“God is not a ‘being’ removed from creation, ruling it from outside in the manner of a patriarchal ruler; God is the source of being that underlies creation and grounds its nature and future potential for continual transformative renewal in biophilic mutuality.”
Dr. Rosemary Radford Ruether
Saddened to learn of the death of Dr. Rosemary Radford Ruether, on May 21, 2022, Dr. Ruether was 85 years old.
Dr. Ruether was one of the founding mothers of feminist theology in America and beyond. She was among the first modern feminist scholars to theologically challenge the church’s role(s) for women within Christianity. While her scholarly work was vast she may have best known for her emphasis on ecofeminism, as the above quotes might suggest. While rooted within the Roman Catholic Christian tradition she was an advocate for the ordination of women to serve as priests, and was a pro-choice advocate regarding abortion all the while remained in the Catholic tradition.
“We do not have thousands of years to unlearn the wrong patters that were established over thousands of years. The exponential speed-up of these cumulative patterns of destruction means we have to both learn new patterns and put them into practice on a global scale within the next generation.”
Dr. Rosemary Radford Ruether
Rosemary Radford Ruether published many books; over the years I have learned – and am continuing to learn – so much from this great thinker. I have had the pleasure of assigning readings from numerous books, or articles written by her. One on the questions she famously raised – that helped open mind heart, mind, and body – was “Can a male savior save women?” Here are just a sampling of her many titles.
Here are just a handful of links if you would like to learn more about this remarkable theologian, find other tributes, or explore more of her writings:
“If dominating and destructive relations to the earth are interrelated with gender, class, and racial domination, then a healed relation to the earth cannot come about simply through technological ‘fixes’.”
dr. Rosemary Radford Ruether
Rest in Peace, dwight
