All of the books we recommend are available for the borrowing from the Carol Murdock Scinto Library in the WATER office. Check out librarything.com for our complete collection. We are grateful to the many publishers who send us review copies to promote to the WATER community.
Forest, Jim. ALL IS GRACE: A BIOGRAPHY OF DOROTHY DAY. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2011 (revised version of LOVE IS THE MEASURE: A BIOGRAPHY OF DOROTHY DAY, 1986.), 344 PAGES, $27.
A lively and comprehensive biography of popular Catholic icon, Dorothy Day. Jim Forest captures the life of someone who resisted sainthood in her ever so human quest for justice through the Catholic Worker Movement. A great intro to a remarkable woman who goes beyond traditional categories of sanctification.
Hayes, Diana L. FORGED IN THE FIERY FURNACE: AFRICAN AMERICAN SPIRITUALITY. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2012 (232 pages, $22).
Dr. Hayes adeptly traces African Americans’ encounters with God. She draws from scholarship on African religious spirituality from slavery to the contemporary Black Church with attention to resistance, freedom, transformation, and community. Diana Hayes paints a portrait of African Americans’ spiritual journeys.
Kim, Grace Ji-Sun. COLONIALISM, HAN, AND THE TRANSFORMATIVE SPIRIT. NY: Palgrave, Macmillan, 2013 (102 pages, $67.50).
This book is a useful introduction to feminist liberation theological work from an Asian perspective. Dr. Kim handles the contextual questions with precise and concise analyses. Her suggestions for moving beyond Han through recourse to the Spirit in many religions is an inviting strategy.
Mann, Margaret. A DRAMATICALLY DIFFERENT DIRECTION. North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011 (202 pages, $12.99).
Margaret Mann is the Buddha on the road in a wheelchair. Hers is the story of a wise, generous, gutsy woman who gives news meaning to mindfulness, new depth to compassion. The book, like the woman, is a jewel.
Moore, Allison M. CLERGY MOM: A SURVIVAL GUIDE TO BALANCING FAMILY AND CONGREGATION. New York, NY: Seabury Books, 2008 (160 pages, $18).
Women ministers who are not moms and even some male ministers will find this book helpful. Good luck to all trying to achieve this delicate balance.
Schottroff, Luise and Marie-Theres Wacker (Editors). FEMINIST BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION: A COMPENDIUM OF CRITICAL COMMENTARY ON THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE AND RELATED LITERATURE. Grand Rapids, MI and Cambridge, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012 (1056 pages, $80).
A necessary volume for any theological library, this major work stands as a testimony to feminist work in scripture.
Schumm, Darla and Michael Stoltzfus (Editors). DISABILITY AND RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY: CROSS-CULTURAL AND INTERRELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011 (254 pages, $95).
An edited compilation of essays addressing disability through Eastern and Western religious perspectives. Authors examine the body and its experience, as well as the social aspect of religion. Disability and Religious Diversity is an academic resource that’s both technical and thought provoking
Slee, Nicola. SEEKING THE RISEN CHRISTA. London, England: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2011 (160 pages, $29.99).
Re-member, re-call, re-claim the passion of Christa in inspirited poems, prayers, and meditations. These envision the Woman-Savior from Nativity to Easter. Liberating for those estranged by androcentric notions of salvation; provocative for those who have never thought of it.
Stevenson-Moessner, Jeanne and Teresa Snorton (Editors). WOMEN OUT OF ORDER: RISKING CHANGE AND CREATING CARE IN A MULTICULTURAL WORLD. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2010 (352 pages, $34).
Counseling without context is dicey and dangerous. This multi-authored volume in pastoral counseling reflects serious analysis of difference, injustice and the need for attention to race, class, and other particularities in the service of social and personal change.
Wilcox, Melissa M., QUEER WOMEN AND RELIGIOUS INDIVIDUALISM. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2009 (276 pages, $24.95).
Melissa Wilcox addresses the age-old question, “Where are all the women?” with her sociological analysis of religion in the lives of twenty-six lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women in the Los Angeles area. Although this study is narrow and specific, the trends that she traces have broader implications for understanding the complexities of women’s gender, sexual, and religious lives.