Women address theology and healing [at Women Doing Theology conference]

What do we mean by doing theology?" asked author Katie Funk Wiebe, who moderated the plenary sessions at the fourth "Women doing theology" conference, held here June 25-27.

Lois Barrett of Wichita, Kansas, called it "a process of connecting the biblical record with our current context." Elizabeth Soto of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, added that "we need to read our own lives in conjunction with the biblical narrative."

These two strands, the Bible and women's experience today, permeated the conference, which included 84 registrants and focused on the theme "Journey toward healing."

Barrett opened the conference with her presentation, "Women, salvation and healing." She noted that the same Greek word may be translated as "salvation" or "health" (e.g., Luke 8:48,50). Jesus, she said, brought not only freedom from sin but freedom from sickness.

Healing is often a process that includes: 1) letting go of fears, 2) living faithfully, 3) expecting new acts of healing and 4) making it possible for others to experience healing.

Wilma Ann Bailey, Grantham, Pennsylvania, spoke on "Women and dignity in the Hebrew Bible." The Bible, she said, assumes that humans must be conscious of their dignity in order to act morally. "To have dignity is to be honourable, even without being honoured by others," she added.

She looked at various women in the Bible. Many women have rejected the Bible because it is patriarchal, yet many oppressed women -- in Africa, for example -- have found hope and dignity there, she said.

In the Hebrew mind there is no distinction between soul and body, said Soto in her presentation, "Shalom, sanidad y salud (Shalom, healing and health)." Thus, "shalom" (wholeness) includes spiritual, mental and bodily health.

Soto, who combines her training in public health and theology, has worked with AIDS patients in Latin America, where she saw women suffer not only from the physical disease but from social condemnation.

"A theology of health," she said, "must emphasize the totality of the person rather than focusing on the sickness or disease."

This emphasis on wholeness was evident throughout the conference, as women used worship and art to incorporate concerns for healing. The small groups allowed more intimate sharing of experiences, which included the wounds of being treated as "nonpersons," objectified in the media as bodies to look at, labelled "angry feminists" when expressing their pain, and suffering abuse from spouses and from people in the church.

Many also talked about their experiences of healing and the support they receive from other women. The closing worship included anointing with oil and lighting candles as symbols of healing.