Books
When you order the following books directly from WATER you support our work.
Good Sex: Feminist Perspectives from the World's Religions
edited by Patricia Beattie Jung, Mary E. Hunt, and Radihka Balakrishnan
What is "good sex" in the globalized world of the twenty-first century? This book brings together essays by feminist scholars from different religions and cultures to consider how women are redefining sexuality for the common good.
The essays explore such issues as sexual and social restrictions on women, religiously and socially acceptable avenues of sexual expression, constructions of sexual identities, and attitudes towards women's sexual desires. The contributors ask questions such as: How is sexual desire constructed within specific cultural and religious contexts? What sacrifices must women make (and how do they make them) simply to have sexual lives? What options and strategies are available to women to dissolve the many restrictive boundaries imposed on their sexuality.
Each contributor has read and helped refine the work of the others, which gives this volume unusual coherence and narrative force. (Rutgers University Press, 224 pages, $21 plus s+h). Ordering information
Return Blessings: Ecofeminist Liturgies Renewing the Earth
by Diann L. Neu
"Nature taught me about the Divine and prayer."—author Diann L. Neu
Return Blessings proves the interrelatedness of ecology and feminism. It vividly describes how ecofeminism values women and nature and seeks to resist their associated exploitation and domination. Using the framework of the four seasons, Neu presents sixteen liturgies that are designed to celebrate the sacred power that originates and emanates from the Earth. Neu prompts readers to reflect on issues of ecojustice, and invites participants to pray and work for the healing of the Earth in order to free all creation from the devastation of racism, colonialism, classism, and gender privilege. (Pilgrim Press, 232 pages, $18 plus s+h). Ordering information
Women's Rites: Feminist Liturgies for Life's Journey
by Diann L. Neu
This collection of new feminist liturgies celebrates and pays tribute to women's physical, spiritual, and emotional rites of passage. The liturgies were designed with the WATER community, Sisters Against Sexism (SAS), Women-Church Convergence, and women in the global community who have asked for resources to celebrate the life-changing moments in their lives and the lives of their children. Included in this book are such subjects as: Designing Feminist Liturgies for Women's Life Passages; Honoring Women's Blood Mysteries; Making Reproductive Choices; and Mourning Loved Ones. (Pilgrim Press, 306 pages, $21 plus s+h). Ordering information
A Guide for Women in Religion: Making Your Way from A to Z
edited by Mary E. Hunt
An indispensable resource for everyone involved in the field of religion... multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-disciplinary... offers guidance on how to handle graduate school, dissertation writing, job interviews, promotions, resumes, health care, retirement, on-line teaching, publications, and much more. CONTRIBUTORS: Rebecca Alpert, Karen Baker-Fletcher, Valerie E. Dixon, Mary E. Hunt, Janet R. Jakobsen, Rosamond Cary Rodman, Katarina Von Kellenbach. (Palgrave, 158 pages, $16, plus s+h). Ordering information
From Woman-Pain to Woman-Vision: Writings on Feminist Theology
by Anne McGrew Bennett
edited by Mary E. Hunt
Anne McGrew Bennett's feminism under-girded decades of work for peace, civil rights, and economic justice. In feminist theology her other work found root and flower, and in the late 1960s she began the analysis, questioning, and rethinking that shape these landmark writings. Bennett, who died in 1986, has been deeply influential on the present generation of feminist thinkers. This volume of lectures, essays, and poems was selected, edited, and introduced by Mary E. Hunt (Fortress Press, 180 pages, $11 plus s+h). Ordering information
Fierce Tenderness: Toward a Feminist Theology of Friendship
by Mary E. Hunt
Hunt probes friendship as a religious value, one that often receives little attention. While her primary focus is women's friendships--straight as well as lesbian--the application of the book is broader. She sees generativity as the sine qua non of friendship, showing how it involves a wide range of expressions. She then develops a model of friendship based upon two polarities--of love and power and of embodiment and spirituality--whose tension holds in balance the fierce tenderness of true friendship. This book is noteworthy for its ethical and theological challenges as well as its feminism. Highly recommended for seminary, academic, and large public libraries.
(The Crossroad Publishing Company, 204 pages, $20 plus s+h). This book is currently out of print. Please contact WATER for Ordering information