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Women and Redemption: A Theological History
Rosemary Radford Ruether's authoritative, award-winning critique of women's unequal standing in the church, which explored the complex history of redemption in evaluating conflict over the fundamental meaning of the Christian gospel for gender relations, is now in an updated and expanded edition. Ruether highlights women theologians' work to challenge the patriarchal paradigm of historical theology and to present redemption linked to the liberation of women. Ruether turns her attention to the situation of women globally and how the growing plurality of women's voices from multicultural and multireligious contexts articulates feminist liberation theology today.
366 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
17 people are currently reading
182 people want to read
About the author
Rosemary Radford Ruether
86 books56 followersVisiting Professor of Feminist Theology B.A. Scripps College; M.S., Ph.D., Claremont Graduate School
Rosemary Radford Ruether was the Carpenter Emerita Professor of Feminist Theology at Pacific School of Religion and the GTU, as well as the Georgia Harkness Emerita Professor of Applied Theology at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. She had enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a scholar, teacher, and activist in the Roman Catholic Church, and was well known as a groundbreaking figure in Christian feminist theology.
Education
B.A. – Scripps College
M.S., Ph.D. – Claremont Graduate School
Recent Publications / Achievements
Christianity and Social Systems: Historical Constructions and Ethical Challenges (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009)
Catholic Does Not Equal the Vatican: A Vision for Progressive Catholicism (New Press, 2008)
America, Amerikkka: Elect Nation and Imperial Violence(Equinox, 2007)
Encyclopedia of Women And Religion in North America, with Rosemary Skinner Keller (Indiana University Press, 2006)
Goddesses and the Divine Feminine: A Western Religious History (University of California Press, 2005)
Integrating Ecofeminism, Globalization, and World Religions(Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005)
Mountain Sisters: From Convent To Community In Appalachia, Forward (University Press of Kentucky, 2004)
The Wrath of Jonah: The Crisis of Religious Nationalism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Fortress Press, 2002
Rosemary Radford Ruether was the Carpenter Emerita Professor of Feminist Theology at Pacific School of Religion and the GTU, as well as the Georgia Harkness Emerita Professor of Applied Theology at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. She had enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a scholar, teacher, and activist in the Roman Catholic Church, and was well known as a groundbreaking figure in Christian feminist theology.
Education
B.A. – Scripps College
M.S., Ph.D. – Claremont Graduate School
Recent Publications / Achievements
Christianity and Social Systems: Historical Constructions and Ethical Challenges (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009)
Catholic Does Not Equal the Vatican: A Vision for Progressive Catholicism (New Press, 2008)
America, Amerikkka: Elect Nation and Imperial Violence(Equinox, 2007)
Encyclopedia of Women And Religion in North America, with Rosemary Skinner Keller (Indiana University Press, 2006)
Goddesses and the Divine Feminine: A Western Religious History (University of California Press, 2005)
Integrating Ecofeminism, Globalization, and World Religions(Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005)
Mountain Sisters: From Convent To Community In Appalachia, Forward (University Press of Kentucky, 2004)
The Wrath of Jonah: The Crisis of Religious Nationalism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Fortress Press, 2002
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 27, 2020
I read feminist theology. It's what I do.
July 17, 2013
A poor textbook, but not without its uses.
I found it sloppy, occasionally repetitive, and in bad need of editing. While I recognize these as potentially innocuous errors, I feel like they reflect a larger trend of hasty conclusions and one-sided portrayals of certain historical movements. This is especially evident in Ruether's first chapter on Jesus and the writings of Paul.
As an absolute beginner to the field of feminist theology I found Ruether's writing style remarkably unclear, but there were some nice moments in the book that made it worth fighting through. The author is at her best in chapters 2 and 3 on the patristic and medieval eras, and this book was worth the purchase price for those sections alone. She engages nicely with the ideas of the era and expertly sets up primary-source quotations by explaining the larger philosophy at work.
The second half of the book is largely given over to discussion of liberation theology and its feminist proponents. I suspect this heavy emphasis reflects Ruether's personal interests rather than the actual state of the field, and I was disappointed to find no space granted for a discussion of feminist readings of religious texts or questions of gender theory.
Worth reading, helpfully traces some historical movements, but overall kind of a disappointment.
I found it sloppy, occasionally repetitive, and in bad need of editing. While I recognize these as potentially innocuous errors, I feel like they reflect a larger trend of hasty conclusions and one-sided portrayals of certain historical movements. This is especially evident in Ruether's first chapter on Jesus and the writings of Paul.
As an absolute beginner to the field of feminist theology I found Ruether's writing style remarkably unclear, but there were some nice moments in the book that made it worth fighting through. The author is at her best in chapters 2 and 3 on the patristic and medieval eras, and this book was worth the purchase price for those sections alone. She engages nicely with the ideas of the era and expertly sets up primary-source quotations by explaining the larger philosophy at work.
The second half of the book is largely given over to discussion of liberation theology and its feminist proponents. I suspect this heavy emphasis reflects Ruether's personal interests rather than the actual state of the field, and I was disappointed to find no space granted for a discussion of feminist readings of religious texts or questions of gender theory.
Worth reading, helpfully traces some historical movements, but overall kind of a disappointment.
December 21, 2022
A book one reads in order to collate a list of authors to read next. Its elevation of women theologians is welcomed and necessary. Read for Reading Christian Theology in Context.
November 2, 2009
It is a theological history so you can range from interest to boredom and calm to rage. Still, all-in-all, intersting.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews