Authors: Judith Plaskow, Donna Berman (Editor), Judith Plaskow
ISBN-13: 9780807036235, ISBN-10: 0807036234
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Beacon
Date Published: July 2005
Edition: (Non-applicable)
In this first collection of her essays and short writings, Judith Plaskow, one of the founders of feminist theology and the founder of Jewish feminist theology, documents her personal and scholarly evolution. From her early days as a graduate student at Yale to her present work on sexual ethics, the essays in this volume trace Plaskow’s work in feminist theology, Jewish feminist theology, and sexuality. Covering all of her major essays, including The Coming of Lilith” and her pioneering work on anti-Judaism in Christian feminism, this book also includes several previously unpublished essays. Intelligently arranged and edited with the help of Donna Berman, this collection is indispensable for religious studies students, fans of Plaskow’s work, and those pursuing a Jewish education.
"Can we learn to listen to each other in our complexity? Can we learn to value our differences instead of being threatened by them? Isn't this part of what it should mean to be a feminist to be a Jew?" In this essay collection, Plaskow raises such questions and offers readers many opportunities to explore the ramifications of complexity. Written during Plaskow's graduate student days at Yale through her present position as professor of religious studies at Manhattan College, the essays chronicle the last 30 years of feminist theology as well as issues pertaining to feminist Judaism. Plaskow demonstrates the magnitude of the process undertaken by herself and others in working for change while consistently facing difficult issues with the "courage, concern and creativity necessary for a feminist transformation." She also fearlessly confronts the most challenging questions of our time, charting both a method of inquiry and an ideal of egalitarianism that can apply to any community or situation. Theological language, hierarchy and authority, sexual ethics, textual exegesis, and oppression are among the many aspects of religious experience explored within the context of "the contradictory whole of reality." This intelligent collection is indispensable for all libraries with conscientious religious studies departments, but it will also be enjoyed by the larger public interested in the development of feminism.-Sheila Peiffer, Acad. of the Holy Names, Albany, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Intersections : an introduction | 5 | |
1 | Formulating a feminist theology | |
The coming of Lilith : toward a feminist theology (1972) | 23 | |
The Jewish feminist : conflict in identities (1973) | 35 | |
Male theology and women's experience (1978) | 40 | |
The right question is theological (1982) | 56 | |
Jewish theology in feminist perspective (1994) | 65 | |
Lilith revisited (1995) | 81 | |
II | The complexity of interlocking oppressions | |
Christian feminism and anti-Judaism (1978) | 89 | |
Anti-Semitism : the unacknowledged racism (1984) | 94 | |
Feminist anti-Judaism and the Christian God (1990) | 100 | |
Jewish anti-paganism (1991) | 110 | |
Dealing with the hard stuff (1994) | 114 | |
III | Creating a feminist Judaism | |
God : some feminist questions (1987) | 121 | |
"It is not in heaven" : feminism and religious authority (1990) | 124 | |
Beyond egalitarianism (1990) | 128 | |
Facing the ambiguity of God (1991) | 134 | |
What's wrong with hierarchy? (1992) | 138 | |
About men (1992) | 143 | |
The year of the Agunah (1993) | 147 | |
Preaching against the text (1997) | 152 | |
Expanding the Jewish feminist agenda (2000) | 157 | |
The continuing value of separatism (2003) | 159 | |
IV | Sexuality, authority, and tradition | |
Sexuality and Teshuvah : Leviticus 18 (1997) | 165 | |
Sexual orientation and human rights : a progressive Jewish perspective (1998) | 178 | |
Authority, resistance, and transformation : Jewish feminist reflections on good sex (2000) | 193 | |
Speaking of sex : authority and the denominational documents (2003) | 206 | |
Works by Judith Plaskow | 238 |