Erin Lane - Talking Taboo: American Christian Women Get Frank About Faith

Advance Praise for Talking Taboo

A diverse range of voices rise together in a song of solidarity and sisterhood in Talking Taboo. Bold and beautifully written, these essays will make you giggle, weep, roll your eyes, cheer, balk, gasp, and whisper prayers of thanks. Each story gives the reader permission--permission to speak, permission to ask questions, permission to follow Jesus and serve the church without cramming into a mold. This book is a gift. I hope many will cherish it.

Rachel Held Evans, author of A Year of Biblical Womanhood

How did Christianitya faith founded on the reality of the Word become fleshget tied in knots and torn asunder over gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, and other features of the God-given fact we live embodied lives? Scholars argue over that question, but this much is clear: women have been the main victims of this heresy, to the immense loss of both church and world. In the clear and honest words of the women who talk taboo in this book, we hear voices of truth that can help Christians reclaim respect for flesh and come to feel more at home in their own skins. Talking Taboo is an important book, one that should be read and discussed in every church in the land.

Parker J. Palmer, author of Healing the Heart of Democracy, A Hidden Wholeness, and Let Your Life Speak

We in North America today are not in the business of trying to redefine gender equality as a legal or civil matter so much as we are attempting to re-define it as a psychological and religious matter. More than any other collection of essays that I have seen to date, Talking Taboo provides us lucid, articulateand at times even poignantfirsthand accounts of what it means to live within that struggle and as a player in its eventual resolution. Like a multi-faceted and multi-paned window, Talking Taboo looks out upon a shifting terrain and grants all of us, at least briefly, the impunity to consider it well.

Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence

When I look over my books and see how few women theologians/leaders are named in the footnotes compared to the men, Im sad and determined to do what I can to turn the tide toward balance. Thats one reason Im thrilled to read Talking Taboo. It introduces meand I hope you tooto many new leaders who deserve our attention and respect. Im grateful to Enuma Okoro, Erin Lane, and all the contributors. By presenting women leaders/theologians/writers/thinkers who are as smart as they are brave, Talking Taboo will help us redress an imbalance that has been in place for far too long (as my footnotes evidence) ... which is just one of many taboos that its time to talk about.

Brian McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christianity

This array of more than forty stories of Christian women in America is about sexism in church and society, sexism that takes a great variety of forms and has shaped and distorted womens lives in endless ways. Yet these women are all emerging from these distortions and discovering a God who loves them and a good self that loves oneself. The insightful stories in Talking Taboo bring us in many ways to that hopeful place.

Rosemary Radford Ruether, author of Sexism and God Talk

The word taboo in our time connotes dirt and sin. But in its original meaning, taboo also means sacred. Thats exactly what this wonderfully diverse collection points to: a sacred God, who knows and loves women regardless of whether they fit the longstanding molds of Christian womanhood. For any woman who seeks to follow Jesus, yet who finds herself beyond the confines of that mold, these stories are a breath of fresh air.

Katelyn Beaty, managing editor, Christianity Today magazine

Talking Taboo weaves spiritual hunger into the power of the female body. Here is a kinship of those questioning the old scripts. Prepare to discover enough courageous questions to help you unhook (unlace, or even rip) the corsets holding you back.

Jonalyn Fincher, vice-president of Soulation, author of Ruby Slippers: How the Soul of a Woman Brings Her Home

Talking Taboo is a groundbreaking book. This chorus of bold female voices is presenting the church with an opportunity to engage real but all too frequently avoided or unseen issues impacting countless Christian women today. Their candid essays cover a wide spectrum of perspectives. Readers will resonate with some and be shocked by others. Talking Taboo took courage to write. Reading taboo takes courage too. So buckle up and brace yourself for an eye-opening but vitally important read!

Carolyn Custis James, author of Half the Church: Recapturing Gods Global Vision for Women, www.whitbyforum.com

The women in Talking Taboo break rules that never should have existed in the first place and claim places in traditions that belonged to them all along. Silencea refusal to talk about bodies and sex and oppression and violencehas driven too many people out of churches. The raised voices in Talking Taboo break this silence, speaking up and speaking out for a more just world. This book will remind all faithful boundary breakers that they are not alone.

Sarah Sentilles, author of Breaking Up with God and A Church of Her Own

In Talking Taboo, a cohort of bright and passionate women share deeply personal stories about life, God, and religion. I cant help but wonder how their insights would have inspired and altered the course of many women Ive worked with in churches over the past 45 years. I will be encouraging many young women and a few older men (like me) to read these stories.

Jim Henderson, co-author of The Resignation of Eve

For far too long the voices of women have been marginalized in the church and larger society. As a result weve been missing out on the wisdom of the sacred feminine as a guide to helping us live into the wholeness of the kingdom of God. Talking Taboo is a confident and constructive conversation led by courageous women about the messy details of navigating life with God in the 21st century. This book is important, refreshing, sassy, and sincere and I look forward to sharing its honest and hopeful message with my own daughter.

Mark Scandrette, author of Free, Soul Graffiti, and Practicing the Way of Jesus

Spiritual wisdom comes in many forms. This diverse collection of fresh voices includes smart reflections on masturbation (Kate Ott), tattoos (Robyn Henderson-Espinoza), contraception (Katey Zeh), community (Alena Amato Ruggerio), and ordination (Gina Messina-Dysert) to mention just a few of my favorites. Christianity, indeed religion at large, will never be the same. Blessed be!

Mary E. Hunt, co-founder and co-director of Womens Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual (WATER) and co-editor of New Feminist Christianity: Many Voices, Many Views

These pages record the voices of women who speak for themselves. Their words dont need my endorsement. But they deserve my thanks, for the good news they proclaim isnt just for women whove been silenced but also for men like me who have too often gotten the story twisted because weve only heard one side.

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, author of Strangers at My Door

This anthology breaks through the cacophony of 24/7 news pundits and self-help gurus all using faith for their own rhetorical purposes and rings so, utterly true. Real women. Real stories. Real relationships with God and faith and all the complexity therein. What a gift.

Courtney E. Martin, author of Do it Anyway: The New Generation of Activists