The Mystics Would Like a Word

Book excerpt: Discover a rich legacy of audacious women who forged a spirituality that is more inclusive, surprising, and empowering than we ever imagined. “The feminist reading of women mystics I’ve wanted for ages . . . invites us into the hopeful possibility for communal healing that we desperately need right now.”—Sarah Bessey, bestselling author of Field Notes for the Wilderness and Jesus Feminist Is there a Christian spirituality that embraces the entire reality of womanhood? The answer, Shannon K. Evans suggests, is an emphatic yes. There is a spirituality that meets us in every part of our lives, developed by the women who came before us. Six mystics—Teresa of Ávila, Margery Kempe, Hildegard of Bingen, Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Siena, and Thérèse of Lisieux—revealed a faith big enough to hold the female experiences of sex and desire, the yearning for bodily autonomy, the challenges of motherhood and identity, as well as life with male authority and—sometimes—violence. These women, self-determining, stubborn, and unapologetically themselves, asked questions in their time that are startlingly prescient today, and fought for women’s experiences to be heard, understood, respected, and recognized as holy. In The Mystics Would Like a Word, readers will discover the story of Christian faith and spirituality as told by these extraordinary and wise women, one that speaks directly to today’s unique experiences, and leads to wholeness, healing, and spiritual vitality.