Comparative Analysis of the Religious Experience

From Grace Jantzen’s point of view, it seems that she is countering the fact that the previously mentioned writers and thinkers, including Smart, did not mention how gender roles and social structures guide and shape mysticism and religious experience. Her argument was that women were not included in the same education as men throughout history and were almost pushed aside – especially in regards to religion. I once had a roommate who, through his religion, albeit obscure to me, found gender roles to be prominent and necessary when it came to religion and overall life/thinking. “The women’s place in church is the same at home: Nuns cook, clean, and worship without question God; women cook, clean, and are subservient to the needs of men (aka husbands, etc.)”. This concept of male superiority fuels Jantzen’s thinking and fosters her need to explain how unfair it is of men, specifically men who describe religious experiences, to leave out the special difference between men and women and how there is not just one congruent way of describing how women are more sensitive and would be better off learning and experiencing mysticism overall – especially in social structure and life changes.