Table of Contents for
Linking Sexuality and Gender: Naming Violence against Women in the United Church of Canada by Tracy Trothen

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

1.Methodology

Author's Standpoint

Ethical Framework

2.The Development of The United Church of Canada's Approach to Human Sexuality

Birth Control

Redemptive Homes

The Marital Relationship and Marriage Breakdown

Pornography

Abortion

Concluding Remarks

3.The Development of The United Church of Canada's Approach to Women's Roles and the Family

Definition of Family and Gender Roles

Women and Ordination

Women's Church Groups

"New Freedoms"

Concluding Remarks

4.Case Study: In God's Image...Male and Female

Process, Methodology and Working Style

Theological Claims

Scientific and Experiential Claims

Biblical Authority and Hermenuetics

Ethical Decisionmaking

Intimacy and Sexual Exclusivity

Sexism

Concluding Remarks

5.Case Study: Gift, Dilemma and Promise

Process, Methodology and Working Style

Sexuality and Selfhood

Marriage

Intimacy

Sexism

Concluding Remarks

Working Style

History

Content Methodology

6.Case Study: The Task Force on the Changing Roles of Women and Men in Church and Society

Mandate and Purpose

Membership

Sexism Is the Issue: Naming Feminism and Theological Method

Institutional Reform

."Structures and Systems"

Inclusive Language and Imagery

Pornography and Other Forms of Male Violence Against Women

Networking

1984 General Council and "Sacred Space"

Concluding Remarks

7.Taking Stock: A Contextual, Retrospective Look at Sexuality, Gender, Violence and The United Church of Canada

A Summary of Some Emerging Policies and Protocols, 1982-93

The United Church of Canada Located in the Wider Canadian Context: Prophetic or Followers?

A Summary of the Factors that Blocked or Contributed to the Recognition of Violence against Women

Human Sexuality

The Family and Gender Roles

Critique

Solidarity

Concluding Remarks

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

Why did it take so long for the United Church of Canada to respond to violence against women?

Tracy J. Trothen looks at the United Church as a uniquely Canadian institution, and explores how it has approached gender and sexuality issues. She argues that how the Church deals with these issues influences its ability to name violence against women.

In examining the Church's early approaches to gender and sexuality, Tracy J. Trothen discovered that the United Church had tended to see certain structures or roles as sacred and others as demonic. For example, while sex outside marriage was bad or improper, sexual expression within marriage was largely deemed as proper or good, no matter what manifestation it took. This assumption allowed much violence within families and marriages to go unchallenged.

Trothen uncovers significant shifts in this approach through the examination of such issues as redemptive homes, marriage, pornography, abortion, the ordination of women, and family. Then, analyzing three recent case studies, she demonstrates the value of women's voices in challenging dominant world views. Finally, she suggests how the Church's approach to human sexuality and gender has facilitated or obstructed the move to address violence against women.

The findings in Linking Sexuality and Gender can be applied to faiths outside the United Church and will be important to anyone interested in church and society, sexuality, gender, or the causal dynamics behind one Canadian institution's response to violence against women.

Tracy J. Trothen is an assistant professor of systematic theology and ethics, and director of field education at Queen's Theological College, Queen's University, Canada. She was ordained in the United Church of Canada. Why did it take so long for the United Church of Canada to respond to violence against women?

Tracy J. Trothen is an assistant professor of systematic theology and ethics, and director of field education at Queen's Theological College, Queen's University, Canada. She was ordained in The United Church of Canada.