WATER Recommends: February 2025
Cutter, Elissa and Allison Murray, Editors. WOMEN AND PUBLIC THEOLOGY: EMERGING VOICES. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2024 (188 pages, $29.95).
Successive generations of women take on theological tasks with diverse starting points and varied conclusions. The group “Women in Theology” labors in the vineyards, tending the plantings of their ancestors in feminist studies in religion and harvesting the fruits of their own generation’s efforts. This volume showcases some of those fruits and the possibilities they present. Useful for classes and study groups seeking examples of Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox women’s contemporary theological concerns.
Day, Dorothy. DOROTHY DAY: SPIRITUAL WRITINGS. Edited by Robert Ellsberg, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2024 (264 pages, $21.51).
Forty-five years after her death. Dorothy Day’s writing remains as vibrant and necessary as ever. This compendium includes some of her classic topics. Words like “delight” and “joy” surface when then, as now, we need them. The name “Dorothy Day” has come to be synonymous with social justice, radical love, and the courage to bring it about. Inspiration is in short supply these days, but she is a font of it.
DeWolf, Rebecca. GENDERED CITIZENSHIP. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2021 (350 pages, $87.29).
DeWolf examines the long struggles over the Equal Rights Amendment and why it took decades filled with protests and efforts to ratify the 19th Amendment. She points out how limited constitutional equality for men and women continues to sustain women’s disadvantaged position. Cultural changes related to sex and gender will further challenge the understanding of gender justice and gender equality in the law. As the ERA languishes, this is instructive.
H, Lamya. HIJAB BUTCH BLUES: A MEMOIR. New York: The Dial Press, 2024 (336 pages, $20.00).
A groundbreaking perspective on Islamic scripture. In this page-turner, Lamya H, writing under a pseudonym to protect her identity, introduces the reader to her feminist and queer interpretations of Islamic scriptures. She shines a completely different light on important historical figures. She writes about her struggles with Islamophobia and Xenophobia in the US and elsewhere and takes the reader on a journey to self-discovery and acceptance. A powerful read.
Koester, Nancy. WE WILL BE FREE: THE LIFE AND FAITH OF SOJOURNER TRUTH. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2023 (270 pages, $29.99).
Alicia K. Jackson in her foreword to Nancy Koester’s informative book about Sojourner Truth writes: “… Truth’s witness to the horrors of America’s chattel slavery mirrors the legacy of how trauma has motivated Black women toward social and political action” (p. x). Faith played a role as Jackson observes when Truth “issued a direct challenge to the white Christian community by highlighting the contradictions of the Christian message and white Christian support for American chattel slavery and the undermining of the humanity of the enslaved“ (p. xi). A book to read and absorb.
Kownacki, Mary Lou. EVERYDAY SACRED, EVERYWHERE BEAUTY: READINGS FROM AN OLD MONK’S JOURNAL. New York, NY: Orbis Books, 2024 (207 pages, $19.50).
An instant spiritual classic, this collection of Mary Lou Kownacki’s writings is a must-read for generations to come. Such insights, self-awareness, such community-focused love are rare but urgently needed. This welcome volume is to be socialized and discussed, prayed with, and cherished. Thanks to Mary Lou and the editors who carry on her spirit in Erie, PA.
Quarles, Melanie Jones. UP AGAINST A CROOKED GOSPEL: BLACK WOMEN’S BODIES AND THE POLITICS OF REDEMPTION. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2024 (207 pages, $22.50).
Black women’s bodies bear the brunt of racist, sexist, ableist oppression. This biblical and theological approach to womanist studies in religion is a successful attempt of a scholar to build on the solid foundation in both fields to reflect on the history and trajectory of her family and community.
Sylvester, Nancy. JOURNEY-FAITH IN AN ENTANGLED WORLD. Columbia, SC: Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue, 2024 (179 pages, $18.95).
Mary Hunt’s book blurb: “Imagine a world in which contemplation, deep immersion into the whole of Being, were a regular practice. Nancy Sylvester offers simple techniques and inviting themes for personal and communal reflection. Dialogue that emerges from holding lightly the woes and wonders of the world is a real help and a great hope for cultivating oneness. Just imagine and try it with this guide book.”
Thistlethwaite, Susan. SURFACING: A KRISTIN GINELLI MYSTERY. Eugene, OR: RESOURCE Publications, 2024 (186 pages, $20).
Mary Hunt’ book blurb: “Murders make headlines, but discussion of free speech is a more subdued, often obscured topic. The two go hand in hand in this suspenseful novel. A man is found dead and, as is now quite common, disruptive threats are considered protected speech. Detective/Professor Kristen Ginelli and colleagues figure out the murder and push university reform. Policy changes can save lives.”
Tsuria, Ruth. KEEPING WOMEN IN THEIR DIGITAL PLACE: THE MAINTENANCE OF JEWISH GENDER NORMS ONLINE. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2024 (190 pages, $109.95, Kindle $87.99).
Technology and Social Media provide a democratic space to negotiate and redefine social practices and feminism. Or do they? Ruth Tsuria examines how parts of the Jewish community negotiate societal norms and open discourse for religious and taboo matters. Contrary to popular belief, she explains how phenomena like peer regulation and ‘othering’ maintain hierarchical and traditional approaches. Instead of shifting societal norms, Social Media tends to keep women in their traditional places.