Synopses & Reviews
Whether raised within a specific belief system or warned against all things religious, young women today have been left with questions that dating guides and pop feminist theory cannot answer. This collection answers the calla handbook for the soul that offers the wisdom and validation of how a variety of women negotiate an empowering spiritual existence in a pop-culture world. In Bare Your Soul, women of all backgrounds and traditions share how investigating questions of spirituality affects their lives and their identities. It is a provocative look at the ways in which young women of today both celebrate and repudiate religionand, ultimately, find answers that fit. One woman shares her practice as a Shiite Muslim and how it intersects and collides with her personal relationships. A woman raised within the Black Baptist community finally finds a spiritual connection with the Unitarian Churchthen struggles to balance spiritual fulfillment with her desire to see other Black faces in her place of worship. A young mother speaks to the challenges brought on when play dates bring together her familys religionfeminist Goddess-worshipand that of her childrens fundamentalist Christian friends. A Western feminist who has converted to Buddhism attempts to reconcile her gender identity with a philosophy that renders gender irrelevant, and one woman argues that the Church of Consumerism is all she needs. A compelling, much-needed anthology, this collection offers balanced, insiders information on a wide spectrum of traditions and practices, allowing readers to make informed, intelligent spiritual choices for themselves.
Table of Contents
My sister's keeper / Twilight Greenaway -- Coming clean / Angela Watrous -- Road toward Islam : a traveler's tale / Claire Hochachika -- Culture of faith / Shoshana Hebshi -- Last conversation / L.A. Miller -- Glitter and the goddess / Kara Spencer -- Million-step program / Stephanie Groll -- Practice of faith / Maliha Masood -- Daughter of a preacherman / Andrea Richards -- Church of godly men / Tanessa Dillard -- Playhouse and the altar : householder Buddhism / Liesl Schwabe -- Raising a family the good old-fashioned way / Juleigh Howard-Hobson -- Sound of God / Lisa Schiffman -- Worshipping in color / Bernadette Adams Davis -- Pilgrimage on Mission Street / Griselda Suarez -- Just another anarchist antichrist godless-commie Catholic / Sonya Huber -- Flash of lightning / Diane Biray Gregorio -- Yogini in New York / Deborah Crooks -- God is grape / Gail Hudson -- Agnostic dyke seeks goddess / Jennifer M. Collins -- After Christ / Teena Apeles -- Pilgrimage / Pramila Jayapal -- Sex and Catholic girls / Caurie Miner Putnam -- Call to service / Trudi M.H. Frazel -- On ki / Eleanor Martineau.