The 1993 Re-Imagining theological conference attempted to provide for participants a women-affirming "lived religious experience," and it encountered immediate controversy. Denominational firestorms erupted in both Presbyterian (PCUSA) and Methodist (UMC) denominations, causing loss of church-wide giving and the firings of prominent denominational staff. The Re-Imagining conference in this article will be deconstructed to show its representation as an overt battle in a cultural war over theology and liturgy. This article argues for a multidimensional approach, specifically sociological and theological analyses, to determine how socio-religious movements use theology to assert their cultural visions for America. By examining theological concepts of gender, sexual norms, and liturgical theologies of both fundamentalist and feminist parties to the conflict, the article examines how theology becomes politically motivating.
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