P-12 Power, Ideology, and Women’s Ordination: Discursive Strategies in Three Roman Catholic Documents

Presenter Status

Professor, Department of English

Second Presenter Status

Associate Professor, Department of English

Preferred Session

Poster Session

Start Date

26-10-2018 2:00 PM

End Date

26-10-2018 3:00 PM

Presentation Abstract

This study analyzes through a linguistic lens three official documents of the Roman Catholic Church on women’s ordination; it identifies various discursive tactics utilized by text creators to reinforce gender hierarchy within the Church. Drawing from Fairclough’s three dimensional discourse framework, we examine the ideological message embedded in the linguistic features and the role each text plays within a matrix of power relations. Through close readings of Inter Insigniores: On the Question of Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis of John Paul II, and “Women and the Priesthood,” we demonstrate how discourse analysis can serve as a useful tool for identifying logical fallacies, inconsistencies, dilemmas, and manipulative tactics in religious discourses.

Acknowledgments

Office of Research and Creative Scholarship

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Oct 26th, 2:00 PM Oct 26th, 3:00 PM

P-12 Power, Ideology, and Women’s Ordination: Discursive Strategies in Three Roman Catholic Documents

This study analyzes through a linguistic lens three official documents of the Roman Catholic Church on women’s ordination; it identifies various discursive tactics utilized by text creators to reinforce gender hierarchy within the Church. Drawing from Fairclough’s three dimensional discourse framework, we examine the ideological message embedded in the linguistic features and the role each text plays within a matrix of power relations. Through close readings of Inter Insigniores: On the Question of Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis of John Paul II, and “Women and the Priesthood,” we demonstrate how discourse analysis can serve as a useful tool for identifying logical fallacies, inconsistencies, dilemmas, and manipulative tactics in religious discourses.