Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women

This groundbreaking anthology presents the spiritual life of women throughout history as recorded in their poems, prayers, and songs. Beginning with the hymns of the world's earliest identified author (a Sumerian moon priestess) and continuing to the first half of the twentieth century, it draws from the major religious traditions of East and West as well as from several indigenous cultures. Among the seventy women included are mystics and healers, spiritual teachers and mothers, saints and rebels, freed slaves and queens, each of whom forged a unique way to an authentic voice and genuine spiritual awakening. Their words and stories and the editor's insightful commentaries illuminate fundamental themes of spiritual life that resonate across time, culture, and gender, as well as issues particular to women in their quest for a viable spiritual path. This collection of luminous and inspiring poems (many in new translations) will be for readers both female and male a rich and enduring sourcebook of spiritual life.