Book Description

Eleanor Rae, co-author of Created in Her Image, weaves together three compelling topics of contemporary concern: women's identity, the environmental crisis, and the feminine divine. Women, the Earth, the Divine presents the case for rediscovering a "feminine principle" that is not the product of a patriarchal worldview. Rather, Rae derives it from the real experience of women - from the East as well as the West. Rae looks at the articulation of a feminine principle from the perspective of ecofeminism and in light of the contribution the religions of the world can make to the ecofeminist project. A Jungian and process theology perception of the complementarity of the sexes becomes the framework for Rae's discussion, which invites dialogue between women and men, scientists and religionists. Women, the Earth, the Divine examines Western tendencies that ignore women's voices and experience and disregard women's approaches to every aspect of life - including science and economics, psychology and sociology, philosophy and theology. Rae argues that reclaiming the feminine principle provides the key element to the dialogue that must take place among peoples if the real and immediate needs of the world, and especially of the environmental crisis, are to be addressed. Part I of Women, the Earth, the Divine explores the present situation of women and the basics of ecofeminism. Part II relates the basis for an Earth-centered ethic cognizant of the link between the oppression of women and the exploitation of nature. In Part III, Rae's chapter on the Holy Spirit as "the feminine divine" is a breathtaking tour-de-force which retrieves basic elements for a re-articulation of Christian identity. Women,the Earth, the Divine concludes with surveys of the feminine principle in four major world religions: Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam.