Feminist Liberation Theologians’ Network Mid-year Meeting Follow-Up Report

Meeting by Zoom, May 21, 2025

            WATER hosted the mid-year meeting of the Feminist Liberation Theologians’ Network on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, 1-2:15 PM ET. The video of the meeting can be found at: https://youtu.be/4w5HhJ0ffcc. These notes are meant to go with (not replace) the video so watch for yourself and feel free to share.

More than 85 people signed up; more than 50 were on-line for a rich and varied hour of input, conversation, and strategizing. WATER thanks everyone, especially the speakers, for their contributions.

Among the concrete outcomes and next steps are:

  1. The next meeting of the FLTN will be held in Boston, Massachusetts, on Friday, November 21, 2025, time and place to be confirmed. We will endeavor to make this session available on Zoom. We recognize that many people, even some who often attend but prefer not to come to the US at this time, will not be in Boston. Stay tuned for details on how to participate.
  2. There was a call for reading lists of relevant materials. We start here with our speakers’ Substacks:

Kwok Pui-lan. https://kwokpuilan.substack.com/

Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite. https://susanthistlethwaitewaite.substack.com/

We will gather and share short lists on:

-fiction that is relevant to feminist liberation and solidarity

-articles from our colleagues like ecofeminist theologian Ivone Gebara

  1. WATER will create and share some informal video conversations between and among FLTN colleagues on specific current issues, including the surveillance state; reproductive justice as it is being swept under the rug in light of other concerns; and the assault on our universities.

These are simply some of the ways we propose to move forward. There will be others. It is heartening to note on the day after our meeting that colleagues have already been busy arranging for the Boston meeting, sharing the feminist music of Carolyn McDade for Irish use, quoting speakers in their new articles (Susan quotes Pui-lan: https://susanthistlethwaitewaite.substack.com/p/republicans-are-trying-to-kill-americans?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwKcqaZleHRuA2Fl ), suggesting readings, and following up on small group conversations. One kind colleague sent us her book. It astonishes us at WATER how many dimensions there are in this work—artistic as well as intellectual, political as well as spiritual, academic as well as activist.

Mary E. Hunt opened with brief remarks and introductions:

We meet at a difficult time in our world’s history. I appreciate your being here because it is in groups like this that we find our individual and our collective ways forward. The question for today is “What in the World is Going On?” No one knows everything, but as the women of the Grail used to say, “Together, we are a genius.” So today, together, we come to get various perspectives, talk with one another, and plan our future actions.

These are hard times. There is a systematic dismantling of the democracy and its institutions as we knew them in the U.S. with similar actions in some other countries. The wars in Gaza/Israel; Ukraine/Russia; Sudan and other places show no signs of abating. Here in the U.S., many people think it is fine and dandy to cut Medicaid benefits to the neediest, to fire government officials with no earthly idea how or whether their jobs will be done, for example, in the National Weather Service with hurricane season upon us. The courts are under siege; the Supreme Court is wobbly at best. The arts are being defunded (the National Museum of Women and the Arts had a $100,000 federal grant rescinded this season), and educational institutions like Harvard and Columbia are paying a dear price for doing their work.

The Feminist Liberation Theologians’ Network began in 1995 when Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and I gathered a group of colleagues to discuss Catholic women’s issues. In 1997, we opened the door as widely as possible, starting a tradition of gathering scholar/activists each year since then at the Annual Meetings of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature. We will meet next at the AAR/SBL in Boston Friday, November 21, 2025. It is for times like these that we laid this foundation. Note that the talks from our November 2024 session are published in the current issue of the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion (40.1, Spring 2025) so we are read and taken seriously. [i]

            Kwok Pui-lan and Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, both retired, sort of, have overlapping interests as well as distinct perspectives on various issues. They have decades of experience in Feminist Liberation Theologies. Both have started Substacks that deal with difficult and crucial topics in the face of the current global crisis.

Professor Kwok Pui-lan is a retired theologian from Episcopal Divinity School, and retired yet again from Candler School of Theology at Emory University where she taught various courses on liberation issues from a distinctly Asian feminist starting point. She is now Distinguished Scholar for 2025-2026 at EDS, participating in “a variety of initiatives that support further scholarship, education, and collaborative partnerships around postcolonial theology in the Anglican Communion and beyond.” Her Substack “Kwok ‘n Roll” is a must read.

Professor Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite is another of the rock stars in our midst. She was president and longtime professor of theology at Chicago Theological Seminary where she is now Emerita. She continues her steady, reliable, always insightful and direct writing in her Substack, “No Fear Religion and Politics.” Recently, she looked at the Vietnam generation, Exhibit A– Bruce Springsteen, in light of the current presidential chaos. In recent years she has turned to fiction, writing a number of mystery novels with strong women characters and clear justice educational resources woven in.

You see why I called them both “sort of retired”!

Here are some highlights from Kwok Pui-lan:

Kwok Pui-lan spoke about experiencing the start of the second presidential term of Donald Trump and realizing that she might be asked later by young people about what she did in the face of such terrible actions. She wanted to do something about which she was proud despite the overwhelming horrors. So she started a Podcast, a YouTube Channel, and a Substack in addition to her website. The links are:

https://kwoknroll.podbean.com/ (available on Apple, Spotify, and other major podcast platforms)

https://www.youtube.com/@KwoknRollPodcast

https://kwokpuilan.substack.com/

Kwok’s Website: www.kwokpuilan.com

In response to the day’s question “What in the world is going on?” she offered three observations:

  1. Oligarchy rules the country and the world. Tech bros move from behind the scenes to front and center. Trump’s cabinet is full of billionaires. The world has always been ruled by oligarchs, but now they are doing so overtly. It is only a matter of time until other countries will follow the U.S.’s example.
  2. ‘Necropolitics’ is a good way to think about what is going on, the politics of death. Pui-lan drew on the work of Cameroonian theorist Achille Mbembe, who wrote: “One of the tactics of necropolitics is the confinement of specific populations in particular spaces and the militarization of the policing of borders. Mbembe calls this ‘caged humanity’ and uses Palestine as a prime example.
  3. The emerging new world order as a result of Sino-American competition is important to observe. It is a Sino-American Empire. See her Substacks, “The Cultural Revolution: Mao vs Trump,” and “What Is China?”

As for the future work of FLTN, she suggested the importance of responding to AI and other new technologies, in short, to bring our work up to date. See her Substacks: “What If God’s Name is 01100100?” and “How Can I Live without AI?” She also co-authored a longer essay on AI, “AI and East Asian Philosophical and Religious Traditions: Relationality and Fluidity.”

Pui-lan’s closing advice was that we should take pride in being part of an Alliance instead of being divided while the future of humanity and the planet are at stake. 

Here are some highlights from Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite:

Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite continued the conversation about her own work. In recent years, she had been writing feminist mystery novels and observed the demise of mainstream media. With the emergence of Substack, she saw the possibility of a greater democratization of the writing process.

At the root of life-giving theologies of many stripes is the matter of voice. Stifling the voices of those who dissent, offering new perspectives, especially non-monetized perspectives, is key. The proliferation of Substacks is a form of connectivity. Women’s voices, among other people’s, have long been silenced.

One of her recent Substacks was on Vietnam era protests à la Bruce Springsteen (https://susanthistlethwaitewaite.substack.com/p/born-in-the-usa?utm_source=publication-search).

Another was on the possibility of Trump’s dementia (https://susanthistlethwaitewaite.substack.com/p/when-did-you-first-notice-signs-of).

These are issues that the mainstream press simply does not touch. AI, what Susan calls “wholesale theft,” needs further conversation.

Women’s voices have been excluded. Ruth Bader Ginsburg said: “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” Susan’s Substack is a way to give voice to some of the feminist liberation theological insights that need to be socialized in our own voices.

VIDEO: International Voices

We asked for comments from other colleagues and shared a short video of their remarks (https://youtu.be/AB6etFXezHc):

  1. Monica Maher is a social ethicist with decades of professional experience in Latin America. Currently, she teaches in Quito, Ecuador, on Gender, Violence, and Human Rights, and serves as Senior Minister of the United Church of Ecuador and Founding Director of the Ecuadorian Faith Network.
    Monica explains how U.S. budget cuts affect reproductive rights organizations in Latin America. She empowers us to stay resilient, to learn from women involved in former social movements around the world, and to work together across borders to develop strategies to deal with the consequences of the Trump Administration.
  2. Kathleen McPhillips is a sociologist of religion at the University of Newcastle in Australia. She is a scholarly expert on religion and abuse, a co-author of an important study of Catholic women, and a tireless activist for safe and healthy societies.
    Kathleen elaborates on how the U.S. budget cuts affect academic and research developments in Australia. Moreover, she advises us to strengthen our international connections and to build up groups such as FLTN. She graciously offers solidarity to her U.S. and other colleagues.
  3. Sheila Curran is a Sister of Mercy in Ireland who spent many years ministering in Peru. Her field is practical theology done from an ecofeminist perspective. She currently works with immigrants in Dublin.
    Sheila describes how the Trump Administration makes decisions based on greed and personal gain and how this feeds into right-wing narratives and ideologies. She emphasizes how important it is to speak truth to power.
  4. Renate Rose is a peace advocate and ordained pastor of the United Church of Christ. She studied economics and political science in Germany and worked for 12 years in international organizations. She is a tireless voice for justice and peace.
    Renate insists on the importance of dignity, peace, and international cooperation as feminist groups deal with the unlawful actions of the current administration. She highlights that Christianity must change into a radical pacifist religion.

Here are some highlights from small group discussions:

Small groups discussed (1) the impact of current U.S. government actions, including mass firings, budget cuts, especially to international programs, and on-campus issues; and (2) how FLTN colleagues can strengthen our work to resist, build, and support communities around the world.

Initial suggestions included:

  1. To see this as long-haul work, as much for our grandchildren as for ourselves. Seeing it as work that involves many small, person-to-person actions, like having meetings in homes, sharing across religious and community boundaries, as well as larger-scale projects
  2. To collaborate on a comprehensive history of feminist and womanist theology
  3. To increase and target the use of social media in specific communities
  4. To bring together younger and older women as an important project of Victoria Rue’s concerning reproductive justice is an attempt to do. ‘Voices from the Silenced’ is a film about women who had abortions before Roe (1973). Unfortunately, there are many timely connections to today’s reality.

All are welcome to watch and use this film of the play directed by Victoria Rue and Martha Boesing (for free): Film of the Play: Voices from the Silenced (57:00) https://vimeo.com/875095743. Password: view.
See 2https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZIHYfK6o8Q for a WATER program on this work.

  1. Other WATER programs can be found on our website, www.waterwomensalliance.org.

[i] The papers from the FLTN November 2024 sessions are published in Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 137-151. They include remarks by Mary E. Hunt, Rita Nakashima Brock, Janice McRandal, and Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite. Melanie Jones Quarles also spoke; her remarks can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaM6OEftuU4 .