African American Female Mysticism: Nineteenth-Century Religious Activism (Black Religion/Womanist Thought/Social Justice)

African-American Female Mysticism: Nineteenth Century Religious Activism is an important book-length treatment of African-American female mysticism. The primary subjects of this book are three icons of black female spirituality and religious activism - Jarena Lee, Sojourner Truth, and Rebecca Cox Jackson. "African-American Female Mysticism: Nineteenth Century Religious Activism" adds to the burgeoning conversation regarding African-American female mysticism. The primary subjects of this book are three icons of black female spirituality and religious activism: Jarena Lee, Sojourner Truth, and Rebecca Cox Jackson. All three of these women are usually identified solely within the Protestant Christian tradition and their mystical activism does not fit neatly into a closed monotheistic system. Informed by dreams and visions, Joy Bostic sheds new light on the ways these women inhabited complex sacred-social worlds, entertained flexible notions about divinity, and served as mediators of sacred power in ways that was transformed their communities Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction 12 1 African American Female Mysticism: The Nineteenth-Century Contextual Landscape 26 2 Defining Mysticism and the Sacred-Social Worlds of African American Women 52 3 Standing upon the Precipice: Community, Evil, and Black Female Subjectivity 74 4 God I Didn’t Know You Were So Big: Apophatic Mysticism and Expanding Worldviews 96 5 Look at What You Have Done: Sacred Power and Reimagining the Divine 119 6 Weaving the Spider’s Web: African American Female Mystical Activism 142 Notes 166 Bibliography 189 Index 196 Front Matter....Pages i-xxiv African American Female Mysticism: The Nineteenth-Century Contextual Landscape....Pages 1-26 Defining Mysticism and the Sacred-Social Worlds of African American Women....Pages 27-48 Standing upon the Precipice: Community, Evil, and Black Female Subjectivity....Pages 49-70 God I Didn’t Know You Were So Big: Apophatic Mysticism and Expanding Worldviews....Pages 71-93 Look at What You Have Done: Sacred Power and Reimagining the Divine....Pages 95-117 Weaving the Spider’s Web: African American Female Mystical Activism....Pages 119-142 Back Matter....Pages 143-179 This title adds to the burgeoning conversation regarding African-American female mysticism. The primary subjects of this book are three icons of black female spirituality and religious activism: Jarena Lee, Sojourner Truth, and Rebecca Cox Jackson.