(Video) Theology, Liberation, & Palestine: Conversations in Honor of Rosemary Radford Ruether
Watch Naim Ateek, Marc Ellis, Nora Carmi, Kathy Bergen, and more in a webinar conversation on the past, present, and future of liberation theology in the context of Palestine/Israel, in dialogue with and honor of the life and work of Rosemary Radford Ruether. On top of being one of the most important theologians of recent memory, Rosemary was a dear friend and deeply important to FOSNA and the global Sabeel movement as a whole.
What about Rosemary Radford Ruether?
By Kathy Bergen
I heard of Rosemary's passing on May 21, 2022. I have known for years that I could hear of her passing any day, yet when I heard the words, I was immobilized with grief to this day. After many attempts to articulate my feelings, I am attempting to do so again today.
Rosemary was one of the most amazing women I have ever met. What made her so amazing? What made her so great? What made her so special? What made her the most respected and most known feminist theologian of her generation?
I first met Rosemary in Jerusalem and I was with the MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) in Jerusalem. She and her husband, Herman, commonly called Herc, an Islamic scholar, had been invited to spend a semester at the Ecumenical Institute of Tantur on the outskirts of Jerusalem, and within walking distance from Bethlehem. I met Rosemary when she gave her first lecture at Tantur. I felt completely at home in her presence.
During the months she and Herc spent at Tantur, we spent a lot of time together. They often joined tours I did with internationals coming to Palestine to learn more about the situation of Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation. They often joined me on my weekly trips to Gaza where I taught two Bethlehem Bible College extension courses. I would give them names of organizations to explore and they would go to these offices, meet the directors, and discuss the issues of occupation and life under Israeli military rule. People welcomed them with open arms. I took them to Nazareth, to Galilee, to the Negev, Hebron, and other places. They really got it--they understood oppression, occupation, and the situation Palestinians were living in. A couple of days before Rosemary and Herc left Tantur, she called me one morning saying: "Most women who would call you at 7:30 in the morning would call to say that they are having a baby. I'm calling to tell you I'm having a book." For the next months, she and Herc wrote what became known as The Wrath of Jonah and dedicated it to me.
When Rev Naim Ateek brought together a group of Palestinians who planned the first Palestinian Liberation Theology conference, Rosemary was the person who was able to recommend International Liberation Theologians that could be invited for this important conference in Palestine.
During the following years, we kept in touch and I often stayed with Rosemary and Herc when I was in Chicago. I remember on one of my trips home from Jerusalem, Rosemary and I decided to organize a fundraiser for PHRIC (Palestine Human Rights Information Center) in Jerusalem. We spent one day shopping and one day cooking a Palestinian meal. Around one hundred people came to the dinner and we made a pretty bundle for me to take back to PHRIC.
I had the opportunity to introduce Rosemary as a speaker on several occasions. A line I used a lot was: She writes books faster than I can read them. At that point, she had written 40 books and numerous articles. I remember on several occasions at conferences, we would discuss a current issue going on in Palestine and the next morning she had a 4-page analysis written and printed.
Most of Rosemary's professional life was spent at Garrett Theological Seminary in Chicago, where she was loved and respected. One of the saddest things for me was to see her rejected by the Jewish community as soon as she started to write about Palestine and what was happening to Palestinians, despite that she had written the book Faith and Fratricide, a book dealing with the theological root of anti-Semitism. She never changed her mind regarding this book; the rejection was very difficult and sadly it cost her a job when she applied to another seminary.
About a year before COVID began, FOSNA (Friends of Sabeel North America) organized a conference in her honor in Los Angeles where she and Herc had retired to. Before the conference, she had a stroke and was not able to speak at the conference. She was able to attend in a wheelchair and we think she recognized us, but she was not able to speak. It was lovely to see Rosemary, Herc, and their two daughters and their partners at the conference. Their son, David, who lived in a home with other developmentally challenged folks was not able to attend.
Rosemary, you are an amazing person, a compassionate human being, and a great mind. You enriched my life so much. I learned so much from you. You are missed. You are no longer with us physically, but your spirit will be with me forever.