Praying with Christ-Sophia
Services for Healing and Renewal
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
Jann Aldredge-Clanton offers a powerful and creative collection of prayer services to bring healing and renewal to both individuals and faith communities. The services focus on Christ-Sophia, a symbol drawn from Judeo-Christian scripture and tradition that embraces new possibilities for wholeness and shared responsibility. This symbol is built upon the foundation of the inclusive christology the author developed in her book In Search of Christ-Sophia and is intended to overcome dualisms and make equal connections between male and female.
These rituals and prayer services use the themes of justice, relationship, peace, and healing--among others--to address the concerns that contemporary Christian women and men encounter in their lives. The inclusive language and images seek to convert the Christian imagination to view God and others in a balanced, holistic perspective, one that benefits all peoples alike.
Over thirty-five original texts set to standard hymn tunes are featured. These graceful and enlivening songs offer participants an opportunity to express their spirituality and human needs through egalitarian words and sacred symbols sung to familiar melodies.
Liturgists, members of inclusive worship communities, Women-Church participants, and anyone concerned with an inclusive, liberating theology will find the services within this book of tremendous value.
Jann Aldredge-Clanton, PhD, is a Chaplain Coordinator at the Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas. Her previous works include 'In Whose Image? God and Gender'. She is married and the mother of two children.
"In her latest book, Praying with Christ-Sophia, Jann Aldredge-Clanton invites us all to stretch our spiritual imagination so that we can experience the sacred symbolism of Christ-Sophia through hymns and rituals. Designed for use in diverse communities of women, men, and children, the rituals are participatory, healing, and open to new experiences of faith. This original collection is an invitation to creative participation, a celebration of inclusive partnership."
--Letty M. Russell, Professor of Theology, Yale University Divinity School
"One of the creative religious movements of recent years is the rapid appearance of a Wisdom theology and spirituality. The understanding of Christ is being restored to its ancient roots in immanent divine Wisdom. Jann Aldredge-Clanton has provided us with helpful resources for living this Wisdom-Christ spirituality in liturgy and personal power."
--Rosemary Radford Reuther, Georgia Harkness Professor of Applied Theology, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary