Mothers of Faith

By: Wilfred M. Sumani

$28.00

Overview

CATHOLIC PRESS ASSOCIATION BOOK AWARD! - GENDER STUDIES, FIRST PLACE

"Sumani trawls through Christian tradition, scripture, and history, and wields the power of African cultural narrative, to deliver an exquisite, masterful, and captivating theological exploration of motherhood. Mothers of Faith is rich in wisdom and insight to challenge and stretch our notions of motherhood and to retrieve and reconstruct our faith in the creative motherhood of God in whose image we are fashioned." --Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, SJ, President, Conference of Major Superiors of Africa and Madagascar

"An excellent book…. a must read for personal devotions, retreat directors, theological students and scholars and anyone interested in understanding how women embody a spirituality of hope and resistance in their faith experience. Sumani has succeeded in responding to Pope Francis' call to theologians to develop a theology of the woman." --Philomena Njeri Mwaura, Kenyatta University

"In this unique treasure of a book, Wilfred M. Sumani, SJ encounters a Christian 'mother of faith' in each chapter. ... Mothers of Faith: Motherhood in the Christian Tradition is a welcome addition to the slowly growing body of work on motherhood in Christianity and will serve anyone who wishes to further contemplate how this universal human experience is lived, expressed, and understood in Christianity." --Reading Religion

A Malawi-born Jesuit priest, Sumani approaches a broad definition of motherhood in the Christian faith tradition. Through both his own personal context as well as scholarly exegesis he focuses on many mother figures throughout the long narrative of Christianity including Mary, Elizabeth, Saints Felicitas and Perpetua, and even contemporary figures like Dorothy Day and Mother Teresa. Sumani stresses that through the insights culled from the experiences of motherhood, one can deepen one’s understanding of the workings of God in the world.

In the words of Margaret Hebblethwaite, the purpose of the book is to find “God in motherhood” and “motherhood in God.” Useful for scholars, Mothers of Faith is also a valuable resource for prayer and devotional reflection on these models of Christian motherhood.

Wilfred M. Sumani, SJ, holds a doctorate in sacred liturgy from the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy, Sant’Anselmo, Rome, and teaches at Hekima University College in Nairobi, Kenya.