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"A masterpiece of women's wisdom."--Christiane Northrup, M.D. "The journey to capture her feminine soul and live authentically . . . makes a fascinating, well-researched and well-written story."--Publishers Weekly In celebration of the twentieth anniversary of its publication, a newly reissued edition of the bestselling author's classic work of feminine spiritual discovery, with a new introduction by the author. "I was amazed to find that I had no idea how to unfold my spiritual life in a feminine way. I was surprised, and, in fact, a little terrified, when I found myself in the middle of a feminist spiritual reawakening."--Sue Monk Kidd For years, Sue Monk Kidd was a conventionally religious woman. Then, in the late 1980s, she experienced an unexpected awakening, and began a journey toward a feminine spirituality. With the exceptional storytelling skills that have helped make her name, Kidd tells her very personal story of the fear, anger, healing, and freedom she experienced on the path toward the wholeness that many women have lost in the church. From a jarring encounter with sexism in a suburban drugstore, to monastery retreats and to rituals in the caves of Crete, she reveals a new level of feminine spiritual consciousness for all women--one that retains a meaningful connection with the "deep song of Christianity," embraces the sacredness of ordinary women's experience, and has the power to transform in the most positive ways every fundamental relationship in a woman's life--her marriage, her career, and her religion.… (more)
User reviews
Kidd had long been uncomfortable with how her gender was treated, both in society and in her church. Told repeatedly that woman was to serve man because Eve had tempted Adam into sin, she finally had enough when she went her young teen daughter’s work to pick her up, only to find the girl kneeling to stock the bottom shelf and hear one man say to another “That’s the way I like to see women- on their knees”. That started a journey of several years as she read, meditated, traveled and talked with other women as she tried to make sense of what was changing in her, spiritually.
Her reading took in both modern feminism and ancient texts. She found that in old Hebrew texts and the Old Testament there was a female deity as well as a male, but somewhere along the line she had disappeared. This, along with female deities from other cultures (Minoan Crete, ancient Greece, Native American), convinced her that there was a basis for a feminine spirituality. Eventually, she found that she could manage to hold both a deep feminine spirituality and to the Christian church.
Kidd writes of her journey step by step. It’s interesting and moving and her pain is palpable and there is an amazing amount of synchronicity, but after a certain point in the book the immediacy of her feelings seems to disappear. The narrative, for whatever reason, goes flat. It’s still useful and interesting, but it drags and a few parts felt like a chore to read- and read like they had been a chore to write. I’d recommend this book for any woman who is questioning the gendered aspects of modern religion as a beginning book. Even if they only read the first parts, it will head them in the right direction.
If you are a woman wondering if you have a right to desire leadership in the church, this book seems to be a good place to start. . .but I am at the
While I'll be the first in line for gender equality, I felt like this book was a little awkward.
The part that made me give up on it was her example of her father always taking her brother to ballgames instead of her. When she finally did go, she was more concerned with her daydreams of butterflies than the actual game. Perhaps her father understood this about her and that's why he opted to take her brother who apparently loved the sport as much as he did. To me, this is a more telling story of a parent allowing his kids to develop their own identities rather than any sort of male/female inequality within her homelife.
Perhaps this would be a helpful book for those who have felt the effects of such prejudice in their lives. But I can't in good conscience recommend it as a spiritual guide for a seeking female.
It's a path that I'm on myself so I empathised with
I have to admire her tenacity since I also live in the South and know the social pressure that can be put to bear on a woman who does not fit into societal norms. However, her deep dive into Jungian psychology and many of her pronouncements and actions just made me cringe. I felt like I was spending an inordinate time with a "converso" who just couldn't (or wouldn't) shut up about the subject.
I also think she is not going to be truly happy until she leaves traditional Christianity behind. She leaves the Southern Baptists (an oh DUH moment for anyone familiar with this strain of Christianity) for the much more liberal Episcopalian church, but I think her brand of theology will be, in the end, even too much for them. She is really more of a Deist and, I would think, be more comfortable with the Unitarians or maybe even the Ethical Culturalists.
In the end, the story I would really like to read is that of her husband who, as a result of his wife's qwest, also leaves the Southern Baptist and his theological teaching profession and becomes a psychologist.