Re-Imagining was a Minneapolis interfaith conference of clergy, laypeople, and feminist theologians in 1993 that stirred controversy in U.S. Mainline Protestant denominations,[1] ultimately resulting in the firing of the highest ranking woman in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
[3] The conference aimed to encourage churches to address injustices to women worldwide and promote equal partnership with men at all levels of religious life.
[4] In recognition of supporters' view that traditional Christianity's male-centered language and images have often stifled and hurt women, organizers chose "re-imagining" as the theme.
International theologians were invited to address the theme as it applied to God, Jesus, church, creation, community, and world.
[6][7] A number of similar conferences had been held, but the size, scope and creative atmosphere of Re-Imagining eclipsed anything that had come before.
[11] The Women's Division of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries paid the way of 46 top staff members to attend the event.
"[16] She references visiting a Catholic church in which the only divine images were the Virgin and Child, the Cross, and the empty tomb.
When we confront the status quo as Jesus did, when we raise questions about the poor and empowering people who've never had power before, we're more than likely going to die for it.
We have come together to do this work out of our experiences as women of faith who share the conviction that our tradition has the resilience, the inexhaustible resources and creativity, to sustain a re-imagining of its most central symbols.
"[18] Hyun Kyung invoked her Asian heritage and experiences to discuss her way of understanding God and theology.
She asked for a theology and theologians who go beyond naming evils such as racism and sexism and become "alive" and "whole," centered in the reality of the world.
"[19] Brock recalled the story of the assertive Canaanite woman in Matthew 15:21–28 who challenges Jesus to help her daughter, who is "severely possessed by a demon."
With her remarks, she recognized that she would be violating one of the survival skills of African Americans, "Never pass up an opportunity to keep your mouth shut.
"[22] She spoke of the way Jesus has historically been presented to American blacks: as one who condoned slavery, as a white, blue-eyed, serene middle class or better man looking up to heaven.
She ended with a quotation from theologian Karl Barth which reminded her of her grandmother's faith: "The righteousness of God is higher than pain and deeper than joy.
"[24] Earlier in her remarks, Williams said it's problematic for black women to accept the substitution theory of atonement (that Jesus's purpose was to die on the cross for our sins,) because black women's experiences of "substituting" such as rearing white babies and being sexual partners for white men during slavery were in no way just or salvific.
"[25] She invoked three images: students massacred in Tiananmen Square, 400,000 prostitutes in Thailand, 60% of them HIV positive, and the "victory," her way of seeing Jesus.."[26] Lundblad invoked the pregnancy story of John the Baptist's mother, Elizabeth, in Luke to illustrate an emphasis on birthing something new and different and asking listeners to trust the "stirring in your wombs.
I need to believe that I am called to take the scroll of Isaiah in my hands and read the words with my name attached: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, anointing me to preach good news to the poor, release to the captive, recovery of sight to all those who refuse to see.'
Persons trained in linear thinking immediately feel threatened by the emphasis, because they see community well-being as opposed to that of the individual.
"[30] Batle spoke of attending an East African inter-denominational seminary "bound by tradition and a non-inclusive British system."
The Gospel gives women a voice in the history of salvation and set my African sisters singing and dancing .
The text authorized by Huldah reveals God, the source of all good, in implacable opposition to structures of oppression.
We know that patriarchy distorts all relations in the created world and its institutions, a state that surely grieves God's heart today.
[33] Thistlethwaite invoked a critique of French philosopher Michel Foucalt to discuss sexuality and the sex industry.
"[34] Mary Elizabeth Hunt criticized the church for being distracted by sexuality when the real issues of concern are violence, poverty, and exploitation of the powerless.
"Man fell deep into Patriarchy's clutches and focused on the market, profits and competition instead of social welfare, care for the marginalized, and the restructuring of economies to make them more humane.
"[37] Mollenkott spoke of growing up in the Plymouth Brethren tradition attending four hours of worship on Sundays and more on Tuesday nights.
"The worshipping community I would envision would have to be sincerely determined to uproot in itself any vestiges of assuming that some people are entitled to more than others because of gender differences, sexual orientation, racism, nationalism, socio-economic class, or any other reason human egos can think up.".
Those involved strived to support the struggles of clergy and lay women and give voice to emerging feminist theologies.
[12] Ten years afterward, one woman minister who attended the first conference was reported as saying in a January 12, 2004, Charlotte Observer article, "we can still get in trouble for talking about Re-Imagining.