An Equal Chance for Women to Choose Faith: Kierkegaard’s Inclusive Vision of the Imitation of Christ

Can a woman voluntarily imitate the suffering of Christ, and therefore enter into Christianity while yet living in a social context where the aims of feminism are not yet fully victorious? A recent interpreter of Kierkegaard has argued that women and all marginalized people are unable to imitate Christ’s self-giving love and therefore enter into Christianity. This paper challenges such an interpretation by engaging with Kierkegaard’s concept of the “double danger,” his understanding of what it means to be a human being, and the role of faith in becoming a particular individual in relationship to Christ/Love. It then engages with Emilie M. Townes womanist ethics as a case study that exemplifies a way that women may enter into the “double danger” of Christ.