Religious Feminism and the Future of the Planet: A Buddhist-Christian Conversation [Paperback]

Rita M. Gross (Author), Rosemary Radford Ruether (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0826412785 | ISBN-13: 978-0826412782 | Publication Date: April 15, 2001

"At its heart," Frederick Buechner once wrote, "most theology, like most fiction, is essentially autobiography." That is true of this book in a very explicit way. Rita Gross and Rosemary Radford Ruether have long been known for their feminist contributions to Buddhism and Christianity, respectively. In this book, they talk candidly about what their respective traditions mean to them in both their liberating as well as problematic aspects. Throughout the book, their lifestories provide the rich soil, perhaps even the rationale, for their theological and spiritual development. Born in a nonvirtual log cabin to a struggling Christian fundamentalist farm family, Rita was excommunicated by her church at an early age. She eventually made a long journey to Buddhism after a detour through Judaism. Rosemary was born in comfortable circumstance and raised an "enlightened" Roman Catholic in a family that had Jewish and Protestant connections. She would always rather fight (for enlightened Catholicism) than switch. Despite the marked differences in their life histories and their respective religious faiths, Rita and Rosemary achieve surprising unanimity on the paramount issue: what engaged Buddhism and what enlightened Christianity can offer in the struggle to create a new future for planet earth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"It is crucial that the world's faiths and historical cultures not only end their wars against each other, but enter into the kind of deep mutual understanding that can lead to solidarity in creating a just, peaceful, and sustainable world." This noble sentiment forms the heart of an extended "conversation" between two religion scholars. Gross, a Buddhist (Soaring & Settling, etc.), and Ruether, a Christian (Gaia and God, etc.), have collaborated since 1985 on interfaith dialogues that are respectful, balanced and enlightening. Here they reveal their own personal stories first, and then proceed to explore, measure for measure, the problems, liberations and inspirations of their religious traditions, each woman responding to the ideas and issues raised by her friend and colleague. The final pages apply this technique and these concepts to ecological concerns in a chapter that shares the book's title. The metaphor Gross and Ruether so aptly use for this conversation is that of learning a second language that enhances, but never supplants, one's mother tongue. Readers specifically seeking a heavy treatment of ecospirituality will yearn for more pages, but nonetheless the wisdom on this issue does not disappoint. The book is a good model of what so many women do well: carry their own candles and hold them high, dispelling darkness together.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In several earlier works, Gross (Soaring and Settling: Buddhist Perspectives on Contemporary Social and Religious Issues, LJ 8/98) and Ruether (Gaia and God: An Ecofeminist Theology) have examined feminist issues in the context of Buddhism and Christianity, respectively. In this new work, each author delineates her views on both traditions and then responds to the other's comments, allowing a rich dialog to emerge that offers a glimpse of a hope-filled future for major religious traditions in the progressive wings of the emerging global culture. Both authors offer autobiographical sections and touch on, among other things, the strengths and problems they see in their own and the other's tradition and how they see these traditions contributing to an eco-spiritual view crucial to the survival of the planet. Free of clich , stridency, or anger, the voices are consistently assured and convincing. Of particular interest are the passages in which the authors discuss their coming to terms, as feminists, with traditions consistently criticized for their patriarchal structures and how the deep reading of these traditions sustains them in their progressive endeavors. An important and thought-provoking book; suitable for all academic and public collections. Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib, NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (April 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826412785
• ISBN-13: 978-0826412782
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,037,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the way to do religion!, June 1, 2001

By 

Carol Luther "The priest who reads" (San Anselmo, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Religious Feminism and the Future of the Planet: A Buddhist-Christian Conversation (Paperback)

This book goes a long way towards undoing some of the most poignant mistakes made by traditional theologians who seek to divide the great ground of being into discreet plots for study. Religion, be it Buddhist, Christian or any other, is, at its heart not a set of received doctrines, but teachings about how to live. In this book Ruether and Gross weave together their life stories, the religions they practice, the teachings of those religions and the urgent questions that face people of faith today. The urgent question, of course, is how to weave back together all the pieces that reductionist thinking has split apart and in so doing reconnect us and the earth which gives us life.

This is a deeply readable and moving book. Its truth is greater than its title.

5.0 out of 5 stars religions and its problems; religions and its solution to problems, July 17, 2007

By 

Wilis Rengga Endah Ekowat "wilis renggani" (Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Religious Feminism and the Future of the Planet: A Buddhist-Christian Conversation (Paperback)

Ruether and Gross share critical and reflective approaches to each other religious affiliation as both practitioner and scholar. Their open-mindedness and honesty of speaking about their own religion's weakness or corruption, also their willingness to learn from other traditions are invaluable to become an inspiration of reformation within one's own religious tradition as well as building interreligious dialoque among different traditions.

I feel this book really shows how religions should offer a vivid worldview and solution to problems we are facing as the citizens of the global village.