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A God Who Looks Like Me: Discovering a Woman-Affirming Spirituality
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Description
A God Who Looks Like Me provides support to design a personal spirituality by extending your historical, theological, and personal vision to include the divine feminine. A richly woven tapestry of ritual, story, and history gently encouraging you to exorcise old images and to embrace woman-affirming ones.
Excerpt
Our search for a god who looks like us begins in our own lives. She will be found there.
Whether shouted at women in the religious institutions of their childhoods or whispered to them in the culture, the religious words and images of father God, of judgment and punishment, of unworthiness and shame, of a sinful Eve and an obedient Mary linger in women’s memories. Whether recited weekly in Sabbath School or experienced daily in the design of their parents’ relationship, the religious myths of the exclusively male God, of original sin, and of the necessity of a male savior are deeply ingrained within women’s lives. These remnants of our religious past pursue us into adulthood and interfere with the development of a self-defined spirituality. In the company of women, our imaginations will be freed from the crippling effects of these childhood myths and our courage will be awakened as we name our own gods and design our own woman-affirming spirituality.
A God Who Looks Like Me: Discovering a Woman-Affirming Spirituality is not a theological argument nor an intellectual discussion. Spirituality, by its very nature, flows from our lives and stories, and is spoken in our own voices, not those of theologians or other “experts.” The stories of women will play a prominent role in our explorations. We cannot explore our religious past or develop a personal spirituality apart from our stories. Even the most abstract interpretations of religion are rooted in the life experience of those who are doing the interpreting. Since most of these interpreters were men, their explanations have very little to do with our lives as women. Women’s stories challenge and redefine religion from a woman’s perspective.
Review
A God Who Looks Like Me is a substantial contribution to defining a woman-affirming spirituality. It blends methodology and message harmoniously. Informed scholarship, personal stories, and profound insight converge to create a mirror in which woman can see their own lives reflected. And in that reflection, women discover that what they have longed for from “out there” is actually already within themselves. — Kim Dickson Rogers, Woman Spirit Magazine
Excerpt reprinted by permission. All rights reserved © 1995.