Description
Book Synopsis1. This book is one of the first Jewish theological treatments of motherhood and childrearing.
2. It is among the first feminist works to treat maternal experience as theologically productive.
3. It was awarded the 2017 Cashmere Subvention Grant in Jewish Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies from the AJS Women's Caucus.
Trade ReviewIn this elegantly written, provocative, scholarly, and accessible work, Mara Benjamin contributes to the growing body of literature using maternal experience as a source for theology and religious ethics.
* Journal of the American Academy of Religion *
It is rare to find an academic text that is so creative, honest, and thoughtful, and uniquely contributes to multiple fields of inquiry—in this case, Jewish theology, feminist theory, and parenting. Bringing together a wide variety of resources in an artful display of academic research that is both intellectually stimulating and personally vulnerable, readers will find Benjamin's offering to be a continued reservoir for reflecting on what unites humanity perhaps more universally than anything else: that we have all been parented and most of us will also, at some point, embark on the risky, adventurous, deeply enriching journey of parenting.
* Journal of Jewish Identities *
In The Obligated Self: Maternal Subjectivity and Jewish Thought, Mara H. Benjamin offers a thought-provoking (and often humorous) meditation on motherhood as a prism for one's relationship with God. Inspired by Jewish thinkers, including Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas, Benjamin argues that relationships can be "theologically productive."
-- Rabbi Dr. Stu Halpern * YU News - Yeshiva University *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments
Introduction
Part I
Chapter 1: Obligation
Chapter 2: Love
Chapter 3: Power
Chapter 4: Teaching
Part II
Chapter 5: The Other
Chapter 6: The Third
Chapter 7: The Neighbor
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
