The Coming of Lilith

June 15, 2005
"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

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