Becoming Divine: Towards a Feminist Philosophy of Religion

Jantzen's book must count as one of the most exciting and groundbreaking new books in the generally dreary and highly conservative field of Philosophy of Religion. With an extrememly wide range of reference, she expertly charts the ground for a possible new approach to the discipline from a feminist perspective, arguing that the alleged neutrality and apolitical nature of much work in the field masks conservative and hazardous assumptions of its own. She sketches compelling new proposals for revisioning the sorts of questions asked in philosophy of religion, in terms of gender, experience, desire, community and justice, and proposes a new concept of the divine beyond traditional dualisms (which links back to her earliest work, God's World, God's Body). All in all this must count as a great and often moving achievement in speculative and creative thinking, coupled with powerful critical analysis of existing methodologies. It is a substantial book, not written for the beginner, and as such is challenging, but well worth the effort. I recommend it unreservedly.