[2][3] Ruether was active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s,[2] and her own work was influenced by liberation and black theology.
[2] Over the course of her career, she wrote on a wide range of topics, including antisemitism, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the intersection of feminism and Christianity, and the climate crisis.
[6] Despite her radical feminist theology, Ruether remained in the Catholic Church alongside other religious activists.
She worked for the Delta Ministry in Mississippi where she was exposed to the struggles of African American communities and the realities of racism.
She became immersed in black liberation theology literature during her time of teaching at the Howard University, School of Religion.
She dedicated her time to the peace movement in Washington, DC, and she was arrested and taken to jail by police along with other radical Catholics and Protestants because of her participation in marches and demonstrations.
[5] After a brief stint as a visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School, Ruether accepted a position at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
During her career, Ruether authored over 40 books and over 600 articles, primarily on the topics of feminism, eco-feminism, the Bible, and Christianity.
[7] She also wrote several texts on Jewish-Christian relations, including Faith and Fratricide: The Theological Roots of Anti-Semitism, and on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
[6] According to Ruether, the exclusion of women from theological academic and leadership roles has led to the proliferation of male-centric attitudes and beliefs.
[6] In her 1983 book Sexism and God-Talk, she opened up new Christological possibilities by posing the famous question, "Can a male savior save women?
"[16] Ruether's work has been influential in the field of feminist theology,[1][17][18] influencing scholars such as Beverly Wildung Harrison,[19] Pauli Murray,[20] and Kwok Pui Lan.
[24] In 2012, Ruether received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (LHD) degree from Whittier College.