I gave this three stars because, while I found this book frustrating at times and boring at others, it is a valuable tool for the classroom. Let me clarify: Clifford does a good job handling the history of feminist theology. She discusses the most prominant theologians from many perspectives and introduces the reader to many "forgotten" women in Christianity. She is really quite balanced in the material she approaches; it is neither too Catholic or too Protestant, and she examines in each chapter the perspective of women from so-called third-world countries, as well as minority thinkers. She does a wonderful job weaving womanist, feminist and latina theologies together.

So, why the poor rating? While I think that the text is a useful tool for students who have never been introduced to feminist theology or to a person who simply wishes a generalized overview, there are still some flaws which, for me, were quite frustrating. First of all, while her history is solid, her philosophy and reasoning leave a lot to be desired. She tends to make sweeping statements about certain issues or reduce a problem, which is quite complex, to a simple equation, which then doesn't pan out. As a person who believes that any good theology must have sound philosophical reasoning behind it, I found myself poking all kinds of holes in the logic. I also found myself being bored stiff in certain areas, which usually doesn't happen to me in this area of study. A final opinion? I would recommend this book for a classroom text (only an intro course) but make sure to supplement with other, more solid theological works such as Elizabeth Johnson's "She Who Is."

I think that this is one of the better introductions to feminist theology. This is a great starting place for someone who doesn't have a background in feminism and/or historical-critical analysis in religion. It is sort of a "light-weight" book, compared to Schüssler Fiorenza's work or Radford Ruether's (some of the leading feminist theologians), but that is the whole point of an introduction. This is meant to be an beginner's book, not an in-depth exploration into the more specialized theological issues and questions. As the other reviewers have noted, this is would be great for an introductory course in feminist theology or for someone who heard of feminist theology and said "Hmmm, I'd like to know more about that." It does gloss over some more important points and it does over-generalize about some things, but often introductions must do that or things get too complicated for the beginner who just wants an overview. It's not a perfect book, but a great start for someone wanting to explore this topic.

While this book may break no new ground, it does suggest the scholarly underpinnings of works and ideas that have sometimes been dismissed as benefitting from prevailing trends. Clifford takes feminist theology seriously, giving a helpful analysis of diverse claims, themes, and authors. There is a serious effort here to uncover the internal logic of the authors and situate them in their contemporary context.
The book would work well as a college text and the pedagogical aids would enrich a student's understanding of theology in the broader sense. Yet it is more than a text book, analyzing the methodologies of diverse thinkers and thus suggesting how feminst theologies have enriched the enterprise.