The subject of the self is a controversial topic in many disciplines, and the added ingredient of a feminist perspective serves to increase the complexity of the debate. This article surveys various options that have been presented by women scholars in an effort to delineate what sort of self or selves is appropriate for contemporary women. These discussions are not isolated, or arbitrary, as they must take into consideration the current theories that are being presented by male scholars. In this connection, the model of hermeneutics, especially as it is related to narrative theory, has pertinent and constructive points to make. In particular the recent work of Paul Ricoeur, whose model allows for dynamism and pluralism, is evaluated. The resultant interchange is both constructive and critical, which is characteristic of most feminist interventions in mainstream male scholarship.
In recent years the term "gender" has been used with many different meaning as well as in applications that are far from consistent. Is this diversity an indication that the term should be abandoned because of such imprecision, or can certain current or purposes, however illdefined, still be discerned? This paper is an investigation of contemporary usages of the term "gender" and the implications that could result for women involved in the study of religion.
Paul Ricoeur’s early appreciation of hermeneutics introduced a dynamic interaction between a reader and a text. Employing both explanation and understanding, aided by the catalyst of Kantian creative imagination, Ricoeur revitalized hermeneutics from being simply a method of interpreting the literal meaning of a text. Such an openness to the text, as a form of otherness, initiated new insights into human ways of being and acting. In time, however, Ricoeur became disheartened by the unmerited suffering that he witnessed human beings were inflicting on other beings. He qualified his hermeneutic foundations so as to introduce compassion and justice as modes of action towards rejected and mistreated others.
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