Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminism and Liberation

by Ivone Gebara, David Molineaux

Gebara's succinct yet moving statement of her principles of ecofeminism shows how intertwined are the tarnished environment around her and the poverty that afflicts her neighbors. From her experiences with the Brazilian poor women's movement she develops a gritty urban ecofeminism and indeed articulates a whole worldview. She shows how the connections between Western thought, partriachal Christianity, and environmental destruction necessitate personal conversion to "an new relationship with the earth and with the entire cosmos."

Genres: Theology, Feminism, Religion, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Womens, Sociology

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 1999

About the author

Ivone Gebara (São Paulo, 1944) é uma freira católica, filósofa e teóloga feminista brasileira.

Reviews

[Katie Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

In rhythmic language, Gebara explores theology from in her own words "a post-patriarchal and post-dogmatic" position. With profound and moving prose she invites the reader to ponder theology from an eco-feminist perspective; that is theology that is unashamedly feminist but takes a wider look at all the ways that poverty, class, racism, and environmental concerns intersect with this issue. I experienced a synchronicity when reading this book, these are the unwritten words and longing of my own heart and I am grateful to have discovered them penned and out in the world for the curious and seeking mind.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has taken me literally months to read because it's so enormously dry. The introduction and the conclusion have some sense of life in the prose, so why it all died out in the chapters proper I don't know. The chapter on epistemology almost sent me into coma.

I admit, a lot of my disappointment stemmed from the title: Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminism and Liberation. Sounds great, right? But looking at some of the other editions, some of them seem to have another subtitle (or is it a series title?) and that is Biblical Reflections on Ministry. That last is far more accurate. This is a very dry, very abstract book about religion. I am not religious. I appreciate that the author is, but I also expect the title of a book to reflect its contents, and I honestly would have thought twice about picking it up if I'd known it would be filled with things like epistemology and the language of the Trinity and the need to pray. I expected ecology to be in it somewhere, and a focus on the relationship between women and nature. Instead, there's some vague positivity about treating the planet well, and when biodiversity does get a (very brief) look-in... well. The author's not actually talking about biodiversity. She's talking about pluralism of religion, and cultural diversity. Which is fine, but my biologist self, when reading that biodiversity is the different characters of children within a family, is rolling her eyes and rolling them hard.

All of which litany of complaint may indicate that there's nothing worthwhile here, but that wouldn't be true. This book is primarily directed at Latin American Christian women, and I am only the last of these things. Definitely not the target audience. And I must say, I found it very difficult for quite a while to see the feminism in here at all, but as I slogged my way through I began to grasp that that judgement, at least, was entirely wrong. It's made me realise my understanding of feminism has been pretty limited, and I've rarely considered it in a religious context. That's a gaping blind spot, and at least now I'm aware such a blind spot exists, so credit where it's due. And I can dimly grasp what Gebara is saying here: that patriarchal religion is strongly focused on the individual and that a feminist response is to focus on relationships instead - relationships with other individuals, with other (and different) communities, and with the natural world. Furthermore, that this change in focus would lead to a more just world. The arguments are solid, as far as I can grasp, I just don't find them accessible. A move from abstraction into extended concrete examples would have made it much more appealing.

[Aidan Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very dense and thorough read, this book does a great job addressing eco-feminism’s interaction with Christian theology. It could use more engagement with non-western Christian theology, as its consistent critique of western Christian theology ironically struggles to find its way out of western theological sources. Still a very compelling and interesting read.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for a decological praxis.

[J.I. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading Ivone Gebara’s “Longing for Running Water.” This book advocates and explains the position of ecofeminism from a Latin American perspective. The main point of the book is that an entirely new way of thinking and doing theology is urgently needed in the face of the ecological destruction of our planet. The close connection between feminism and ecology consists in the fact that the concerns of both disciplines arise from the rampant effects of patriarchal thought patterns and behavior on both women and the ecosystem. If the patriarchy has been opposed to the well-being and flourishing of women, it is outright destructive for the earth. Ecofeminism proposes a radical new way of thinking, not as a mere alternative to established practices, but, because of the urgency of the matter, as the only possible way to overcome the ecological disaster that is looming.

... read more: https://endofgod.wordpress.com/2015/0...

[Darceylaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in a dense and accademic style, it is nevertheless an important articulation of a growing theological perspective. It has a lot in common with the Creation Spirituality taught by Matthew Fox, and frankly is a lot like the Universalist tradition I grew up in.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ecofeminism 101 - in the most lyrical and accessible read you will find out there.

[Eininn deligio · Rating 5 out of 5]

a powerful look into the limits of dogma and necessity of imagination