Take Back the Light: A Feminist Reclamation of Spirituality and Religion

by Sheila Ruth

Overview

Feminists have long argued that at the hands of patriarchal religious institutions, women have been brutalized, exploited, and manipulated. In this book, part philosophical analysis/part meditation, philosopher Sheila Ruth explores an ancient and profoundly different orientation to life, Paganism, to show the possibilities, the pleasures, and the power of connecting the self with the cosmic. Take Back the Light contains certain elements that make it unique: the blend of strategies-including philosophical analysis, poetry, autobiography, and mystical stories; an avowedly feminist stance that is grounded in traditional philosophical training as well as women's experience and feminist scholarship; and most particularly, the intention to make clear to those feminists who are opposed to religion in principle that spirituality need not be inconsistent with positive, progressive social action.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780847678792
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	01/27/1994
Series:	New Feminist Perspectives
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Sheila Ruth, professor of philosophy at Southern Illinois University, is the author of Issues in Feminism: An Introduction to Women's Studies.

Editorial Reviews

Ruth gives an eloquent examination of spirit, which goes beyond ideological issues of feminism and considers the nature of spirit within all life.. .. for those. .. who believe the personal and spiritual give ultimate power to the political, this book provides a welcome affirmation and a potent argument for the importance of the spiritual to feminist endeavors.

Phoebe