In telling the story of her son's 30-year struggle with schizophrenia, Rosemary Ruether lays bare the inhumane treatment throughout history of people with mental illness.

Christianity begins with what appears to be an inclusive promise of redemption in Christ without regard to gender. Paul proclaimed that 'In Christ there is no more male and female.' Yet Christianity soon developed a patriarchal social structure, excluding women from public ministry, with the argument that women were created subordinate in nature and were more culpable for sin. Here, distinguished feminist theologian, Rosemary Ruether, traces the tension between patriarchal and egalitarian patterns in Christian theology historically. She then examines key theological themes--Christology, the...

The Second Book of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible tells of a woman named Rizpah whose sons are sacrificed in the power struggle between the houses of Saul and David: Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it on a rock for herself, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell on them from the heavens; she did not allow the birds of the air to come on the bodies by day, or the wild animals by night. (2 Sam 21:10) Was Rizpah driven by the depths of despair? Or was she protesting in a woman's silent anger? The same kind of quiet defiance is playing itself out in contemporary...