Plaskow by Andy Sharp

The Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies presents

Judith Plaskow
"Rethinking Jewish Sexual Ethics"

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Monday, January 22 / 4 P.M. / FREE
McCune Conference Room / 6020 HSSB

Judith Plaskow, professor of religious studies at Manhattan College, Past President of the American Academy of Religion, and pioneer in the field of feminist theology, will deliver a lecture entitled "Rethinking Jewish Sexual Ethics" on Monday, January 22 in the McCune Conference Room, 6020 Humanities and Social Sciences Building. Starting from the wide gap between traditional Jewish sexual values and contemporary practice, the lecture will both consider questions of what it means to transform an ancient tradition and suggest some specific norms for a new ethic "from the margins." This event is part of the Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation Symposia in Jewish Studies cosponsored by UCSB Arts & Lectures, Department of Religious Studies, Hillel, and Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.

Plaskow received her B.A. from Clark University and her M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Yale University. She has taught at a number of colleges and universities, including New York University (1974-75), Wichita State University (1976-79), and Manhattan College (since 1979), where she is professor of religious studies. An active member of the American Academy of Religion for almost thirty years, she served in the presidential line-as Vice President, President Elect and President-from 1995 through 1998.

Plaskow's writing and research has centered on feminist theology since she was in graduate school. Her Yale thesis, "Sex, Sin, and Grace: Women's Experience and the Theologies of Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich," one of the first feminist dissertations in religious studies, has become a feminist theological classic. She was a research associate in women's studies and theology at Harvard Divinity School in the first year of the program (1973-74), and was for many years a member of its advisory board. She was CO-chair of the Women and Religion Group of the American Academy of Religion during its second and third years (1972-73), and served on its steering committee for over a decade. She and Carol P. Christ CO-edited "Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion" and "Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality," two widely-read anthologies of feminist theology used in many women's studies and religious studies courses. With Elisabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, she co-founded the "Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion," and co-edited it for its first decade (1985-94) Her book, "Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective," brought twenty years of feminist theological reflection to bear on the transformation of Judaism. She is currently at work on a Jewish feminist sexual ethics and theology entitled "Contextualizing Sex."

The Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies are cosponsored by UCSB Arts & Lectures, Department of Religious Studies, Hillel, and Interdisciplinary Humanities Center. This event is being put on with additional support from UCSB Women's Center.