Author of Embracing the Divine Feminine: Song of Songs Annotated and Explained
“Words are maps that shape the territory they claim to represent. The more common a word becomes the more natural the bias it carries becomes. Just reciting ‘Our Mother who art in Heaven’ shows you how entrenched ‘Our Father’ has become. Change the words and you change the world…and yourself. In her new book She Lives!, Rev. Jann Aldredge-Clanton shares the power of changing Godspeak, of speaking of God as Mother, as Lady Wisdom, and the Divine Feminine by sharing the stories of women and men who have dared to do so. This is a revolution within Christianity that has wonderful ramifications for all faiths trapped in the idolatry of gendered Godtalk. She Lives! is an important book chronicling a revolution in Christianity—the reclaiming of the Divine Feminine; a revolution that must be duplicated in other faiths as well. Read the book. Join the revolution.”
Rosemary Ruether, PhD
Claremont School of Theology, Claremont, California
“In this inspiring book, and drawing on a rich diversity of voices, Jann Aldredge-Clanton shows that female images of God are essential to gender equality and social justice.”
Stephen V. Sprinkle, PhD
Professor of Practical Theology, and Director of Field Education and Supervised Ministry, Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University
“Jann Aldredge-Clanton’s newest book, She Lives!: Sophia Wisdom Works in the World, establishes her as the leading voice standing at the crossroads of feminist emancipatory theologies today. Dr. Aldredge-Clanton interviews women and men who are both well-known constructive feminist theologians, and important players just now making their way into the broader theological discussions about God, Christ, Spirit, Church, and world. Skillfully distilling the accumulated witness of academics, churchwomen, liturgists, ethicists, and musicians, Dr. Aldredge-Clanton challenges readers to expand our vocabularies and imaginations, reaching new depths of God-talk and ethical plausibility.
This book is a comprehensive exploration of more than feminist theological issues. It is a tour de force of engagement with the politics and imagination of theological liberation and faith expression where women and their male soul mates lead us into a whole new country where divinity embraces everyone, and challenges exclusionary religion to step aside. Readers of this book will never be able to speak or think of deity and world in the same ways ever again.”
Miriam Therese Winter, PhD
Professor and director of the Women’s Leadership Institute, Hartford Seminary
“When we first acknowledged the Divine as female in our sacred rites and liberating rituals, we never imagined we would live to see a time such as this. She not only lives, She is everywhere.”
Dr. Deborah Sokolove
Director, Henry Luce III Center for the Arts and Religion, Wesley Theological Seminary
“More than twenty years of writing prayers for a congregation founded on feminist principles has allowed me to become complacent about the need for explicitly female images of the Holy One that go beyond the multiplicity of gender-neutral images that come so naturally to me. This book challenges me to remember that too many people, wherever they are on the gender-identity spectrum, still suffer from a hierarchical vision of the Divine that is overwhelmingly male. As Jann and those whose stories she tells make clear, talking to and about the Divine in explicitly female terms corrects that imbalance, bringing hope and healing to those who have felt excluded for far too long.”
Kathe Schaaf
Editor, Women, Spirituality and Transformative Leadership: Where Grace Meets Power
“Jann Aldredge-Clanton weaves together the stories of an impressively diverse and accomplished community of church leaders. As they explore the challenges they have faced to bring the Divine Feminine within the structures of the Christian church (including the importance of inclusive language and the glass ceiling preventing real female leadership), they also create a roadmap for bringing real change to address some of the most critical problems facing humanity. This book is not merely a feminist rally cry. Jann gives us a glimpse of a tidal wave of grassroots passion to re-member the fullness and wholeness of the Divine. Our wounded world cannot be healed until this wholeness has been restored.”
Dr. Carolyn Stahl Bohler
Author, God the What? What Our Metaphors for God Reveal About Our Beliefs in God
“For those who already enjoy female images for the Divine, She Lives! will broaden a sense of community—to realize how many churches and groups also worship in truly just, inclusive, and creative ways. If already engaged in inclusive worship this will inspire you and broaden your sense of colleagues on your journey. If new to feminine Divine images, you’ll be inspired by the options and liturgies, prayers, hymns, and communities described. She Lives! helps us to realize that plenty of so-called ‘mainline’ religions include congregations and groups that take seriously inclusive worship, and that requires a full array of ways to understand Godde. Brava!”
