Goldstein’s book explores specific female characters of the Torah and their interaction with society. Goldstein’s chapters on blood and water discuss the biblical sections on menstruation, challenging women to reappropriate traditional laws concerning the body. Her scholarship on God, goddess, gender and Torah reveals how the traditional masculine image of God has affected women’s spiritual journeys.

Sponsored by the Office of the Chaplain at Bates, the Spiritual Journeys lecture series features speakers from a variety of traditions who tell the stories of their spiritual awakening and development. Speakers are invited to explore how they experience a sense of the holy in their everyday lives, how their perspectives and disciplines have shaped that sacred experience, and how they understand religion as a resource or an obstacle to the life of the soul.

Next in the Spiritual Journeys series will be John P. Streit, dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, on Faith, Doubt, and Passion: Companions for an Unlikely Spiritual Journey from 4:30 to 6 p.m. March 19, in Skelton Lounge, Chase Hall.