Re-Imagining 2000

Re-Imagining Gathering, 2000

Re-Imagining Gathering explores new realities in feminist theology

by Doug King
posted 11-1-00

Below is a summary report on the Re-Imagining Gathering To go directly to reports on some of the major addresses, click below:
Kathy Black	Rebecca Walker	Mary Daly	Thandeka
Visit the Re-Imagining web site for more!

Minneapolis, 10-30-00 -- The Re-Imagining Conference 2000 was held on October 26-28, at the Convention Center in Minneapolis, MN. This gathering, the fifth held since the first event in 1993, focused on the theme, "From Vision to Vessel: Creating Communities of Justice."

The platform for the Gathering, with a Shower of Stoles backdrop. Because of past problems with reporting, no picture-taking is allowed during sessions.

Someone overheard a couple of the Convention Center staff in a conversation that seemed to capture the spirit of the event. One was explaining to the other what was going on in the various parts of the huge building. When she got to Banquet Halls A and B, she simply said, "And that's where the sisters are." And they were -- some 500 of them. They came together with the planners' deliberate intention that this year's gathering would expand the sisterhood to include women of color.

One of the planners, Randy Nelson, a professor at Lutheran Theological Seminary, noted that the planning committee's aim for this event was "to look ahead, to find and develop new resources that will help people keep working for greater justice." That meant expanding the age range of the speakers, and led them to invite Rebecca Walker as someone still in her twenties. It may be that her quiet, graceful presence has highlighted the difficulties of meeting this challenge to move across the differences between the generations. But more of that later.

Another aim of the planners was to give a place for people at the margins of the church to be heard. So speakers included Kathy Black, who holds the Gerald Kennedy Chair of Homiletics and Liturgics at the Claremont School of Theology, but who finds herself marginalized, in many situations, by a severe neurological disability. Rebecca Walker is "at the margins" by virtue of her age, her biracial parentage, her stance outside the Christian faith.

Even Mary Daly, famous and respected as she is as one of the foremothers of modern feminism, has been placed on the margins of her academic career by her dismissal from Boston College, where she was essentially fired, in spite of holding tenure, for refusing to allow male students in her class in feminist ethics, which she has insisted on protecting as a safe place for women to talk and explore. And Thandeka, by virtue of her commitment to the Unitarian-Universalist Church, finds herself at the margins of mainline Christianity.

Dancing, singing, squashing big lumps of clay into "vessels of grace," sharing around those famous (and to some, infamous) round tables, sitting in the midst of the beauty and pain of the Shower of Stoles.-- for a first-time observer of the Re-Imagining Conference, the appeal to all our senses is moving and delightful.

Kathy Black was the first speaker, on Thursday evening, talking with the interesting topic, "Reflections from the Produce Aisle." (Your reporter might have wondered whether the Re-Imagining Gathering was being kicked off with some cooking lessons, but dared not venture far down that road.) She offered a moving example of how theology grows from the depths of personal experience, as she reflected on her own life with a severe neurological disease caused by exposure to toxic substances at her Girl Scout camp. This leads her to affirm (or re-imagine) a God for whom presence is more important than power and love and compassion -- a God who transforms our lives no matter what our circumstances. She calls for a community of faith in which affirms our interdependence over against our culture's loud demands for independence.

The second talk was given on Friday morning by Rebecca Walker, who was invited especially to represent the "Third Wave" of feminism as a woman still in her twenties, and as a clear voice for the new forms of consciousness and activism that are developing among her peers. Her presentation took the form of short readings from her soon-to-be-published memoir, Black, White, and Jewish. This narrative of her own growing up as the child of a black mother (author Alice Walker) and a Jewish father offered glimpses deep into a sensibility which was new to most of her audience. She led us into considering the power of race in defining all of our lives, and the truth that can be discovered only by recognizing and respecting the truth in each life.

Friday afternoon's talk was given by Mary Daly, one of the founding mothers of modern feminism. People who have heard her before commented that "it was vintage Daly" -- lots of snippets read from her own plentiful writings, laced with fairly angry comments about the state of the (patriarchal) world. Her talk and the responses to it produced an enlightening exchange on the differences -- and the connections -- between what are being called Second Wave and Third Wave Feminism.

Saturday morning began with a talk by Thandeka, whose name was given to her in 1984 by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and means "one who is loved by God" in Xhosa. After describing the racist "toxic environment" of our culture, and the way it trains white children into racism out of fear of losing the love of the people who matter most to them, she went on to offer one way to clean up that environment, through the creation of small "covenant communities" which provide a safe and strengthening place for people to share and grow and reach into the wider community.

The final major address of the conference was given by Delores Williams of Union Theological Seminary in New York. Your reporter had to leave before that happened, but will try to provide a report later.

So what did this all amount to? To this observer, attending a Re-Imagining event for the first time, three things were most impressive:

The feminist movement within the Protestant churches, at least as represented by the Re-Imagining group, is working hard to reach beyond its mainly white and middle class origins.

The new voices of Third Wave feminism, as represented so well here by Black, Walker, and Thandeka, are different in tone and focus from the earlier voices. Their focus is broader, their attention to deep, universal questions of human experience is profound.

The awareness of the connectedness of life and of humanity seems to be a shared theme across the "waves" -- and a powerful one. Part of that awareness is shown in the Gathering's brilliant use of music and dance and clay, engaging participants at many different levels, and making the event a time a real delight and refreshment.

Two side notes:

The press was at the Gathering, but why weren't the mainline churches represented?

Looking ahead -- to next year and to a new generation

During the "talk-back" session on Saturday afternoon the Gathering heard reports from some of the many caucus groups that had been meeting. One perhaps-significant moment came when Carrie Brunken, a young woman one year out of college, called on the group to do much more to involve younger women in the life of Re-Imagining.

And another note:

For another report on the Re-Imagining Conference, written by Ann Hafften for the Religion News Service, click here. She emphasized the "feminist generation gap" which was apparent at the conference.

Visit the Re-Imagining web site for more!