Customer Reviews

The Book of Women's Sermons: Hearing God in Each Other's Voices

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This is an extraordinary collection of 35 contemporary sermons. If I were to recommend a single book, to convey the best in Judeo-Christian thought on issues of American life and society, this is the book. Some of the sermons are clearly political, because as Rev. Hancock notes in her vibrant introduction, "preaching is indeed a political act." So power structures, race, and gender are frequent topics of reflection. More conventionally religious concerns are also prominent: the nature of good and evil, of spirit, of heaven, of mystery, and of faith. There are sermons that focus on the joy and the grit of daily life: "on community, on dying, on parenting, on grief." There are sermons that some would label feminist: "on the divine feminine, on domestic violence, on the motherhood of God." And there are others on social issues: "on homelessness, on homosexuality, on resistance." Although most of the authors are clergy (Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish), half a dozen are not, including Alice Walker and Kathleen Norris. All of them draw richly on the depth and complexity of their own lives. None are doctrinaire. Some are indignant, some are aggrieved, some are compassionate, some are challenging, some are wise. There are stories and images here that you'll want to share with others. Some of them will curl up in your mind and reappear in your thoughts days and weeks later. Some will reshape the ways you think and feel about others, about life, and about religion. Some will make you laugh; some will trouble you. None of them are simplistic or boring. These are wonderful sermons to read aloud, to small groups for discussion, or to a close friend with whom you share your life. It's also a great collection to give to friends, whether they consider themselves religious or not. The concerns they deal with are often the ones we've grown used to avoiding, or that we deal with unreflectively, with cant or dogma. None of these sermons do that. Somehow all of them strike true chords that resonate with the universal human condition.

I don't know what the reviewer 'a reader' from august is thinking - perhaps he just adds that particular comment to every religious book he can find. This sermon collection is theologically very, very far from the 700 club mentality. I don't think Pat Robertson would let women preach this way, least ways not lesbian women, and especially not Jewish women. This collection has some wonderful, wonderful gems of sermons, especially by the Jewish women, and Annie Ruth Powell, Lundblat, and some others. It also has some sermons that are fairly weak in terms of logic, relevancy, use of Scripture, or ability to speak to people (although they must have spoken to someone). I don't see God living in some of these sermons, nor the liberating truth of God's message coming through - even for these 'inclusive' women, their theology can be quite narrow and exclusive. But, the majority of the sermons are well-done, and all the sermons are important to read for anyone who wants to know what is happening in the theological world of liberal Christianity (which is absolutely not the Murdoch and Robertson world), since the liberal Christian world gets very little media play. If you are sickened by televangelists, male-dominated churches, anti-gay bigotry in the church, etc., you should read these. And if you believe have no place in the pulpit, you especially should read these and take them to heart, because God speaks quite eloquently and forcefully through these pages, and it is important to realize that the Spirit can, does, and will work through whoever it chooses, not just men.

Our women's church school class uses this text and loves it. Each of us in the group choose a sermon she likes and leads the group in discussion after we all read it. Because the selections are short but pithy, they are quick reads and yet they provoke lots of illuminating discussion about our faith, our feelings, and our gender.

This collection is a perfect gift for anyone of any religion who is on any sort of spiritual quest - or should be!

Amazon's corporate christian bias is obvious and reeks of cultism, this Rupert Murdoch {700 club} publications well reception here underscores it. Or should I buy it because Alice Walker is black.