Picking up with conversations “towards a theology of creative praxis” in Spring 2023 I invited Dr. Deena Aranoff to share some thoughts with the Spring 2023 cohort of the course I teach at the Pacific School of Religion (PSR) in Berkeley.
She drew on recent writing she is doing about “The Maternal Divine” in particular “locating the maternal valence of the key Hebrew term for steadfast faithfulness: a,m,n.”, which is the root of the affirmative blessing “amen” as well as of “oman”, “ as a reference to a craftsman”.
Dr. Aranoff is assistant professor of medieval Jewish studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. Her interests include rabbinic literature, medieval patterns of Jewish thought and the broader question of continuity and change in Jewish history. Deena is also a community educator and teaches Bible, rabbinics, and Jewish mysticism in a variety of adult education programs.
