Christian Ethics and the Crisis of Gender Violence: Exploring Kristeva’s Reading of Religion, Culture and the Human Psyche

The book brings the thought of Julia Kristeva to bear on the challenge of sexual differentiation in a world that both privileges difference yet continues to be threatened by otherness. In conversation with feminist theology and Christian ethics, it explores the role and the ramifications of being embodied subjects. The book utilizes Kristeva’s thought to probe the roots of violence against women and how violence continues to shape humanity’s psyche. Kristeva’s contribution to feminist theology and Christian ethics emerges through a comparative analysis with leading feminist theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether. Ruether probes more deeply than most the pervasive misogyny within the Christian tradition. While Kristeva exposes the deeply biological (and so determined) roots of violence against women, her insights provide the needed understanding that can shift the direction of our thought in addressing the threat of the other. The book considers how theology (via Ruether) rather than Kristeva offers the tools to guide us through this opening.