Reviews
Peter Schfer, Winner of the 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Winner of the 2002 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Religion, Association of American Publishers, "Innovative, bold, well written, full of new insights, and based on broad scholarship and a creative imagination as well as plain old common sense, Peter Schäfer's new study makes an important contribution to the history of Jewish mysticism, Jewish-Christian cultural studies, and the history of religions." --Ivan Marcus, Yale University, This work deals with esoteric ideas that are bold and complex, but it is also culturally important, providing a wonderful antecedent for feminist theological speculation today. Schäfer supports his thesis admirably, showing its importance for understanding medieval Jewish-Christian relationships and the cultural environment's influence on religion., "Reading this book is a great delight. Schäfer deals with a fascinating issue--the history of the female deity--and, as he does so, he fully reveals the intimacy and closeness of Jewish-Christian relations during the Middle Ages. The book is provocative, written with drive, fluent in diverse literary spheres, and of major importance." --Israel Jacob Yuval, Hebrew University, "Schäfer's book is clearly written and forcefully presents an interesting and plausible thesis for the presence, survival and re-emergence of the feminine in the Jewish divine from antiquity to the middle ages." --Tal Ilan, Journal of Jewish Studies, "This work deals with esoteric ideas that are bold and complex, but it is also culturally important, providing a wonderful antecedent for feminist theological speculation today. Schfer supports his thesis admirably, showing its importance for understanding medieval Jewish-Christian relationships and the cultural environment's influence on religion."-- Library Journal, "Schfer's book is clearly written and forcefully presents an interesting and plausible thesis for the presence, survival and re-emergence of the feminine in the Jewish divine from antiquity to the middle ages."-- Tal Ilan, Journal of Jewish Studies, Winner of the 2002 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Religion, Association of American Publishers, "This work deals with esoteric ideas that are bold and complex, but it is also culturally important, providing a wonderful antecedent for feminist theological speculation today. Schäfer supports his thesis admirably, showing its importance for understanding medieval Jewish-Christian relationships and the cultural environment's influence on religion." -- Library Journal, Schäfer's book is clearly written and forcefully presents an interesting and plausible thesis for the presence, survival and re-emergence of the feminine in the Jewish divine from antiquity to the middle ages. ---Tal Ilan, Journal of Jewish Studies, "Schäfer's book is clearly written and forcefully presents an interesting and plausible thesis for the presence, survival and re-emergence of the feminine in the Jewish divine from antiquity to the middle ages." ---Tal Ilan, Journal of Jewish Studies, Peter Schäfer, Winner of the 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Winner of the 2002 Award for Best Professional/Scholarly Book in Religion, Association of American Publishers Peter Schäfer, Winner of the 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
