This panel explores the intersection of practical theology with questions of rights and vocation in both religious and non-religious settings. One paper focuses on the advocacy of a Hindu female guru, Mataji, to engage a grassroots movement for women's equality and rights in religious vocations, drawing on a social-egalitarian interpretation of Hindu ideals. The other two papers examine the contributions of practical theology to discussions on the right to work and "the work of our hands." The first argues that a theological reflection on vocation can bridge the gap between professional pressures and questions of meaning and purpose, particularly in university settings. The second suggests that discussions on the right to "decent work" should center on conceptions of care work as embedded in reciprocal care and nurturance relationships. Overall, this panel highlights the importance of practical theology in shaping discussions on vocation and rights in diverse contexts.
This paper illuminates a lived model of “grassroots religious feminism” in India based on the study of the leadership of the female guru named Trikal Bhavanta Saraswati (hereafter, Mataji). Arising from a subordinated caste, Mataji’s leadership has arisen from collective efforts and generated a groundswell of support for her quest to empower female ascetics (sādhus) with equal rights. By bringing together ethnographic data and a gender studies-centered analysis of her teachings and practices, this paper shows that Mataji constructs Hinduism as congruent with modernist ideals such as gender equality, and promotes women’s monastic authority as a normative Hindu right within the mainstream tradition that does not recognize it. Here, I shall focus on the innovatory elements of her leadership while also engaging the question of, ‘What can an Indic expression of religious feminism in South Asia teach religion scholars about gender ethics and the expanding frontiers of the ‘f’ word (feminism) as embodied and enacted by individual and collective struggles for human rights.’
This paper will argue that the practice of vocational exploration and discernment provides a key to understanding of the future of work in general -- and by extension, for evaluating the characteristics that will make that work “decent” or “good.” Indeed, vocational reflection can become a form of pedagogy, in which students are challenged to think through the future shape of work and to prepare for its inevitable changes. While vocational reflection is possible outside the context of religious belief, the discipline of theology has important insights to offer in this endeavor. In fact, _vocation_ can serve as a key term in the application of theological concepts to the process of understanding the nature of work -- its present realities, its future possibilities, and above all, its ethical structures (i.e., what might make any work "decent").
This paper argues that the language and practices of pastoral and spiritual care provide an overarching framework that can help make explicit the value-laden presumptions of “decent work.” Case studies are presented in order to ground the theoretical argument in practical and meaningful ways.