Talking Taboo: American Christian Women Get Frank About Faith (I SPEAK FOR MYSELF, 4) - Softcover

Erin Lane, M.T.S., is a communication strategist for faith-based authors and organizations. Her latest work with national and local nonprofits combines her background as a book publicist with broader marketing consultation and program development for clergy and congregational leaders. Confirmed Catholic, raised Charismatic, and married to a Methodist, she blogs about the intersection of her faith and feminism at holyhellions.com.

Enuma Okoro is an award-winning author, speaker and spiritual director. Embracing the classic spiritual traditions, the contemporary arts, and her uniquely diverse global and cultural background, Enuma writes and speaks off of three key areas: 1. Spiritual formation, growth and holistic wellness 2. Women and the transformative power of personal narratives 3. Identity and Belonging in a diverse world. Her work has been featured on ABC’s Good Morning America, The Huffington Post, NPR, and The Michael Eric Dyson Show. Visit Enuma at enumaokoro.com.

"A diverse range of voices rise together in a song of solidarity and sisterhood in Talking Taboo. Bold and beautifully written, these essays will make you giggle, weep, roll your eyes, cheer, balk, gasp, and whisper prayers of thanks. Each story gives the reader permission permission to speak, permission to ask questions, permission to follow Jesus and serve the church without cramming into a mold. This book is a gift. I hope many will cherish it" Rachel Held Evans, author of A Year of Biblical Womanhood and Evolving in Monkeytown

"How did Christianity a faith founded on the reality of the Word become flesh” get tied in knots and torn asunder over gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, and other features of the God-given fact we live embodied lives? Scholars argue over that question, but this much is clear: women have been the main victims of this heresy, to the immense loss of both church and world. In the clear and honest words of the women who talk taboo” in this book, we hear voices of truth that can help Christians reclaim respect for flesh and come to feel more at home in their own skins. Talking Taboo is an important book, one that should be read and discussed in every church in the land." Parker J. Palmer, author of Healing the Heart of Democracy, A Hidden Wholeness, and Let Your Life Speak

"Talking Taboo is a groundbreaking book. This chorus of bold female voices is presenting the church with an opportunity to engage real but all too frequently avoided or unseen issues impacting countless Christian women today. Their candid essays cover a wide spectrum of perspectives. Readers will resonate with some and be shocked by others. Talking Taboo took courage to write. Reading taboo takes courage too. So buckle up and brace yourself for an eye-opening but vitally important read!" - Carolyn Custis James, author of Half the Church: Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women, whitbyforum (dot) com

"When I look over my books and see how few women theologians/leaders are named in the footnotes compared to the men, I’m sad and determined to do what I can to turn the tide toward balance. That’s one reason I’m thrilled to read Talking Taboo. It introduces me and I hope you too to many new leaders who deserve our attention and respect. I’m grateful to Enuma Okoro, Erin Lane, and all the contributors. By presenting women leaders/theologians/writers/thinkers who are as smart as they are brave, Talking Taboo will help us redress an imbalance that has been in place for far too long (as my footnotes evidence) which is just one of many taboos that it’s time to talk about." -- Brian McLaren, author of Why Did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road? and A New Kind of Christian series

"This array of more than forty stories of Christian women in America is about sexism in church and society, sexism that takes a great variety of forms and has shaped and distorted women’s lives in endless ways. Yet these women are all emerging from these distortions and discovering a God who loves them and a good self that loves oneself. The insightful stories in Talking Taboo bring us in many ways to that hopeful place." - Rosemary Radford Reuther, author of Sexism and God-Talk, In Our Own Voices, and The Wrath of Jonah