Enfleshed. SACRED INCANTATIONS. RITUALS OF TRANS WISDOM FOR EVERY SEASON. Iowa City, IA: Enfleshed, 2023, 165 pages, $50, $9.99 digital deck.

This project, two books in different sizes plus a deck of cards, offers spiritual resources in times of need. The book consists of short guided rituals meant to support readers through four different seasons. Each ritual is accompanied by artwork crafted specifically for this project. This set provides strength and courage so people of all or no gender can flourish. https://enfleshed.com/products/sacred-incantations-deck-book/

Gay, Roxanne. THE PORTABLE FEMINIST READER. New York, NY: Penguin Classic, 2025, 672 pages, $20.90.

This feminist compendium lets readers explore the state of American feminism with attention to multicultural, especially Black, gender-based perspectives. The different parts of the book are fundamental to understanding feminism’s history and development from different angles and perspectives. This book is feminism ‘to go’, so get it and get going!

Lomax, Tamura. FREEING BLACK GIRLS: A BLACK FEMINIST BIBLE ON RACISM AND REVOLUTIONARY MOTHERING. Durham, NC: Duke University Press,  2025, 240 pages, $24.95

Putting Black girls at the center of common concern is an effective way to reshape a misshapen culture. The author claims that “Black feminist mothering is thus a revolution of values” (p. 154), a step toward “new egalitarianism” (p. 156). This is must- reading, especially for those who educate young women.

McCallie, Kathleen. SPIRITUALITY BEYOND BORDERS: JUSTHOPE’S NICARAGUAN SOLIDARITY. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2024, 288 pages, $36.71.

Kathleen McCallie’s book on Nicaragua is Feminist Liberation Theology on the ground. JustHope, a nonprofit founded by Leslie Penrose, cultivates partnerships that involve exchange visits, home stays with families, and education sharing, all led by local people in Central America. Seminary students learn not how to be missionaries but how to be neighbors, not about business models but about cooperative economics, not about traditional church activities but faith-sharing in base communities. How exciting to learn about this work and to appreciate the influential role of feminist thinkers and doers in making it happen.

Nittle, Nadra. BELL HOOKS’ SPIRITUAL VISION: BUDDHIST, CHRISTIAN, AND FEMINIST. New York, NY: Fortress Press, 2023, 147 pages, $24.00. 

As a Buddhist Christian feminist, bell hooks found her spiritual path like she found everything else—on her own terms and with her own unique insights. This book helps readers to make sense of what might seem like contradictions and to imagine their own ways of finding meaning and value. This book will open eyes, minds, and hearts as bell hooks did in her all-too-short but deeply impactful life.

Pae, Keun-joo Christine, and Kathleen T. Talvacchia, Editors. SEARCHING FOR THE FUTURE IN THE PAST: RECLAIMING FEMINIST THEOLOGICAL VISIONS. New York, NY: T&T Clark, 2024, 250 pages, $79.33.

This collection does what the title promises: it shares the search. Embodied Living and Living Relationally sections contain insightful essays that ground and launch necessary, usable conversations in fraught times. The result is that “the voices and experiences of all women and women-identified persons—understood in all of our intersectional and inclusive diversity–must be a fundamental and integral aspect of the authoritative theological expressions of religious communities.” (p. 3) A wonderful volume for teaching and discussion.

Raffauf, Elisabeth; Jakobs, Guenther. WHEN WILL THERE FINALLY BE PEACE?: ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT WAR, VIOLENCE, REFUGEES, AND RECONCILIATION. Peoria, IL: Paulist Press, 2025, 48 pages, $16.95. 

In the midst of global conflicts, most people, even children, develop a higher awareness of external conflicts such as war, terrorism, and violence. Raffauf’s illustrated book manages to answer basic questions ranging from conflict to refugees, international aid, and responsibility while being sensible and sensitive about children’s feelings. Jakobs’ illustrations allow children to relate to and empathize with children who face difficult circumstances. In difficult times like the present, it is tough to have meaningful conversations with our children. This book is a good place to start!

Pui-Lan, Kwok. TRANSPACIFIC POLITICAL THEOLOGY: PERSPECTIVES, PARADIGMS, PROPOSALS. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2024, 315 pages, $47.10 (e-book), $49.58 (paperback).

This indispensable volume captures the contours of a growing and deepening movement of transpacific political theology that is a major shaping force in global religious studies. Explicitly feminist and queer essays highlight the many and varied approaches in a region that  ‘speaks’ in many voices. This would make an ideal text for a substantial seminar on postcolonial theology.

Schenk, Christine. BENDING TOWARD JUSTICE: SR. KATE KUENSTLER AND THE STRUGGLE FOR PARISH RIGHTS.  Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2025, 268 pages, $32.

Some unsung heroes of American Catholicism are those who, like Kate Kuenstler, toil in the weeds of Canon Law to alert parishioners of their rights and help them claim them. Chris Schenk captures Kate’s story in vivid, well-informed prose. The institutional church ignores these forces of nature–both  Kate and Chris–at its peril. This book adds depth and color to the struggles for equality and justice.