Becoming Divine: Towards a Feminist Philosophy of Religion

by Grace M. Jantzen

"The book’s contribution to feminist philosophy of religion is substantial and original.... It brings the continental and Anglo-American traditions into substantive and productive conversation with each other." ―Ellen Armour To what extent has the emergence of the study of religion in Western culture been gendered? In this exciting book, Grace Jantzen proposes a new philosophy of religion from a feminist perspective. Hers is a vital and significant contribution which will be essential reading in the study of religion.

Genres: Feminism, Religion, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Theology, Academic

296 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1998

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jantzen’s Becoming Divine is a fantastic philosophical undertaking in Post-structuralist feminist thought and philosophy of religion. Employing Lacanian psychoanalysis and Derridian Deconstruction, Jantzen destabilizes the basic binaries that allows philosophy of religion to remain predominately patriarchal and violent. She then offers a symbolic of natality, rather than the masculinist symbolic of death, as a way of re-imagining philosophy of religion in the feminist context.

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why must so many very good books stop just short of being excellent? Every time something is said, it finds itself caught once again in a web of cross-references and intervening discourses which constantly impose themselves on the text in the form of a kind of apologetics. The effect is that while Jantzen gets to say what her proposal for a new religious symbolic would be, she never gets to actually really practice it. Instead it remains something just put of reach of her book, which remains trapped in the oppositional modes it states over and over again it is not interested in opposing.

[Care · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give this ten stars I would. This is a book that has fundamentally changed how I understand scripture, theosis, and the work of feminist theology. A must read for anyone aspiring to critique the patriarchal outlook that has so dominated western theology since its inception.

[Scott Neigh]

Reviewed here.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? This book changed everything for me.
If you are in any way involved in the study of religion, picking up this book may just change your whole world too.