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Heart of Flesh: Feminist Spirituality for Women and Men
What does it mean to live out a feminist spirituality in a world that glamorizes violence and legitimizes domination?
Best-selling author Joan Chittister takes a very real look at what it means to have a feminist spirituality--a "heart of flesh"--in today's culture. She unmasks the effects of sexism on both men and women and describes a spirituality that makes healthier, happier human beings of us all.
According to Chittister, the patriarchal culture that has shaped our world has also brought us to the edge of destruction with its dualisms, hierarchies, and inequality. She outlines the historical realities that produced this situation and describes how patriarchal culture and spirituality maintain their hold on us. She then argues that there is another way which is better and introduces us to a feminist worldview that, in recognizing the full humanity of women, leads all of us to new, better ways of being and relating.
Heart of A Feminist Spirituality for Women and Men offers a dynamic vision of spirituality from one of our finest writers of spiritual literature.
Best-selling author Joan Chittister takes a very real look at what it means to have a feminist spirituality--a "heart of flesh"--in today's culture. She unmasks the effects of sexism on both men and women and describes a spirituality that makes healthier, happier human beings of us all.
According to Chittister, the patriarchal culture that has shaped our world has also brought us to the edge of destruction with its dualisms, hierarchies, and inequality. She outlines the historical realities that produced this situation and describes how patriarchal culture and spirituality maintain their hold on us. She then argues that there is another way which is better and introduces us to a feminist worldview that, in recognizing the full humanity of women, leads all of us to new, better ways of being and relating.
Heart of A Feminist Spirituality for Women and Men offers a dynamic vision of spirituality from one of our finest writers of spiritual literature.
200 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
13 people are currently reading
194 people want to read
About the author
Joan D. Chittister
205 books296 followersJoan Daugherty Chittister, O.S.B., is an American Benedictine nun, theologian, author, and speaker. She has served as Benedictine prioress and Benedictine federation president, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, and co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 24, 2016
Absolutely fascinating.
Sister Joan Chittister made an interesting case as to why feminist principles should be incorporated into spirituality. I enjoyed her formatting. Each chapter started with an event that happened in the author's life. They ranged from moments in childhood of getting a Nurse's Kit instead of a Doctor's kit for Christmas or being laughed at for wanting to be an altar boy from moments of her adult life of talking to a cop who had just arrested nuns for protesting nuclear war to a vice president of a company withholding a charitable donation due to the nuns' community organizing efforts. The author knew of what she spoke.
As this book was written in 1998, I thought it had some very forward thinking. She discussed such ideas as patriarchy, income inequality, and diversity. There were some parts that I wasn't quite sure about, but it gave me food for thought. I also wanted more when it ended. I wanted to know the How to incorporate ideals, not just the Why we should. Of course, I wonder if the How should be left to individuals in their own communities.
Still, Sister Joan has made it again on to the Warm Beverage and Pastry shelf. If a friend chooses to read this book, a warm beverage and pastry will be in order as long as a discussion follows.
Sister Joan Chittister made an interesting case as to why feminist principles should be incorporated into spirituality. I enjoyed her formatting. Each chapter started with an event that happened in the author's life. They ranged from moments in childhood of getting a Nurse's Kit instead of a Doctor's kit for Christmas or being laughed at for wanting to be an altar boy from moments of her adult life of talking to a cop who had just arrested nuns for protesting nuclear war to a vice president of a company withholding a charitable donation due to the nuns' community organizing efforts. The author knew of what she spoke.
As this book was written in 1998, I thought it had some very forward thinking. She discussed such ideas as patriarchy, income inequality, and diversity. There were some parts that I wasn't quite sure about, but it gave me food for thought. I also wanted more when it ended. I wanted to know the How to incorporate ideals, not just the Why we should. Of course, I wonder if the How should be left to individuals in their own communities.
Still, Sister Joan has made it again on to the Warm Beverage and Pastry shelf. If a friend chooses to read this book, a warm beverage and pastry will be in order as long as a discussion follows.
August 17, 2016
I used this book as a meditation each morning. This is my second reading and it's interesting to me how much my perspective has changed. Sr Joan is a favorite of mine. In fact, I met her and she autographed this book for me. Her use of the word "feminist" bothered me throughout this second reading. I wish she would have used a more inclusive term. I am on a "no label" mission lately. Although I do understand that she is drawing a picture of a patriarchal society (which is pretty much what we live in now) and a feminist society (which she espouses for change). To me, she doesn't mean feminist to apply to women only. Rather, to apply to a different world view. Really enjoyed this second reading.
July 9, 2015
Quotes
“To accept the first statement—that some are entitled by nature or role or social place—is to accept, to require, domination and powerlessness as well….It is, furthermore, to accept a vision of society which at its operational center is at its best only partial, only male. It is to create a world that walks on one leg, sees with one eye, and thinks with only one side of its mind.
…In this environment blind obedience became the height of spiritual achievement.” (p. 21)
“The results of such a system have not always been brutal, but they have always been destructive. The patriarchal society, agreeable as it may be, is an essentially violent thing. The patriarchal society—any society in which men, the males of the system, own, administer, shape, or control all the major facets of the culture—is a stifling thing. Not only the intellectual life of a woman is cut off by it, not simply the economic life of a woman is deterred by it, not just the political life of a woman is restricted by it, but the spiritual life of women-and of men, as well-is corrupted by it.” (p. 24)
“In patriarchal societies, women are minimized, trivialized, made invisible, and shunted to the margins by a system that bases itself on their inferiority. They are also often seduced by a reverence that applauds them but limits them. They are eulogized for staying in their proper places, for being sufficiently docile and properly deferent, but they are also degraded by the false protectionism, veneration, paternalism, and denigration that such a system offers. The patriarchal woman buys her place in such a society at the price of her person. More than that, she limits the development of her every other woman as well. In a patriarchal society, females can be children, daughters, girls, “little wives,” and mothers but never independent, self-sustaining, totally developed women, adults.” (p. 27)
“To talk about the damage done to patriarchal institutions by feminism and not to recognize the damage done by patriarchy to those same institutions, to both women and men, to the entire Christian dispensation, cries to heaven for justice, for mercy, for conversion.” (p. 47)
“Patriarchal power keeps information to itself so that others have no material out of which to fashion alternative decisions. Skewing of information, disinformation, manipulation of data, spin-doctoring become the bedrock of communication in a system that assumes itself to be the first and last word on every decision. Tokenism, the process of taking a few outcasts into the center of a system in order to keep the rest of the population out of it and to look good at the same time, serves to give an air of social change, to pacify the poor, to undermine the advocate of change. “You have to be patient,” people argue. “Change takes time,” they say. “Good things are happening,” they contend. But nothing really changes where tokenism is practiced except that now minorities are smothered inside the system instead of outside of it. Ultimately, the world inside the world that patriarchy creates blocks the rest of the world out and has no idea they’re not even there.” (p. 67)
“Feminism takes the position that for a person to become really powerful, power must be shared… A group in which the power of every individual becomes a resource rather than a threat becomes really powerful. More than simply a collection of minions, puppets, or robots programmed by the limitations of the leader, the group becomes a critical mass of individuals whose creative resources become available at their most cultivated levels. When power is shared, people become everything they can be, and the power of the group itself rises with new clarity. When power is not shared, people become object for the satisfaction of the leader. People become dehumanized, even objects for the satisfaction of the leader. People become dehumanized, even in the most benevolent of patriarchal environments, when their own gifts, skills, talents, ideas, needs, and concerns are simply ignored because someone else supposedly knows better. Patriarchal power cripples groups and disdains individual. In patriarchal homes, wives too often become nameless things (the wife) or petted things (the little woman), children are invisible, and life is structured for the comfort and convenience of the patriarch. Submission masks as spirituality, and human development withers in mid-flight. (p. 68-9)
“It is so easy in a patriarchal society to make ourselves gods of the tiny little kingdoms we occupy.” (p. 98)
Though it is not a page-turner, this is an absolute must-read for every person. Borrow my copy! You need this book! Reading it was both difficult and soothing. It was healing and disturbing to find such logical validity for my painful patriarchal existence thus far. I read so many passages that seemed to be perfectly describing the religion I left, though it wasn’t. I read some beautiful passages that described the religion I joined. I really want people to read this and see that patriarchy is a problem for everyone-not just for some of us-but for our whole world!
“To accept the first statement—that some are entitled by nature or role or social place—is to accept, to require, domination and powerlessness as well….It is, furthermore, to accept a vision of society which at its operational center is at its best only partial, only male. It is to create a world that walks on one leg, sees with one eye, and thinks with only one side of its mind.
…In this environment blind obedience became the height of spiritual achievement.” (p. 21)
“The results of such a system have not always been brutal, but they have always been destructive. The patriarchal society, agreeable as it may be, is an essentially violent thing. The patriarchal society—any society in which men, the males of the system, own, administer, shape, or control all the major facets of the culture—is a stifling thing. Not only the intellectual life of a woman is cut off by it, not simply the economic life of a woman is deterred by it, not just the political life of a woman is restricted by it, but the spiritual life of women-and of men, as well-is corrupted by it.” (p. 24)
“In patriarchal societies, women are minimized, trivialized, made invisible, and shunted to the margins by a system that bases itself on their inferiority. They are also often seduced by a reverence that applauds them but limits them. They are eulogized for staying in their proper places, for being sufficiently docile and properly deferent, but they are also degraded by the false protectionism, veneration, paternalism, and denigration that such a system offers. The patriarchal woman buys her place in such a society at the price of her person. More than that, she limits the development of her every other woman as well. In a patriarchal society, females can be children, daughters, girls, “little wives,” and mothers but never independent, self-sustaining, totally developed women, adults.” (p. 27)
“To talk about the damage done to patriarchal institutions by feminism and not to recognize the damage done by patriarchy to those same institutions, to both women and men, to the entire Christian dispensation, cries to heaven for justice, for mercy, for conversion.” (p. 47)
“Patriarchal power keeps information to itself so that others have no material out of which to fashion alternative decisions. Skewing of information, disinformation, manipulation of data, spin-doctoring become the bedrock of communication in a system that assumes itself to be the first and last word on every decision. Tokenism, the process of taking a few outcasts into the center of a system in order to keep the rest of the population out of it and to look good at the same time, serves to give an air of social change, to pacify the poor, to undermine the advocate of change. “You have to be patient,” people argue. “Change takes time,” they say. “Good things are happening,” they contend. But nothing really changes where tokenism is practiced except that now minorities are smothered inside the system instead of outside of it. Ultimately, the world inside the world that patriarchy creates blocks the rest of the world out and has no idea they’re not even there.” (p. 67)
“Feminism takes the position that for a person to become really powerful, power must be shared… A group in which the power of every individual becomes a resource rather than a threat becomes really powerful. More than simply a collection of minions, puppets, or robots programmed by the limitations of the leader, the group becomes a critical mass of individuals whose creative resources become available at their most cultivated levels. When power is shared, people become everything they can be, and the power of the group itself rises with new clarity. When power is not shared, people become object for the satisfaction of the leader. People become dehumanized, even objects for the satisfaction of the leader. People become dehumanized, even in the most benevolent of patriarchal environments, when their own gifts, skills, talents, ideas, needs, and concerns are simply ignored because someone else supposedly knows better. Patriarchal power cripples groups and disdains individual. In patriarchal homes, wives too often become nameless things (the wife) or petted things (the little woman), children are invisible, and life is structured for the comfort and convenience of the patriarch. Submission masks as spirituality, and human development withers in mid-flight. (p. 68-9)
“It is so easy in a patriarchal society to make ourselves gods of the tiny little kingdoms we occupy.” (p. 98)
Though it is not a page-turner, this is an absolute must-read for every person. Borrow my copy! You need this book! Reading it was both difficult and soothing. It was healing and disturbing to find such logical validity for my painful patriarchal existence thus far. I read so many passages that seemed to be perfectly describing the religion I left, though it wasn’t. I read some beautiful passages that described the religion I joined. I really want people to read this and see that patriarchy is a problem for everyone-not just for some of us-but for our whole world!
March 21, 2025
Now I want to read everything she’s written!
April 14, 2016
I love Sr. Joan Chittister!! This is an excellent book that outlines the radical nature of Christianity to build a new society within the shell of the old. I was particularly struck by the chapter on Pride and Humility detailing the 12 Levels of Humility according to St. Benedict - The Rule of Benedict. Its amazing that a document written for men, during the time of Roman Patriarchal rule could be so relevant still today. I kept thinking about how Benedict's writing is so clearly unknown to some the candidates running for President - confirming Chittister's premise that revolution is necessary and it will come not from hearts of stone but hearts of flesh!
June 16, 2019
This is a doozy of a feminist spirituality book. Insanely good, but needs time to take in. Chittister pulled no punches in 1998, and even in 2019 this book reads like she just read up on the #metoo movement, it's still that current. She doesn't leave out the responsibility of both men and women in regards to how the patriarchy sets them both up to fail, and she doesn't leave a stone unturned on the various arenas in the Church and out of the Church where we need to speak up and learn to expose the abuses and stand in solidarity with those isolated, assuming others won't want to hear them because they are women.
Just a stunning work, all around. Highly recommend.
Just a stunning work, all around. Highly recommend.
Read
April 15, 2009I liked this book, but wasn't totally gripped by it. She contrasts a patriarchal way of living with a feminist way of living. She is good on seeing how the former is bad for men as well as women. I guess if I had a problem it would be that she sees feminism as a world view that is right for all - for men and women. I think I'd rather she called it humanism, or should that be Christian humanism?
June 9, 2018
even more timely now in the age of Trump and a strong set of arguments to strengthen the resurgent feminist movement
More timely today in the age of Trump.. Send this book to William Barber, Jr to give him ammunition to add to the poor peoples, campaign. Spiritual feminism is a weapon to use against a war making. and uncaring plutocracy.
More timely today in the age of Trump.. Send this book to William Barber, Jr to give him ammunition to add to the poor peoples, campaign. Spiritual feminism is a weapon to use against a war making. and uncaring plutocracy.
May 22, 2016
I appreciated this book -- she explained a lot of the foundations of a feminist worldview (especially as it relates to spirituality and the church) in basic, accessible language without being condescending. A great read for anyone who wonders how feminism and Christianity can/should come together.
October 12, 2022
another good intro to feminist theology and spirituality.
February 20, 2009
MUST READ!!
September 16, 2012
Changed my life.
July 18, 2024
A FAMED CATHOLIC SPIRITUAL TEACHER DISCUSSES FEMINIST SPIRITUALITY
Sister Joan D. Chittister is a Benedictine nun, author, and speaker; she writes a column for the National Catholic Reporter, and is the founder of "Benetvision". She has written many books, such as 'Job's Daughters: Women and Power,' 'Following the Path: The Search for a Life of Passion, Purpose, and Joy,' 'Called to Question: A Spiritual Memoir,' 'Joan Chittister: In My Own Words,' etc.
She wrote in the "Acknowledgments" section of this 1998 book, "as a social scientist, I became even more fascinated by the social implications of sexism. Could something so long established possibly be wrong? ... This book is a culmination of that inquiry... I asked the question, 'What is feminist spirituality and what does it mean to both women and men?'"
She begins by stating that the book rests on three positions: First, that what is most important is "whether or not women themselves determine the content and the conclusions of those definitions." Second, that any form of dominance which leads to exclusion or underdevelopment must be exposed; Third, that "spirituality itself rides on an understanding of these propositions." (Pg. 3)
She notes that the concept of spirituality---"the notion that all of life must be lived conscious of the divine in the mundane"---is a relatively new one. (Pg. 13) Feminist spirituality is "a call to live the gospel, not the prevailing culture." (Pg. 37) She suggests that the prospect of feminism without spirituality is "a dour one," while spirituality without feminism "is even worse." (Pg. 46)
She asserts that "The feminist challenge to contemporary theology is a simple one: Whose word will a woman be? Her own or someone else's?" (Pg. 112) Feminism being the world back to the "companionship story" in Genesis, confronting the present system based on androgny with a system based on "communal welfare." (Pg. 166) She concludes by commending Ecofeminism, which "bring feminism, feminist spirituality, and Genesis itself together into one great burning light." (Pg. 168)
Chittister's reflections are always fascinating and heartfelt.
Sister Joan D. Chittister is a Benedictine nun, author, and speaker; she writes a column for the National Catholic Reporter, and is the founder of "Benetvision". She has written many books, such as 'Job's Daughters: Women and Power,' 'Following the Path: The Search for a Life of Passion, Purpose, and Joy,' 'Called to Question: A Spiritual Memoir,' 'Joan Chittister: In My Own Words,' etc.
She wrote in the "Acknowledgments" section of this 1998 book, "as a social scientist, I became even more fascinated by the social implications of sexism. Could something so long established possibly be wrong? ... This book is a culmination of that inquiry... I asked the question, 'What is feminist spirituality and what does it mean to both women and men?'"
She begins by stating that the book rests on three positions: First, that what is most important is "whether or not women themselves determine the content and the conclusions of those definitions." Second, that any form of dominance which leads to exclusion or underdevelopment must be exposed; Third, that "spirituality itself rides on an understanding of these propositions." (Pg. 3)
She notes that the concept of spirituality---"the notion that all of life must be lived conscious of the divine in the mundane"---is a relatively new one. (Pg. 13) Feminist spirituality is "a call to live the gospel, not the prevailing culture." (Pg. 37) She suggests that the prospect of feminism without spirituality is "a dour one," while spirituality without feminism "is even worse." (Pg. 46)
She asserts that "The feminist challenge to contemporary theology is a simple one: Whose word will a woman be? Her own or someone else's?" (Pg. 112) Feminism being the world back to the "companionship story" in Genesis, confronting the present system based on androgny with a system based on "communal welfare." (Pg. 166) She concludes by commending Ecofeminism, which "bring feminism, feminist spirituality, and Genesis itself together into one great burning light." (Pg. 168)
Chittister's reflections are always fascinating and heartfelt.
June 2, 2020
Fantastic- consistent and exhaustive approach as to how traditional Christian complementation beliefs hurt not only women but men. Written in the 1990s, so it doesn't approach non-binary genders, but the building blocks are there for future theologians.
January 10, 2023
Outstanding and uplifting insights on women's spirituality. An authentic and truth telling resource.
February 26, 2021
Circles.
Great read. Eye opening to another side of humanity. The patriarchs are all around us. Oppression is real. Recommend reading.
Great read. Eye opening to another side of humanity. The patriarchs are all around us. Oppression is real. Recommend reading.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews