Feminist liturgies – religious or post-secular movement?*

  • Tomasz Dekert Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow
Keywords: feminism, feminist liturgies, post-secularism, post-conciliar Catholicism

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the phenomenon of feminist litur- gies to ask whether they are strictly religious or, rather, they constitute an element of post-secular culture understood here as ascribing some forms of religion/spirituality a positive meaning for the desired politi- cal and social change. It is based, first of all, on the material gathered by Catholic/Catholic-raised women activists. The analysis of the or- ganizing principles of the feminist liturgies has led me to see conver- gence between their ideological grounds and the functionalist-struc- tural understanding of the relationships between society, culture and ritual. Against this background, the instrumental approach to litur- gical forms becomes clear, as they have become tools to embody and propagate feminist consciousness. This allowed me to conclude that the nature of this phenomenon is post-secular.

Author Biography

Tomasz Dekert, Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow

Born in 1979, is employed at the Institute of Cultural Studies of the Jesuit University Ignatianum in Cracow. He is intere­ sted in early Christian culture (primarily in terms of ortho- and hete­ rodoxy and the development of traditions and imagery) and in the is­ sue of Christian liturgy as seen through the prism of anthropological theories of ritual.

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Published
2018-06-30
How to Cite
[1]
Dekert, T. 2018. Feminist liturgies – religious or post-secular movement?*. Perspectives on Culture. 21, 2 (Jun. 2018), 55-68.
Section
Post‑secular mirages