Overview

An epic 90-page poem written as a therapeutic process, alongside a series of ""death masks"", depicted throughout the book as encounters along the Way through the Underworld. As the author recalls of her writing process, ""Healing imagery, poetic imagery, information about the goddess Inanna, hypnotic recall and therapeutically-guided imagery: all of this intense psychological work seemed to open doors deep inside the self. Inside these doors, I found my life history to be stored. Much of it was expressed in kinesthetic knowing and in imagistic knowing."" Created out of her personal experience and reflective of her expertise as a scholar in the areas of trauma and religion, she offers both an artistic work and her own Jungian analysis of the process of creative healing she endured. Ruth Krall also uses short phrases in Spanish throughout to express aspects of the experience. A reference section and prosaic reflections allow the reader to find resources for journeys through personal crisis. The epic journey of Inanna begins from the Homeland and enters the ""Dark Woods"" in which Inanna passes through Seven Gates. The arrival back to the Homeland through the transformation created by chaos, brings her into a new state of being as the Queen of Heaven and Earth.

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9781990827228

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Reviews

Ruth Krall is known as a tireless scholar, a beloved professor, and a fearless advocate for sexual abuse survivors. In Inanna's Way, we learn to know a private side of Ruth: her battle with a serious and painful illness. Using the Sumerian myth of the Goddess Inanna's descent to the Underworld as a metaphor, through word and image, Ruth gives us a peek at the many ""gates"" through which she passed, facing and then shedding her despair and anger at feeling betrayed by her own body, and finally her long journey to healing. Cameron Altaras, PhD, Editor, with Carol Penner, Resistance: Confronting Violence, Power and Abuse Within Peace Churches; Author, with Sharla Nafziger, Confronting the Patterns that Silence Us Few people would even attempt to transform the lessons of physical tragedy into such profound creating and writing. But Ruth Krall's capacity for deep reflection and renewal is nothing short of heroic. With care and humility, Ruth offers her story of pain and empowerment through these poems - a gift for all to turn to and treasure. Anna Groff, Associate Professor of Communication, Goshen College, Goshen, IN In Inanna's Way, Ruth Krall takes us on the heroine's journey, following the mythic Sumerian goddess through the underworld to resurrection. Tracing her progress from surgery to recovery, she offers a series of poems and masks that illustrate her observation that ""transformation is always possible."" These words and images project the ""numinous power of an ancient narrative"" to renew and sustain life in an everyday world that holds both threat and promise. Inanna's passage through the seven gates of the underworld--represented by seven stunning masks--culminates in death and resurrection, the birth of a new self. Ruth claims Inanna's transformation for herself in an unforgettable memoir. Judith Davis, Ph.D., is professor emerita of French and Humanities at Goshen College (Indiana). A frequent presenter at scholarly conferences, she is the author of Finding the Virgin Mary: Her Evolving Stories from Antiquity to Today as well as two other volumes in medieval studies.

Author Information

Dr. Ruth Elizabeth Krall, Emerita Professor of Religion, Psychology and Nursing, and Program Director of Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies at Goshen College, Indiana. Born and raised in Pennsylvania, she earned a bachelor of nursing from Goshen College, IN, a masters from the University of Cincinnati, OH, and a PhD from the Southern California School of Theology at Claremont. She also worked as a psychiatric community health, nurse and currently lives in Arizona as a retired pastoral theologian specialized in sexual violence studies. A Mennonite with Methodist membership, her ecumenical approach provides pathways of successful nonviolent advocacy in situations of affinity, sexual violations and armed violence. Archival holdings can be found at the Mennonite Historical Library at Goshen College, Mennonite Church USA Archives (Elkhart, IN), and the Pacific School of Religion at UC Berkeley.

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