When Religion Matters: Practicing Healing in the Aftermath of the Liberian Civil War
Ebook
How does starting with women's statements that "God was there" in the moment of wartime violence shift the ways we think about religion, conflict, and healing? Religion and health scholar Annie Hardison-Moody examines this interdisciplinary question through several lenses--postconflict feminist theory, practical theology, and feminist and womanist theory and theology. Drawing on participatory fieldwork with a Liberian community in North Carolina, Hardison-Moody argues that religion matters for many survivors of violence, and that this fact must be taken into account in international conversations about women, violence, and healing. Consequently, she looks beyond the institutional forms of religion, instead studying the ways women live and profess healing and transformation as a part of their everyday lives. This, she argues, is the crucial task for postconflict transformation work. Understanding these "everyday" ways women experience and heal from violence is central to advancing our conceptions of healing and peace as they exist in a world rife with conflict. Scholars, activists, and caregivers will be able to draw on this resource as they attempt to understand and practice healing and transformation with those who have experienced violence and trauma.
"Dr. Hardison-Moody's breathtaking new book is lyrically
written, even as it wrestles with the raw suffering of war as it
affected Liberian women. This book expands our imagination by
bringing to light the distinctiveness of the transformational work
accomplished by women victimized by war. By emphasizing the
powerful role of religion--as understood by women--new
possibilities emerge for peace-building in the aftermath of a war
that seemed to make every future impossible. Highly
recommended!"
--Wendy Farley, Professor of Religion and Ethics, Emory
University
"This exemplary book showcases the impact of religion on healing
from the horrors of war. Using feminist practical theological
tools, Annie Hardison-Moody takes up women's cause with amazing
verve and intellect, studying religion's reconciling
role, not (just) as an institutional
or doctrinal matter but as an everyday force in
people's lives."
--Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter
Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture, The Divinity School
and Graduate Department of Religion, Vanderbilt University; author
of Christian Theology in Practice: Discovering a
Discipline and Also a Mother: Work and Family as
Theological Dilemma
"Dr. Hardison-Moody's breathtaking new book is lyrically
written, even as it wrestles with the raw suffering of war as it
affected Liberian women. This book expands our imagination by
bringing to light the distinctiveness of the transformational work
accomplished by women victimized by war. By emphasizing the
powerful role of religion--as understood by women--new
possibilities emerge for peace-building in the aftermath of a war
that seemed to make every future impossible. Highly
recommended!"
--Wendy Farley, Professor of Religion and Ethics, Emory
University
"This exemplary book showcases the impact of religion on healing
from the horrors of war. Using feminist practical theological
tools, Annie Hardison-Moody takes up women's cause with amazing
verve and intellect, studying religion's reconciling
role, not (just) as an institutional
or doctrinal matter but as an everyday force in
people's lives."
--Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter
Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture, The Divinity School
and Graduate Department of Religion, Vanderbilt University; author
of Christian Theology in Practice: Discovering a
Discipline and Also a Mother: Work and Family as
Theological Dilemma
Product Details
- Title : When Religion Matters: Practicing Healing in the Aftermath of the Liberian Civil War
- Author: Hardison-Moody, Annie
- Publisher: Pickwick Publications
- Publication Date: 2016
- ISBN: 9781532605352
Annie Hardison-Moody is Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences at North Carolina State University, where her work focuses on the intersections of religion and health.