis: 1517 Media, 2017. Accessed March 2, 2021. doi:10.2307/j.ctt1pwt42b.
5. Fabella, Virginia. "Christology from an Asian Woman's Perspective." Asian Faces of Jesus. (1993): 211-222. Print.
6. Lebang, Ery Hutarabat, Olav Fykse Tveit, and Kim Young Ju. Asian Handbook for Theological Education and Ecumenism. Edited by Antone Hope, Longchar Wati, Bae Hyunju, Ho Huang Po, and Werner Dietrich. 1517 Media, 2013. Accessed March 2, 2021. doi:10.2307/j.ctv1ddcmr3.
7. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470997048.ch19
8. Chakkalakal, Pauline. (2001). Asian Women Reshaping Theology: Challenges and Hopes. Feminist Theology. 9. 21-35. 10.1177/096673500100002703.