Congratulations to my friend the Reverend Dr. Jann Aldredge-Clanton on her new book, She Lives: Sophia Wisdom Works in the World.
The book is an exciting new book where Aldredge-Clanton features 40 theologians and ministers who work and write on Sophia. Some of the featured writers are Mary E. Hunt, Monica A. Coleman, Chung Hyung Kyung, Gail Anderson Ricciuti, Mary Ann Beavis, Virginia Ramey Mollenkott and myself.
I am so honored to be included in her book. Her chapter on my work is called, “Rev. Dr. Grace Ji-Sun Kim: Healing Racism, Sexism, Classism Through Sophia Christology”. This chapter is based on my first book, The Grace of Sophia: A Korean North American Women’s Christology
Please read her new book!
Amazon’s description of the book:
Meet the ministers and laypeople driving foundational Christian theological change and restoring awareness of the sacred value of women and girls.
“The Bible teaches that we are made in the image and likeness of God; therefore, I must believe that there is a male and female expression of God…. Claim your divinity and walk in it every day, because you are fearfully and wonderfully made.”
—Rev. Dr. Susan Newman, “Claiming Our Divinity”
In a world filled with injustice and violence, we long for a new sacred symbolism to inspire transformation. Our yearning includes a widespread hunger for visions of the Female Divine in church life and worship to restore gender balance and finally achieve just, equal and inclusive faith communities.
This collection of engrossing narratives of women and men trying to change the institutional church—and society—illuminates how reclaiming multicultural female images of God extends beyond the sanctuary and into the community. Whether you’re searching for your own place in the church or you want to explore this growing movement, these fascinating pioneers invite you to join the adventure of creating rituals that include Her, affirming the sacred value of all people and all creation.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“She Lives! establishes Jann Aldredge-Clanton as the leading voice standing at the crossroads of feminist emancipatory theologies today…. A tour de force of engagement with the politics and imagination of theological liberation and faith expression…. Readers of this book will never be able to speak or think of deity and world in the same ways ever again.”
—Stephen V. Sprinkle, PhD, professor of practical theology and director of field education and supervised ministry, Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University
“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.”
—Miriam Therese Winter, PhD, professor and director, Women’s Leadership Institute, Hartford Seminary
“Inspiring…. Draws on a rich diversity of voices to show that female images of God are essential to gender equality and social justice.”
—Rosemary Radford Ruether, PhD, Claremont School of Theology, Claremont, California
“Challenges [us] 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…. Bring[s] hope and healing to those who have felt excluded for far too long.”
—Dr. Deborah Sokolove, director, Henry Luce III Center for the Arts and Religion, Wesley Theological Seminary; coauthor, Calling on God: Inclusive Christian Prayers for Three Years of Sundays
“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.”
—Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author, Embracing the Divine Feminine: Finding God through the Ecstasy of Physical Love—The Song of Songs Annotated & Explained
“Helps us realize that it is not lone feminists who have found Her! Plenty of so-called ‘mainline’ religions include congregations and groups that take seriously inclusive worship, and that require a full array of ways to understand Godde. Brava!”
—Dr. Carolyn Stahl Bohler, author, God the What? What Our Metaphors for God Reveal about Our Beliefs in God and God Is Like a Mother Hen and Much, Much More
“An impressively diverse and accomplished community of church leaders…. Not merely a feminist rally cry, it 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.”
—Kathe Schaaf, coeditor, Women, Spirituality and Transformative Leadership: Where Grace Meets Power
About the Author
Rev. Jann Aldredge-Clanton, PhD, an innovative feminist theologian and popular teacher, leads workshops and conferences throughout the United States on expanding images of the Divine and helping people deepen their spiritual experience and contribute to justice and peace. She is an award-winning author of nine books about religion and ministry, two hymn books, and a children’s musical. Ordained in the Alliance of Baptists, she ministers in ecumenical and interfaith settings. She cochairs the national ecumenical, multicultural Equity for Women in the Church Community.
Here is a review of this book.
[read also: Changing Church]
Grace Ji-Sun Kim 
I have always believed that God was so complex that in order to be expressed in human form, it took both female and male to achieve a reasonable earthly image. Just as God is one being, there is no understanding of God’s human self-expression without both perspectives working in harmony with each other.
This book sounds like a must-read!
Thank you for your comment and for spreading the truth that you’ve known about the necessity of both female and male to express the divine image. I appreciate your wonderful endorsement of “She Lives! Sophia Wisdom Works in the World.”