This book connects the aging woman to the image of God in the work of Flannery O’Connor, Joyce Carol Oates, Alicia Ostriker, Lucille Clifton, Mary Szybist, and Anne Babson. It introduces a canon of contemporary American women’s spiritual literature with the goal of showing how this literature treats aging and spirituality as major, connected themes. It demonstrates that such literature interacts meaningfully with feminist theology, social science research on aging and body image, attachment theory, and narrative identity theory. The book provides an interdisciplinary context for the relationship between aging and spirituality in order to confirm that US women’s writing provides unique illustrations of the interconnections between aging and spirituality signaled by other fields. This book demonstrates that relationships between the human and divine remain a consistent and valuable feature of contemporary women’s literature and that the divine–human relationship is under constant literary revision.

Nicola Slee examines the patterns and processes of women's spirituality and faith development in a group of thirty women belonging to, or on the edges of, Christian tradition. Her study is written from a perspective of Christian feminist commitment.

This book offers Cultural-Linguistic explorations into the diverse Lebenswelten of a wide range of cultural contexts, such as South Africa, Hungary, India, Nigeria, China, Romania, Iran, and Poland. The linguistic expedition sets out to explore three thematic segments that were, thus far, under-researched from a cultural linguistic perspective – spirituality, emotionality, and society. The analytical tools provided by Cultural Linguistics, such as cultural conceptualizations and cultural metaphors, are not only applied to various corpora and types of texts but also recalibrated and renegotiated. As a result, the studies in this collective volume showcase a rich body of work that contributes to the manifestation of Cultural Linguistics as an indispensable paradigm in modern language studies. Being a testament to the inseparability of language and culture, this book will enlighten academics, professionals and students working in the fields of Cultural Linguistics, sociology, gender studies, religious studies, and cultural studies.

• A celebration of the journey of African-American women toward a new spirituality grounded in social awareness, black American tradition, metaphysics, and heightened creativity. • Features illuminating insights from Alice Walker, Toni Cade Bambara, Lucille Clifton, Dolores Kendrick, Sonia Sanchez, Michele Gibbs, Geraldine McIntosh, Masani Alexis DeVeaux and Namonyah Soipan. • By a widely published scholar, poet, and activist who has been interviewed by the press, television, and National Public Radio's All Things Considered From the last part of the twentieth century through today, African-American women have experienced a revival of spirituality and creative force, fashioning a uniquely African-American way to connect with the divine. In Soul Talk, Akasha Gloria Hull examines this multifaceted spirituality that has both fostered personal healing and functioned as a formidable weapon against racism and social injustice. Through fascinating and heartfelt conversations with some of today's most creative and powerful women--women whose spirituality encompasses, among others, traditional Christianity, Tibetan Buddhism, Native American teachings, meditation, the I Ching, and African-derived ancestral reverence--the author explores how this new spiritual consciousness is manifested, how it affects the women who practice it, and how its effects can be carried to others. Using a unique and readable blend of interviews, storytelling, literary critique, and practical suggestions of ways readers can incorporate similar renewal into their daily lives, Soul Talk shows how personal and social change are possible through reconnection with the spirit.

The application of women's rights to the religions of the world have prompted highly contentious debates. This volume explores the many intricate issues raised in such interactions all authored by women scholars of religion from diverse regions of the world, representing a plurality of religions, including indigenous religions.

Toni Morrison's Spiritual Vision unpacks an oft-ignored but essential element of her work--her religion--and in so doing gives readers a deeper, richer understanding of her life and her writing. Nadra Nittle's wide-ranging, deep exploration of Morrison's oeuvre reveals the role of religion and spirituality in her life and literature.

"This book connects the aging woman to the image of God in the work of Flannery O'Connor, Joyce Carol Oates, Alicia Ostriker, Lucille Clifton, Mary Szybist, and Anne Babson. It introduces a canon of contemporary American women's spiritual literature with the goal of showing how this literature treats aging and spirituality as major, connected themes. It demonstrates that such literature interacts meaningfully with feminist theology, social science research on aging and body image, attachment theory, and narrative identity theory. The book provides an interdisciplinary context for the relationship between aging and spirituality in order to confirm that US women's writing provides unique illustrations of the interconnections between aging and spirituality signaled by other fields. This book demonstrates that relationships between the human and divine remain a consistent and valuable feature of contemporary women's literature and that the divine-human relationship is under constant literary revision"--