Synopses & Reviews
Praise for Chasing Sophia"By affirming women's ways of knowing and describing the places where women can locate wisdom (and thus connect with Jesus), Barger simultaneously explores an ancient Christian wisdom tradition and argues that Christianity can speak to women today."
—Publishers Weekly
"Women and men, open-minded evangelicals, mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic Christians, participants in emerging churches and people who have left the church because of its patriarchy and chauvinism—all will find Chasing Sophia to be a truly helpful and very worthwhile read. It's a balanced, warm, human, insightful, intelligent, and deeply theological engagement with three important and interrelated subjects: Jesus, wisdom, and women. I enjoyed and benefited from this fine book by a wise and gifted author, Lilian Calles Barger."
—Brian McLaren, author/activist (brianmclaren.net)
"I know many women who have left the church for Goddess worship and Wicca, or who have abandoned the Bible for the Gospel According to Mary. I will be giving every one of them a copy of this book, which provocatively suggests that the Christian story can address women's longings for a spirituality that is at once feminine and Christian."
—Lauren F. Winner, author, Real Sex and Girl Meets God
"Lilian Calles Barger offers a poignant and highly readable account of her Christian feminist spirituality. With depth of insight she integrates reflections on her personal life experiences with her account of authentic Christianity in contemporary times."
—Dr. Claire L. Sahlin, director, Women's Studies, Texas Woman's University
Review
"We may silently wonder: what choices yield the richest life? Is there Wisdom that is true and faithful even in our complexity and loneliness? Lilian Calles Barger reveals the deepest Wisdom who is timeless, hopeful, and life-giving. Wisdom, as a Person, Wisdom with a face . . . the face we’ve been searching for all our lives."
—Kelly Monroe Kullberg, author Finding God Beyond Harvard; editor, Finding God at Harvard
"Chasing Sophia is comforting and challenging, disturbing and hopeful. Its wisdom lies in bravely telling the story of where women are spiritually and how they got there—all for the purpose of forging a more satisfying a more satisfying path forward."
—Diane Connolly, editor, ReligionLink.org
"Lilian Barger doesn’t play games. She is honest about how her own Christian tradition has failed women, but warns that if we turn our backs on Jesus, we’ve thrown out the baby with the bathwater. Chasing Sophia will challenge women of all persuasions in their quest for true wisdom."
—Carolyn Custis James, author, Lost Women of the Bible and The Gospel of Ruth
"Lilian Calles Barger brings a great deal of her own wisdom to this book, challenging women to draw on the varied paths to self-understanding: nature, our bodies, sacred text and the community of faith. Above all, the book is a call for women to embark upon an inward journey that will lead to an experiential insight of themselves and of the world in which God has placed them."
—Catherine Kroeger, adjunct professor, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary; and coeditor, the IVP Women’s Bible Commentary
Synopsis
Women are looking for new ways to know themselves and to connect with God, two forms of knowledge that are intrinsically linked. Many have left traditional religion in frustration that it didn't reflect their real lives, turning instead to alternative spiritualities that purport to honor women's experience. In this post-feminist interpretation of Christianity, Lilian Calles Barger challenges both Christian tradition and feminist trends in spirituality to provide a fresh and inspiring look at divine wisdom, opening women's awareness to the voice of God in the world.
About the Author
Lilian Calles Barger (www.lilianbarger.com) is the founder of the Damaris Project (www.damarisproject.org) —an organization providing resources for women to start meaningful conversations in their communities. She is a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and currently works as a writer and frequent speaker on the intersection of the teachings of Jesus and contemporary cultural issues. She is the author of Eve's Revenge: Women and a Spirituality of the Body.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments.
Who Needs Sophia?
Chapter One: Sophia Reawakened.
Chapter Two: The Intuitive Edge.
Chapter Three: Faith of Our Fathers.
Chapter Four: It’s in Your Bones.
Chapter Five: Memorias Vivas.
Chapter Six: Your Own Personal Jesus.
Chapter Seven: Prophetic Voices.
Chapter Eight: Future Wisdom.
Notes.
The Author.
Index.