Diana L. Hayes

African Women, Religion, and Health

Theology

“A significant and critically important work [which] clearly reveals why Oduyoye is seen as the mother of an African women's theology which is communal, ecumenical, culturally grounded, and encompasses both feminist and womanist thought while at the same time remaining authentically African.”

Anatomy of the World

Arts & Literature

“In Celia’s Meade’s Anatomy of the World, we are not spared the tragic ends or visceral complexities of domestic life. We move across the murky boundaries between family relationships and loss. We are offered a glimpse of the redemptive in all its forms. These are bold, muscular poems that do not shy away from the inner and underworlds of humanity. In this fine collection, we join Meade in her persistent excavation of love.”

Jesus of the Gospels

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“[This book] invites the reader into the world of Jesus and the disciples, encouraging him or her to experience with them the life of first-century Palestine. The opening chapters are especially significant in their presentation of the contextual foundation of Jesus the Jew, revealing his own formation and growth as a devout Jew in a period of turmoil for the Jewish people. I would find the book especially useful as an introductory text for introductory religion and Christology courses at the college level and for adult education programs. It provides new insights into Jesus and his ministry which are especially meaningful for today.”

Redeeming a Prison Society

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“Levad brings a much needed Christian, particularly Catholic, perspective to bear on the increasingly critical dialogue on criminal injustice in the United States, calling on us to actually care about those in prison. Using Catholic social justice teaching as a hermeneutical lens, she exposes the glaring inequities in America’s criminal justice systems, highlighting in particular, the glaring ‘discrepancies related to race and ethnicity among prison and jail populations’ as well as inequities based on socioeconomic status and gender. All of these factors have a multiplicative impact on racial and minority populations. What is innovative is her presentation of the liturgy and the sacraments as lived experiences that provide a viable and practical resource and model for her efforts to provide a new and radically different vision for prison reform, one grounded in the vision of justice in God’s reign as revealed in the sacraments of penance and the Eucharist. This work is a valuable addition to the growing discussion on criminal injustice and incarceration. It adds a much needed religious voice, one grounded in the understanding of the innate dignity of all of humanity as created in the image and likeness of God.”

Women Called to Catholic Priesthood

Women

“What better time for this carefully researched and profoundly inspiring work than now, with the hope-filled dawning of a new church that calls for and listens to the voices of its women, lay and religious, as equals in a synodal, not hierarchical, church. The authors reveal the love, concern, and spirituality of these women in their lives as priests, albeit illegally ordained. They have dedicated their lives to a church that still runs away from them. The women in this text were called by and responded to their call from--they argue--the same God who called all who came to serve God's people before them.”