Janelle Esposito
Marge Piercy- a poet, novelist and essayist- came to the Ferguson Center to speak on the role of Women in Judaism. Even though she spent a bit of time on this topic- she spent her bulk of time reading her liturgy she writes for her Jewish- Unitarian congregation. I was not specifically engaged by her form of liturgy, but it was interesting how her religious beliefs tied into it. This was an expression of her literate version of Judaism.
Piercy does not believe that traditional and contemporary versions of religions coincide together. Through feminist theory, she likes to reshape religion, creating who she thinks God should for her Unitarian/Jewish congregation. This truly is a contemporary version of religion, as religion in primal cultures were rooted in traditions and rituals they took part in which gave the cosmos meaning and order. Piercy’s religion is individualistic, not based on deeply seeded tradition, but on her own interpretation of meaning. She claims to practice Judaism, but only the contemporary one she crafted. In the liturgy she writes she does not even use any of the personal names of God. Piercy comes from a literate culture, where she no longer needs to participate in sharing a common book, but relies on many books for truth and meaning. Judaism did get passed down to her, but what she follows now does not come from experiential hierophanies or traditional stories, but comes through her own literate mind to piece together what makes sense to her.
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