PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF WOMENS SPIRITUAL HEALTH

The burgeoning women's spirituality movement is concrete evidence of f eminist awakening in the culture. Women are finding some forms of femi nist spirituality helpful for good mental health. Three specific shift s which have been occasioned by the feministization of religion are: ( 1) Women as protagonists of religion; (2) Women role models in the min istry, the academic study of religion, and as healers and leaders; and (3) Feminist changes in the content of the world's religions. This fe minist theological overview clarifies the dynamics so that mental heal th professionals will understand what is happening and how it might fi gure into their strategies for health and healing.