RE:IJSNC, Issue 1, Volume 2, May 2012 - Ocean Seminary College

Book Review: The Root of All Evil:
An Exposition of Prejudice,
Fundamentalism and Gender
Imbalance
By Sharon G. Mijares, Aliaa Rafea, Rachel Falik & Jenny Eda Schipper.
Imprint Academic, 2007.
ISBN: 978-1-8454-0067-5
320 pages, paperback, $34.90
This book’s message is timeless, offering a challenge to the familiar self-absorbed and self-obsessed adage
that money is the root of all evil. Replacing this ill-conceived focus with a scholarly and heart-felt re-assessment
of our well-being, this book seeks to liberate us from defining our existence merely in terms of our marketing
orientation. It is a book theological students should enjoy as it’s a cross-cultural inquiry of women’s reflections
of religion and their struggle to find psychological, social, and spiritual meaning within Islam,
Christianity and Judaism. Casting a wider net toward addressing the meaning of religion in our lives, Sharon
G. Mijares, Aliaa Rafea, Rachel Falik and Jenny Eda Schipper (2007) offer us their insight that “prejudice
against the other (race, religion, gender) is the root of all evil” (p. 58). Expanding their assessment of this
insight, Mijares, et. al tell us:
The two powers of good and evil are always in opposition, thereby creating trouble. The dream of
ending the power of evil has been embedded in the human psyche since the beginning of patriarchal
history. Ending the patriarchal reign may not bring a complete end to wars and conflict, but gender
balance will certainly soften and transform the dangers confronting humanity at this time. The patriarchal
ideal of solving conflicts and imbalances inspires reformers and people of vision. It has both
allowed for and created opposition, while longing to heal it (p. 53).
This book is not light reading; nevertheless, its scholarly investigation of historical developments in Judaism,
Islam, and Christianity make it an excellent choice as a text for courses in anthropology, sociology, philosophy,
and feminist studies. It is adjunctive reading to current social and political upheavals within the
Middle East as an additional means of understanding this conflict, especially for those of us in Europe and
North America as an increasing number of displaced refugees seek asylum in our cities and neighborhoods.
Moreover the concerns this book raises extend themselves into every culture throughout the world, becoming
an equally important text for men to read as it is for the women whose lives it portrays and whose struggles
for equality continue to remain so prevalent. Toward this greater cross-cultural appeal, brief assessments
are provided of Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shintoism, and other systems of religious orientations.
Additional relevancy of this book is that it provides its readers with a greater understanding of where
fundamentalist views originate (especially for those of us living in the USA observing an increasing political
influence of fundamentalism).
88
Schroll, M. A. (2012). Book Review: The root of all evil. Restoration
Earth: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Nature & Civilization,
1(2), 88. Copyright © The Authors. All rights reserved.
For reprint information contact: oceanseminary@verizon.net.
—Mark A. Schroll, Ph.D.