Vol. 24 No. 2, June 2005

In God's Image is an Asian Christian women's effort to provide a forum for expressing our reality, our struggles, our faith reflections and aspirations for change.

Editorial

Spirituality is a broad topic. In the Asian context, spirituality takes various forms according to the diversity of faiths. In view of the concern about secularization that is sweeping the Western world and creeping into Asia, spirituality can also be seen as deeper than religiosity, which is often taken as excessive or affected piety. Today it is usual to hear people say that they are spiritual but not religious. 

In 2001 AWRC published two editions of In God’s Image that sought to bridge the glaring gaps between sexuality and spirituality. Whereas the traditional view of spirituality as concerning the things of the spirit tends to denigrate the body and to dichotomize the human being as body and spirit, AWRC affirms that body and spirit are one and the human being is whole. More and more, Asian women feminists are re-claiming such a unity. 

Nevertheless, when we sent out the call for papers for this edition, we did not really know what to expect. Through the present edition, AWRC simply tries to gather Asian women’s understandings, reflections, experiences and practices of spirituality. And it has turned out to be a rich edition.

Malini Devananda of Sri Lanka writes in one paper about women’s spirituality for struggle and liberation, of interconnectedness and solidarity. In another paper, she shares her reflection on the spirituality of ignorance that is still held high by an indigenous group of people in Indonesia. Wishing that “Mother Church would allow God to claim her womanhood,” Astrid Lobo Gajiwala of India highlights the feminine aspects of God. 

Gemma Tulud Cruz from the Philippines looks at the spirituality of migrant women workers whose habits of surviving are rooted in their faith. Mayumi Mori from Japan reflects on her experience of the spirituality of the Twelve Steps of the Alcoholics Anonymous as well as the Overcomers Outreach. Based on her experience of integrating with women workers in the Philippines, Sr. Emelina Villegas describes the capacity of women for sensing and creating a home as marks of spirituality. Debora Purada Sinaga of Indonesia picks the biblical stories of Lydia and the slave girl as illustrations of spirituality that have influenced the growth of the church.

Although not explicitly mentioning spirituality, Meehyun Chung’s paper on Korean feminist theology for reunification reflects the perseverance and aspiration of Korean women in overcoming the sadness of separation and bitterness of division in the Korean peninsula. In such a situation, religiosity and socio-political activism are one. 

Other contributions are on women’s practices of spirituality. These include a celebration of the interconnectedness of life by Asinate Samate from Tonga, two funeral liturgies for a baby girl by Lung Ngan-ling of Hong Kong, and a blessing prayer by Margaret Gonsalves of India. Ranjini Rebera who is based in Australia shares a poem on the impact of the tsunami that hit Asia last December. We are also happy to include reviews of two books that have been produced in Asia recently.

Other sub-topics that we hope a future edition would be able to cover include practices of spirituality of indigenous peoples in Asia and the other practices at bringing together body and spirit such as through Asian meditation, shibashi (meditative exercise), and so on. 

With gratefulness to the contributors for sharing their thoughts, stories and experiences, we offer this edition to all our readers with the hope that In God’s Image will help to shed light on the topic of women and spirituality. 

Publications Secretary

If articles listed in the table of contents interests you, and you would like to have a copy of this journal, please write to igi@awrc4ct.org.