Obligated Self

In this elegantly written, provocative, scholarly, and accessible work, Mara Benjamin contributes to the growing body of literature using maternal experience as a source for theology and religious ethics.

It is rare to find an academic text that is so creative, honest, and thoughtful, and uniquely contributes to multiple fields of inquiry-in this case, Jewish theology, feminist theory, and parenting. Bringing together a wide variety of resources in an artful display of academic research that is both intellectually stimulating and personally vulnerable, readers will find Benjamin's offering to be a continued reservoir for reflecting on what unites humanity perhaps more universally than anything else: that we have all been parented and most of us will also, at some point, embark on the risky, adventurous, deeply enriching journey of parenting.

In The Obligated Self: Maternal Subjectivity and Jewish Thought, Mara H. Benjamin offers a thought-provoking (and often humorous) meditation on motherhood as a prism for one's relationship with God. Inspired by Jewish thinkers, including Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas, Benjamin argues that relationships can be "theologically productive."