Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on mitigating shame and maximizing dignity while critiquing theologies that reinscribe patriarchy and reinforce gender essentialism. It examines the language and embodiments of love in the Hebrew Bible and in a selection of commentaries, deploying dialogical and phenomenological perspectives derived from the philosophies of Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, and Emmanuel Levinas. The book provides excerpts of mystical visions that reveal the intersection of human and divine. It also provides an extensive overview of an emergent branch of theological studies – “theology of disability.” The book offers a Christian critique of the cultural patterns underlying environmental destruction and an ecological critique of Christianity. It also examines how Muslim women’s veiling practices are represented and regulated in secular culture. The chapter explores the “patriarchal physiology” in Jewish textual sources and critiques patriarchal notions.