Religion, identity, and pastoral care : gender related perspectives of reality. A quest for method
My study investigates the possibility of gender preference for the possible paradigms of reality established in Cumpsty's theory of religion. According to him there are three possible paradigms for the nature of the ultimately-real to which one would belong. These generate three ideal types of religious tradition he has labelled Nature Religion (NR), Withdrawal Religion, and Secular World Affirming Religion (SWAR). These labels reflect the adherents' understanding of and engagement with their immediate 'world-out-there'. Using CUmpsty's general theory of religion and writers on feminine identity, I explored the theoretical relationship between paradigms for reality and gender. This indicated a theoretical preference for NR by women within a SWAR dominated western culture. I then report field studies in which instruments were tested which were themselves intended to test the existence of the relationship between paradigms of reality and gender.
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