If there were an entry for “scholar-activist” in the dictionary, it would likely show a picture of Rosemary Radford Ruether. Her academic career has produced some forty-seven books, hundreds of articles and chapters, and hundreds of Master's and doctoral students. Her publications represent some of the finest interdisciplinary scholarship on a variety of topics, including feminist theology, liberation theology, inter-religious dialogue, ecofeminism, history of women, and religion, and most recently the effects of mental disorders on familial relations. As an integral counterpart to her academic career, Ruether is also an activist. From the Freedom Rides during the civil rights movement to protesting the Iraq War, from carrying various petitions with her to American Academy of Religion meetings to community gardening at Pilgrim Place, from fighting for green institutions of higher education to taking groups of students to Palestine to help rebuild homes, Ruether consistently embodies the prophetic voice that is so characteristic of her work. This volume celebrates her life and work on her seventy-fifth birthday, drawing together fourteen essays by her students from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and the Graduate Theological Union, in Berkeley, California.

We will begin with a biographical overview and proceed to draw out some contrasts between the social and religious context in which Ruether's theology germinated and that in which her students carry on her legacy.