Relational theory and the female body: A critical analysis of intersecting themes in feminist studies in religion and the psychology of women.

Abstract

This thesis illustrates how various theorists in religious studies and in psychology are advancing feminist scholarship in similar directions with respect to relational theory and theories of the female body. This analysis explicates areas of theoretical convergence within and between these disciplines, including, their methodological commitments; their distinctive contributions to relational theory; their analysis of the historical legacy of mind/body dualism; their interrogation of the processes by which the female body is regulated and contained in religion and contemporary culture; and their understanding of the psychological and religious effects produced by current body/self disciplinary practices. The dissertation concludes by suggesting that each discipline can provide correctives to, and enhance the other if dialogue between them was encouraged.