Teresa of Ávila. Trusting yourself doesn't make you a heretic ; Sensuality, sexuality, and living as a person in a body -- Margery Kempe. All the best prophets were mentally ill ; How to become a virgin again -- Hildegard of Bingen. Spirituality demands environmental justice ; The world is burning: why make art? -- Julian of Norwich. The divine feminine isn't just permissible, it's necessary ; Wherein sin and hell lose a whole lot of power -- Thérèse of Lisieux. Subversive insignificance in a world hungry for fame ; Nursing the mother wound -- Catherine of Siena. Balancing action and contemplation ; Horror, gore, death, and the necessity of facing our shadows

"Is there a Christian spirituality that embraces the entire reality of womanhood? The answer, Shannon K. Evans suggests, is an emphatic yes. There is a spirituality that meets us in every part of our lives, developed by the women who came before us. Six mystics-Teresa of Ávila, Margery Kempe, Hildegard of Bingen, Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Siena, and Thérèse of Lisieux-revealed a faith big enough to hold the female experiences of sex and desire, the yearning for bodily autonomy, the challenges of motherhood and identity, as well as life with male authority and-sometimes-violence. These women, self-determining, stubborn, and unapologetically themselves, asked questions in their time that are startlingly prescient today, and fought for women's experiences to be heard, understood, respected, and recognized as holy. In The Mystics Would Like a Word, readers will discover the story of Christian faith and spirituality as told by these extraordinary and wise women, one that speaks directly to today's unique experiences, and leads to wholeness, healing, and spiritual vitality"--