“I was once, decades ago, in a conversation with Jann Aldredge-Clanton in which she was pulling a tiny bit farther to the left than I was really sure I wanted to go. I respected Jann, agreed with her most of the time, and tried to do my best to support her efforts to teach people about the power of language—and I certainly didn’t want to be one of her detractors. My dilemma must have shown in my face, because her son Brett leaned over and said, in an understanding voice, “Just smile and nod, Katie; just smile and nod.”
This sentence somehow speaks to what Jann was and is about during all these years. “I have a truth,” she seems to be saying, “I have a truth,” in that gentle, cultured voice.” “And I won’t stop until everyone has heard it.”
In her autobiography, Breaking Free: The Story of a Feminist Baptist Minister, the Dallas, Texas minister relates the story of her awakening and her subsequent journey as a leader in the Christian feminist movement. Those who know that her formal education was originally in English literature won’t be surprised that the book reads with the page-turning intensity of a novel.
Feminist Baptist ministers are still somewhat few and far between in the U.S. South. Jann was one of the first. Beginning her pilgrimage into true Christian feminism in the 1970s, Jann has run into a variety of roadblocks. But she has never backed down from a stance, and she has never looked back. She is one of the few who have embraced feminism without abandoning their Baptist identity.
Breaking Free is a fascinating study of a woman who never gave in when she felt strongly that personal freedoms were being compromised. Jann almost lost her job as a professor at a Baptist university because she refused to sign a fundamentalist statement of beliefs. While living in Waco, Texas, she was labeled “Waco’s Give ‘Em Hell Minister” for her outspoken opinions and action on social issues, and often she has been called a heretic (or worse) for referring to God as “She” and “Mother,” and for daring to utter the words “Christ-Sophia” in public.
Jann starts with a somewhat typical story for a girl growing up in Louisiana. As a pre-teen she almost starved herself trying to fit into the culture’s feminine mold. In high school, even though she graduated at the top of her class, she felt inadequate because she never won a beauty crown.
Through theological education, however, she began to awaken to new ideas about women—women’s worth in the eyes of God, women’s roles in the Church. In the book she reveals how her awareness of gender issues began to develop:
In Systematic Theology class. . . as I studied complex doctrines of the Trinity established by church councils during the first five centuries of Christian history, I slowly realized that all our language for deity is metaphorical. I understood that those early church councils formulated the Trinity in an attempt to articulate the richness and fullness of the divinity they had experienced. The question came to me, “If God can include three persons, can’t God include two genders?” ... It came as a personal revelation of great power and freedom.
What followed in her quest to share this awareness was adversity, dissension, and ridicule. Nevertheless, her genteel Southern voice has continued to quietly speak of God as feminine and of women as fully-qualified ministers—and rocking the Baptist world with every word.
She has organized innovative liturgical groups around themes of inclusivity—groups that end up being moved around within and among churches for dubious reasons. She has written hundreds of justice-oriented, gender-inclusive hymns, adapting them to familiar hymn tunes. Her books In Whose Image? God and Gender and In Search of the Christ-Sophia have been both embraced and vilified.
With support and encouragement from her husband and sons (her son Chad talked her into writing this book), as well as her mother, who has answered the call to ministry herself, Jann has opened new doors for women who seek equality without sacrificing their religious beliefs. Breaking Free is a remarkable memoir that shows the liberating power of faith combined with feminism.”
“I’ve had a book on my desk for months now. And almost everyone who stops by for a chat reacts to it in some way.
Some laugh. Some look perplexed. Some ask, “Is that for real?”
The book features a woman on the cover, standing in front of a stained-glass window. The title: Breaking Free: The Story of a Feminist Baptist Minister.
And yes, the Rev. Jann Aldredge-Clanton, Ph.D., is for real. Yes, she’s a real minister and a real Baptist—licensed, ordained, seminary trained, deep-water dunked and everything.
Dr. Aldredge-Clanton is a chaplain at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. Her recently published book has been on my desk because I kept intending to pay her a visit. She does break a lot of stereotypes we hold firmly.
I finally called her after a comment the other day from Dr. Paige Patterson, the new president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.
In his first news conference, Dr. Patterson was asked if he would consider hiring women to teach theology. “No,” Dr. Patterson replied, the Bible is “crystal clear that pastors are to be men.”
Ironically, Dr. Aldredge-Clanton sat in theology classes at that very same seminary and came to the crystal-clear conclusion that God calls all sorts of people to ministry.
“We are called by grace, not by gender,” she said. “How can we say to our daughters and our sons that over half the people don’t have the opportunity to respond to God’s calls for ministry or to use their gifts, no matter what they are.”
I won’t attempt a biblical exegesis here. In brief, opponents will cite verses such as the one from 1 Timothy: “I permit no woman to teach or have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.”
Dr. Aldredge-Clanton, on the other hand, said her studies convinced her that such writings were cultural and specific to that time. She believes the Bible’s timeless teaching is found in verses such as this from Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Dr. Aldredge-Clanton’s Baptist roots run deep. Her father, grandfather and great-grandfather were all Baptist ministers. And if there’s a streak of a crusader beneath her gracious Southern charm, she comes by it naturally. Her father, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Minden, La., was an early advocate of racial equality. “I’ve got a background of freedom fighters,” she said.
Her definition of “feminist” is pretty simple. “It all goes back to Genesis 1:27—that male and female were created equally in the image of God,” she said. “If we’re all created in the image of God, we have equal worth and creativity.”
Though she has served as a church pastor in the past (in a Methodist church), she feels no call to the pulpit at the moment. She likes the intensely personal ministry of hospital chaplaincy.
And she likes pushing for change on a larger scale through writing. In earlier books, she challenged Christians to expand their concepts of God by using feminine as well as masculine references.
“Everyone will agree that God is spirit. And everyone will agree that God is not literally male,” she said. But when she invites folks to start a prayer “Our Mother,” bottoms start to squirm in the pews.
“God is so much more than we can ever name or imagine,” she said. “We put so many limits on God in our churches and in our culture. Putting those limits on God puts limits on human beings, too.”
And thus the title of her book—Breaking Free.
“It means breaking free to be all I’m created to be in the image of God,” she said. “It means breaking free of the cultural taboos that limit women and their gifts.” “And this is not just about women,” she said. “This is about everyone’s breaking free of cultural traditions that keep us from using all the gifts God has given us.”
“When I received a delivery of several books for review, I quickly put Breaking Free: The Story of a Feminist Baptist Minister aside, looking for another which might be more to my liking.
I am, after all, a United Methodist minister—not a Baptist. Furthermore, exposure to feminist theology in seminary, while raising my consciousness a bit, did not lead me to become an avid member of the feminist movement, either theologically or socially. Nevertheless, by the process of elimination and (who knows?) some divine intervention, I found myself reading and, on several levels of my inner being, relating to this poignant memoir of a woman’s call to ministry.
Jann Aldredge-Clanton can be viewed as a heroine whose goals set her on a rough road filled with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, she meets each challenge with optimism, creativity and a genuine desire to bring out the best in all the varieties of people whom she meets along the way. Even her enemies are treated with respect and kindness. Also like Dorothy, Ms. Aldredge-Clanton expresses herself in music: in her case, with hymns which affirm the role of women in the church.
This woman’s journey parallels the evolution of the feminist movement in Christianity. It begins in a traditional setting solidly infused with discouraging subliminal messages about the proper “place” of women in the church—a “place” which didn’t include becoming a pastor. The manifestations of those messages have caused deep pain for women for centuries in the Christian church.
However, as you read the author’s story, you’ll be impressed with a revealing sense of balance as she encounters supporters and mentors at each crucial step of her adventure. Even her husband, who didn’t fully understand every part of her struggle, encouraged her. He behaved much like her father, who would often say with great pride, “I’m busting my buttons!” when Jann accomplished a difficult task.
She also found strength in other women, whose presence and writings motivated, inspired and affirmed her on her path to peace and fulfillment of her call. Like the feminist movement itself, the author’s experiences are an exciting mix of great highs and deep caverns of creativity, success, failure, controversy and all of the elements of positive progression toward greater inclusiveness in resistant settings. Her indomitable spirit is inspiring, to say the least! For me, this book was a primer on the rationale for the feminist theological movement in the church. Amidst all the shouting on both sides of this issue, I had never before taken the time to seek the truth about its principles and its proponents.
Using her own experiences as stepping stones, the author seeks to educate her readers as to the history, basic tenets and goals of this movement. She tackles such intensely debated subjects as the ordination of women and the use of feminist language and images in worship—and even addresses herself to some of the smaller issues like the hyphenation of a woman’s last name. In the face of much controversy, she seeks to find resolution and peace between the “warring” factions.”
“In Breaking Free: The Story of a Feminist Baptist Minister, Jann Aldredge-Clanton shares her journey of becoming an ordained Southern Baptist minister and feminist theologian. She tells her story in an honest, conversational style and weaves inclusive hymns and thought-provoking quotes into the text. She does an excellent job of explaining different situations; you do not have to be a Baptist to understand this book. As I read, I was struck by the concrete details she described, details which give the reader an authentic sense of her personal experience. I was reminded of a discussion of the gospel of Mark during seminary when our professor pointed out that eye-witnesses include such specific details. In Breaking Free, we are able to read the eye-witness account of one who has overcome powerful barriers of culture and religious tradition in order to be faithful to her call. Jann Aldredge-Clanton, through her writing and her deep commitment to justice, lived out day-to-day in her ministry, has helped prepare the way for the next generation.
Various people and forces molded Aldredge-Clanton’s character. Her father was a Baptist pastor who loved her deeply, who supported her proudly, and who died too young from cancer. Aldredge-Clanton’s mother is a gifted preacher who has spent her life doing pastoral work with no institutional title or validation other than “pastor’s wife.” Aldredge-Clanton’s brilliant sister has encouraged and challenged her. Growing up in Louisiana, her life was shaped by the predominant cultural attitudes toward women and people of color, but Aldredge-Clanton did not accept the status quo. Her commitment to social justice led her to become a feminist. Her intelligence, education, hard work, and passion birthed several important books on issues such as inclusive language and feminine imagery in worship, Christology, and pastoral care. Her commitment to the Baptist ideals of religious liberty and soul freedom, as well as her sincere desire to be an agent of positive change, keep her from leaving the Baptist denomination. She is one of our prophets.
I can relate to certain aspects of Aldredge-Clanton’s journey. I share her frustration at being labeled a “male-basher” and her fervent statement that three of the people she loves most in the world are men—her husband and two sons. She does not denounce men, but rather seeks to change the social paradigm which limits both women and men. I also understand, sadly, the “Superwoman-is-betrayed” dynamic in which women seminary students excel at their studies and in ministry practice, all the while working one or more jobs and being wives and mothers, only to find upon graduation that they cannot find jobs, that even men with questionable ethics and below-average grades find positions more easily than their female peers. Furthermore, I know what it is like to be unable to feel at home in a worship service because the imagery and language are exclusively masculine, regardless of the feminine imagery and inclusive language that have always been available in Scripture. Sometimes you just stop singing; it is too painful. Finally, I deeply appreciate Aldredge-Clanton’s honesty in presenting her struggle, self-doubt, and learning experiences alongside her hopes, dreams and victories. That kind of honesty is merciful; it gives permission for others to be real and therefore move toward wholeness. Aldredge-Clanton continues her father’s legacy of leading others to freedom through the truth.”
"Beginning with the questions of biblical inspiration, translation, and interpretation, Clanton suggests that one can maintain the divine inspiration of the Scriptures and still be bound to raise the question of the adequacy of male images for God. She traces the development of God-language from the early church to modern times, to outline how the language of Christian prayer came to be dominated by patriarchal images. Clanton addresses the questions of the impact of God-language on women's self-esteem, women's and men's spirituality, and the future of the church. An excellent discussion of a topic of vital interest to the churches today. Highly recommended."
"In a style well-suited for church discussion groups, Jann Aldredge Clanton affirms "the unlimited God" of Scripture, explores the interaction of God-language and self-esteem, and proposes various models for change."
“In Whose Image? God and Gender exposes the persistent sin of idolatry in limiting God to male and masculine language; Aldredge-Clanton challenges faith to recover female and feminine speech in order to understand the God beyond male and female. In developing this thesis, Aldredge-Clanton has amassed an impressive array of documentation, beginning with Scripture, continuing through church history, and concluding with contemporary experiences of Christian people. An irenic spirit, clear writing, and passionate conviction unite to make this book accessible and instructive for all who have eyes to see and ears to hear.”
“God is at work mending the relationship between male and female that was torn asunder in the Garden. Exploring the feminine face of God and calling God ‘Mother’ are not mere theological word games but are crucial parts of the Spirit’s movement at this very time. Aldredge-Clanton takes us into the stream of these issues with accuracy and elegance. I underlined something on nearly every page of In Whose Image? God and Gender.”
"Jann Aldredge-Clanton has written a ground-breaking book that integrates Sophia, the female personification of God, into all aspects of Christian theology and life. She shows us that the Sophia understanding of God's presence in creation, revelation, and redemption underlay the original Christian understanding both of God's presence in creation and history as a whole and in Christ as the particular exemplar of this presence of God. A Sophia or Wisdom Christology reclaims the inclusivity of God and Christ in women and men and also in all creation. Sophia Christology also moves toward a transforming spirituality and understanding of the church's ministry and mission. Aldredge-Clanton concludes her book with helpful resources for worship across the church year read through the new eyes of Wisdom Christology. This is a 'must' book for all concerned with an inclusive and liberating theology and church."
"Ideal as a resource for group discussion and worship, the book has three parts. Part One provides a well-condensed summary of feminist theology's reclamation of the feminine face of God --Sophia or Hokmah-- as a scripturally valid reference for Christ. Part Two suggests how Christ-Sophia can be revealed within life. Part Three offers a wide range of devotional pieces for different occasions that read well and celebrate the call for racial and gender inclusiveness, based on the belief that such inclusiveness is what Christ-Sophia's liberating presence dispenses."
In recent years the biblical image of Sophia has elicited increasing interest from biblical scholars. Jann Aldredge-Clanton, a Baptist minister and theologian, goes In Search of the Christ Sophia to discover what she calls "an inclusive christology for liberating Christians." Aldredge-Clanton offers a strong argument for the coherence between the feminine image of Wisdom in the Hebrew Scriptures and the person of Christ in the New Testament. She then explores the implications of the image of the resurrected Christ-Sophia for spirituality, social justice, and especially for a truly inclusive, egalitarian model of Christian community. She supplements her theological argument with resources for communal worship built around the image of Christ-Sophia.
“In Search of the Christ-Sophia” by Jann Aldredge-Clanton introduces “An Inclusive Christology for Liberating Christians.” Theologian, ordained Baptist minister and author, Dr. Aldredge-Clanton presents Christ-Sophia as a new model for Christian community.
Though many readers may be familiar with the Old Testament image of God as Wisdom, translated to Sophia in Greek, the author’s thesis reclaims the inclusivity of God and Christ in women and men—and also in all creation.
“A liberating christology,” she writes, “must move on from the saving truths discovered in the life of Jesus to a search for the risen Christ alive and active in the world today.”
Questions for reflection and discussion are included at the end of each chapter, providing an opportunity for study groups to dialogue on the topic that too often produces conflict and stereotypical reactions. The final chapter offers more than a dozen services, prayers, litanies, reflections and songs that can be used for personal prayer or communal worship.
While inclusive language may not be every reader’s favorite topic, this well-written, well-researched discussion can help develop deeper understanding of the issue and encourage further dialogue among concerned Christians both within and outside the community.”
“For many Christians an exclusively male Christ is a barrier to the use of inclusive language in worship. For feminists, an exclusively male Christ forms a block to the Christian faith in general. Through In Search of the Christ-Sophia, theologian Jann Aldredge-Clanton presents an inclusive Christology that has the possibility of speaking to people of both views.
Christ-Sophia reveals the feminine face of God so long covered under layers of patriarchal theology. Christ-Sophia goes beyond the theology that would use the image of the goddess, which offers only the same one gender perspective as the traditional male image of God. Christ-Sophia focuses on the resurrection of a holistic divine image that can provide the basis for an inclusive faith community. Christ-Sophia represents the integration of feminine and masculine, of black and white, human and divine. This image bridges the gap between Creator and creation. Jesus is a primary symbol of the connection between heaven and earth, and the biblical image of Sophia also connects the created to the Creator. The image of Christ-Sophia affirms women, men, and creation in extraordinary new ways, allowing them to claim their own creative power and take a prophetic role in righting wrongs in the world. The image of Christ-Sophia opens eyes to new possibilities for our spirituality.”
“In the introduction to In Search of the Christ-Sophia, Jann Aldredge-Clanton states that the future of Christianity depends upon a Christology that includes female, male and all creation in new and empowering ways. She goes on to develop an inclusive metaphor for Christ, that of Christ-Sophia. Through historical reconstruction, supported biblically, Aldredge-Clanton draws clear parallels between Sophia (Wisdom) and the saving, liberating work of the risen Christ. Her theology of the resurrected Christ-Sophia is a challenge to people of faith, individually or in communities, to “risk walking into the unknown in order to make new discoveries.”
In Part 1 of the book, Aldredge-Clanton develops a theology of the resurrected Christ-Sophia. She begins by presenting a historical understanding of Sophia, and then continues by explaining how bringing together the images of Christ and Sophia holds the power to expand and liberate the message of Christianity. She explores Jesus’ ministry through the lens of Wisdom, using Scripture and tradition to support her thesis that Jesus embodied Christ-Sophia in ways that led to liberation and justice.
Part 2 is devoted to claiming the power of the resurrected Christ-Sophia. In this section Aldredge-Clanton looks at practical ways to free the Christ-Sophia within each person and to live out the freedom found in Christ-Sophia within the faith community. She focuses on developing a Christ-Sophia spirituality, a ministry of social justice and a church which transforms individuals and communities through the exercise of diverse gifts and the practice of radical equality.
The worship resources in Part 3 demonstrate how to integrate Christ-Sophia into the liturgical year. The second chapter in this unit provides litanies and prayers which may serve as models for inclusive communities desiring to incorporate Christ-Sophia into services of worship or other special occasions.
Aldredge-Clanton, an ordained Baptist minister, has written a concise, easy-to-read book that is accessible both to the lay reader and the student of theology. The discussion questions at the end of each chapter make it a good resource for small discussion groups. Individuals and churches looking for ways to bring fresh insights and images into their faith experience would benefit greatly from reading this book. I found it to be both educational and spiritually uplifting—a refreshing demonstration of how the Spirit of God is at work in the world today, calling people of faith to new images and understandings that bring God to life in ways that are meaningful to people caught up in the complexities and challenges of the twenty-first century.”
"Try singing these words to the tune of Adeste Fideles: O come, Christ-Sophia, full of grace and wisdom; Come bless us, come challenge us to make life anew. Come bring us power, beauty, hope, and harmony. O come, thou Christ-Sophia, O come, thou Christ-Sophia, O come, thou Christ-Sophia, wisdom and peace." Jann Aldredge-Clanton has written 36 original texts about Christ-Sophia which are intended to be sung to traditional church songs. They are part of this uplifting collection of rituals which use inclusive language on themes of justice, peace, and healing. The image of Christ-Sophia is the thread that brings to life all of the 21 ritual celebrations and 36 pieces of music. There are rituals for wise aging, mourning loss, a newborn baby, diversity, All Saints' Day, Advent and Christmas, winter solstice, and many more. A great book for small groups, liturgists, and prayer leaders everywhere. Jann is a Baptist minister, co-founder and pastor of an inclusive worship comunity in Texas."
"Praying with Christ-Sophia is marvelous; it is inviting, inclusive tender, and transformative. A welcome gift for all who long to give expression through ritual, symbol, and song to what lies deep within. A wonderful book! Courageous and creative!"
“At the beginning of this impressive collection of litanies, prayers and hymns, Jann Aldredge-Clanton states that the book “comes to you as an invitation to join the creative adventure of developing egalitarian sacred symbols and rituals that bring healing and power.” We who confess Jesus Christ are not all comfortable with a Christology that readily and unselfconsciously uses the term Christ-Sophia. To put forth, as this author does, a liturgy and hymnody using Christ-Sophia is to make a courageous statement that many members of mainline denominations would call unacceptable or even heretical.
Yet to read this book as a statement from the feminist “fringe” would be to do violence to its deep and profound beauty. This is a book worth owning, reading and using. It is an invitation to join a creative adventure of reshaping what “is” into what is “becoming.”
A refreshing drink of water, this book does not argue a point of view. It is a gift of thought and poetry, of idea and metaphor, of cadence and song, offered to give words to some of life’s most poignant, difficult and joyful moments.
Praying with Christ-Sophia: Services for Healing and Renewal provides over 20 services in detail for Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter and Pentecost, as well as for occasions of healing, peacemaking, birth of a baby, wise aging, mourning a loss, and nurturing creativity. The services are followed by 36 hymns set to familiar tunes consonant with the liturgies.”
“God, A Word for Girls and Boys is just what we need in our congregations and classrooms—a truly inclusive collection of resources for children. This creative collection offers some hope that the next generation will grow up convinced that God is a God for girls as well as boys and will act accordingly.”
“God, A Word for Girls and Boys is a terrific collection of inclusive language resources and a powerful tool that needs to be in every minister’s tool box! Jann Aldredge-Clanton has made an excellent contribution to Christian worship and education.”
“What an exciting collection! I can’t wait to order copies for all of our children’s workers. We have waited far too long for the kind of balanced recognition of the feminine face of God reflected in this book.”
“Although there have been a number of recent hymns exploring new images for God, such texts have usually been geared for adults, while hymns and anthems for children have continued to use a more limited stock of titles and metaphors mistakenly regarded as an appropriate expression of tradition.
In this fresh and creative musical, author and composer make available a more comprehensive range of biblical images, celebrating both God and humanity in language that has been too long neglected. In doing so, they have helped to prepare the children who perform it and the audiences who attend it for greater appreciation and understanding of the images they will encounter in much new hymnody. In fact, several of the pieces in the musical could well be used as anthems interspersed in a hymn festival exploring the images of God being recovered and developed in recent hymns.
Imagine God! will open minds and hearts to a new appreciation of imagination as an essential element of sung faith.”
“Jann Aldredge-Clanton and Larry Schultz perceptively understand that transforming the church’s language for God can profitably begin with children, whose imaginations are less bound to traditional images. Exploring the breadth of biblical metaphors, this winsome musical offers a fresh vision of the Triune God who reveals self in all of creation, especially through human creatures who share the divine imagination.
The composers know that naming the divine is fraught with challenges, yet necessary in order to know and love the God who delights in creaturely imaging. Most profound is the way the musical invites all to participate in the life of God as it is expressed in such earthly effects as breath, light, and friendship.”
“At last, a musical that assumes children are more than cute and entertaining. Imagine God! encourages children to find both their theological and musical voice. Each melody enhances the simple, straightforward text without resorting to cliché. The vocal ranges bring out the authenticity of the children’s voices. The varied musical styles and accompanying instruments add colorful variety. The part writing is logical and attainable. Woven together, these elements form a wonderful blend of biblical truth and musical artistry.”
“Imagine God! is a brilliant musical that will nurture a vibrant Christian faith in older children. Its creative use of metaphor invites children to explore concrete images of God and opens their imagination to infinite possibilities for naming and knowing God. Through these metaphors abstract ideas about God become more accessible and memorable.
Likewise, children experience different images for God through their multiple intelligences. This musical not only appeals to children’s musical intelligence, but also includes spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic, logical-mathematical and interpersonal intelligences.
Imagine God! is a valuable resource for Christian educators who nurture children’s faith in VBS and church camp settings.”
“Counseling People with Cancer, by Jann Aldredge-Clanton, defies the assumption that a cancer diagnosis is a death sentence. Although some cancers resist cure, Aldredge-Clanton demonstrates how pastoral caregivers can facilitate life-affirming personal and spiritual growth in the midst of disease—and even against overwhelming odds. With a strong foundation in psychodynamic principle, her approach is refreshingly non-clinical as she relies on the use of “sacred stories” as the frame for her interventions and guidance. She suggests that a caregiver can act as “Divine midwife,” aiding patients to give birth to new and imaginative stories which seek to integrate personal experience and the biblical story, giving hope and spiritual sustenance on the journey of coming to terms with cancer. She unapologetically asserts that some folks “seem to be better off if they believe that they can do something to keep the cancer from coming back, even if this belief is not confirmed. . . even illusions of control can be essential for coping.” Hope is more life-giving than almost anything else.
Chapter by chapter, this compact, easy-to-read book covers a wide range of issues and concerns faced by someone with cancer, including the difficult feelings of rage, powerlessness, despair, the ways families and communities might respond, the process of decision-making about treatment, and the agonizing questions of where God is and how life can be lived when the reality of limited time is acute. Anecdotal and verbatim case material demonstrates how a caregiver might help another navigate the theological and spiritual territory that has become arid into richer, more nourishing fields of living relationship with the Divine. For example, when people hold an image of God as punishing, the author may suggest an image of God as Wisdom, caring Mother, or Living Water, as an alternate route to spiritual and psychic healing. Openness to new pictures of the Divine and the self is central, as it ought to be in any pastoral counseling work.”