Reading Spiritualities

Dawn Llewellyn is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at Lancaster University and is examining the use of 'text' in the development of women's and feminist spiritualities. She has recently contributed to Feminist Spiritualities: The Next Generation (forthcoming) and was the principle conference organiser of Reading Spiritualities (2006). Deborah F. Sawyer is Reader in Religion and Gender and Director of Post Graduate Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, Lancaster University. She has published widely on biblical studies, hermeneutics and the influence of religion on the construction of gender. Her monographs include Midrash Aleph Beth (1993), Women and Religion in the First Christian Centuries (1996), God, Gender and the Bible (2002) and she co-edited (with Paul Morris) A Walk in the Garden: Biblical, Iconographical and Literary Images of Eden (1992), and (with Diane Collier) Is there a Future for Feminist Theology? (1999). She has contributed to the Encyclopedia of Religion, Second Edition, (2004), The Blackwell Companion to the Bible and Culture (2006) and has recently published articles in Theology and Sexuality (2008) and Rivista Biblica (2008).

• Introduction, Deborah F. Sawyer, Dawn Llewellyn; Part I Spiritual Journeys, Dawn Llewellyn; Chapter 1 ‘Getting a/cross god’: An Interview with Michèle Roberts, Michèle Roberts, Dawn Llewellyn, Deborah F. Sawyer; Chapter 2 The Sacred in Caribbean Literature: A Theo logical Conversation, Michael N. Jagessar; Chapter 3 Dramatic Improvisation: A Jazz Inspired Approach to Undertaking Theology with the Marginalized, Anthony G. Reddie; Part II Authority, Dawn Llewellyn; Chapter 4 'Gendering the Spirit': Reading Women's Spiritualities with a Comparative Mirror, Ursula King; Chapter 5 Our Sacred Texts: Literature, Theology and Feminism, Heather Walton; Chapter 6 The Desire for Interactivity and the Emerging Texts of the Blogosphere, Katharine Sarah Moody; Part III Readers and Texts, Deborah F. Sawyer; Chapter 7 Spiritual Themes and Identities in Chicana Texts: The Virgin of Guadalupe as a Role Model for Womanhood, María Antonia Álvarez; Chapter 8 Bihishti Zewar : A Text for Respectable Women?, Raana Bokhari; Chapter 9 Forming Community in the Third Wave: Literary Texts and Women's Spiritualities, Dawn Llewellyn; Part IV Accessing the Spiritual, Deborah F. Sawyer; Chapter 10 Solomon's Narrative: Architecture, Text and the Sacred, Ozayr Saloojee; Chapter 11 Reading Texts, Watching Texts: Mythopoesis on Neopagan Websites, Maria Beatrice Bittarello; Chapter 12 Word and Image: Burgess, Zeffirelli, and Jesus the Man of Nazareth, Graham Holderness; Chapter 13 Do Not Hide Your Face From Me: The Sacred and Profane Body in Art and Modern Literature, David Jasper;

’There are a number of features that distinguish this volume from a great many recent (and less recent) works on theological hermeneutics in a postmodern context.... The editors’ introduction is to my mind an excellent stand-alone map of where postmodern theological interpretation is situated today, ... Reading Spiritualities forms a snapshot of contemporary thought on the concept of sacred texts. ...asserting the continued relevance of doing theology with a political edge, yet without staying boxed in a room of one's own.’Journal of Literature and Theology 'Reading Spiritualities is accessible to both scholars in the field of contemporary theology and culture and to others who are interested in what is becoming recognized as a dynamic and increasingly important area for research and study. ... It is a collection that succeeds in opening up new ways of thinking about sacred texts and, with the rise of fundamentalism, we are reminded of the need for a view of religious thought that is critical and open to other perspectives.' Christianity and Literature '... this is an exciting volume that reflects the growing interest in spirituality and the inter-textual relationships that can be opened up in many different places. It is widely accessible for the general reader whilst also being suitable for specialists in the fields of theology religious studies, cultural and literary studies.' Theological Book Review 'This vivacious collection examines the very terms it sets up to describe. ’Reading’ and ’Spirituality’ are de-shrouded and in this sense the book presents a tantalising array of potentials and possibilities for research in this wide arena.' Journal of Contemporary Religion