Long a fan of Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, I was initially hesitant when the New York Review of Books reissued her 1974 novel, The Hearing Trumpet. I didn’t know what to expect when this extraordinary painter picked up a pen. To my… Read More ›
Book Review
All We Have is Our Heart by Esther Nelson
One of my former students recommended UNFOLLOW to me, a memoir written by Megan Phelps-Roper, granddaughter of Fred Phelps (1929 – 2014), the (in)famous pastor of Westboro Baptist Church, Topeka, Kansas. Some people may not be aware that Fred Phelps… Read More ›
The Gathering: A Womanist Church BOOK REVIEW by Mary Ann Beavis
Book title: The Gathering: A Womanist Church—Origins, Stories, Sermons, and Litanies Authors: Irie Lynne Session, Kamilah Hall Sharp and Jann Aldredge-Clanton Publisher: Wipf & Stock, 2020 Womanist theology is a form of theological reflection that centers on Black women’s experience,… Read More ›
Writing Women Back into Jewish History: Interview with Michelle Cameron by Mary Sharratt
My friend Michelle Cameron’s powerful new novel, Beyond the Ghetto Gates, is a deep dive into women’s history that I thoroughly enjoyed. This is a passionately compelling saga of an ancient way of life on the threshold of… Read More ›
You Can Make Your Own Rose BOOK REVIEW by Lila Moore
You Can Make Your Own Rose by Andrea Nicki is a collection of poems infused with the spirit of feminist sensibility, social justice and activism. The poems offer more than mere therapeutic comfort while depicting shamanic-inspired healing rituals and magical… Read More ›
Review: In Search of Pure Lust, author Lise Weil by Sara Wright
In this remarkable memoir one woman’s life is set in the collective context of the women’s movement as a whole, and through Lise Weil’s eyes we get to see the “both and” quality of her struggle to understand the wound… Read More ›
Book Review: FLORENCE IN ECSTASY by Jessie Chaffee
Jessie Chaffee‘s Florence in Ecstasy is the most luminous debut novel I have read in a very long time. Imagine, if you will, a darker and more literary version of Elizabeth Gilbert’s popular spiritual seeker’s memoir, Eat Pray Love. This… Read More ›
Murder at the Rummage Sale: Book Review by Judith Shaw
Murder at the Rummage Sale (Albany, NY: Imagination Fury Arts, 2016) by Elizabeth Cunningham is a mystery novel with a style and depth of thought that offers not only the fun of figuring out “Who Dun It” but also gorgeous… Read More ›
Interreligious Friends after Nostra Aetate (Book Review) by Janice Poss
Book Title: Interreligious Friendship after Nostra Aetate Editors: J. Fredericks and T. Tiemeier Series Title: Interreligious Studies in Theory and Practice Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan US, 2015 “… the Jew prayed words of blessing … over his Roman Catholic friend. …Willebrands… Read More ›
She Rises: A Book Review by Kate Brunner
She Rises: Why Goddess Feminism, Activism and Spirituality? edited by Helen Hye-Sook Hwang and Kaalii Cargill is the product of a collective writing project that began in March 2014 with an open call for submissions that answered the questions now found… Read More ›
Whatever Works: Feminists of Faith Speak, A Girl God Anthology– Book Review by Kate Brunner
If you have yet to be introduced to Trista Hendren’s world of The Girl God, this anthology is the perfect opportunity to make her acquaintance. If you have, welcome to a whole new level of powerful creations exploring feminism and… Read More ›
Book Review: Hild & The Patron Saint of Ugly by Mary Sharratt
Literature touches our spirit in a way that film, television, and even art cannot. Instead of presenting the passive viewer with a visual image, good writing demands our participation and co-creation. The words become the springboard for our own imagined… Read More ›
BOOK REVIEW: Amy Wright Glenn’s Birth, Breath, & Death by Natalie Weaver
Amy Wright Glenn’s Birth, Breath, & Death: Meditations on Motherhood, Chaplaincy, and Life as a Doula is a mid-life memoir of the author’s personal encounters and professional insights drawn from her work in the spaces of birth and death. Glenn… Read More ›
Rosemary Radford Ruether’s Quests for Hope and Meaning by Gina Messina-Dysert
Rosemary Radford Ruether is one of the most brilliant theologians of our time and her newly released autobiography, My Quest for Hope and Meaning, is a gift to those of us who have been so touched by her work. In… Read More ›