Feminism and World Religions

CHOICE 1999 Outstanding Academic BooksAddressing religion and feminism on a global scale, this unprecedented book contains a nuanced and fine-tuned treatment of seven of the world's religions from a feminist perspective by leading women scholars. Feminism and World Religions contains chapters on Hinduism by Vasudha Narayanan, Buddhism by Rita M. Gross, Confucianism by Terry Woo, Taoism by Karen McLaughlin and Eva Wong, Judaism by Ellen M. Umansky, Christianity by Rosemary Radford Ruether, and Islam by Riffat Hassan, along with a general introduction and a postscript by Katherine K. Young and a preface by Arvind Sharma. The fact that these authors share a dual but undivided commitment both to themselves as women and to their traditions as adherents imparts to their voices a prophetic quality, and if Mahatma Gandhi is to be believed, even scriptural value.Arvind Sharma is Birks Professor of Comparative Religion at McGill University. He has edited several books, among them, Women in World Religions; Religion and Women; and Today's Woman in World Religions, all published by SUNY Press. Katherine K. Young is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at McGill University. She has edited several books, among them (with Harold Coward and Julius Lipner) Hindu Ethics: Purity, Abortion, and Euthanasia, published by SUNY Press, and Images of the Feminine