In Our Own Voices: Four Centuries of American Women's Religious Writing

American religious history here comes alive as we listen to women's voices drawn from basically diverse cultures--those from early colonial to late-20th century America. We call this kind of history ``documentary'' because it is assembled through primary source documents (diaries, letters, speeches, sermons, essays and books), but that dry label fails to convey the vitality of this collection and of these women who, speaking and writing from a variety of perspectives (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, African American, evangelical, social reform, utopian, communitarian, Native American, Islamic, Buddhist), share their extraordinary faith and its informing contribution to American religious history. This volume both condenses (including some of the same material) and extends (from 1960 to the mid-1990s) the three-volume documentary history, Women and Religion in America (Harper & Row 1981, 1983 and 1986) also edited by Reuther and Keller. Like the earlier work, this one is definitive in a scholarly sense; yet far beyond that, it is affirming. Demonstrating as it does the rich traditions of American women's spirituality, In Our Own Voices should be required reading. (Mar.)