Images of Ourselves: The Faith and Work of Canadian Women

Sheila Martindale is poetry editor of Canadian Author and Bookman and
author of No Greater Love.

Published for the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women
in Church and Society, this is a collection of writings by and about
women and their role in the church. There are poems, prayers,
meditations, reflections, and interpretations of Scripture.

I am not always comfortable with gender-specific literature, but as I
write this, a priest in England is calling newly ordained women there
“bitches” and saying they should be shot. So clearly there is a need
for women to define their role in organized religion.

The work in this collection is intelligent and sensitive; the editors
have been careful not to include anything that sounds like a rant. Lois
Klempa talks about the first women at the tomb, and how their presence
was an act of faith because they knew it was sealed with a large stone
that they would not be able to move. She also makes a good case for one
of the disciples on the Road to Emmaus having been a woman. Anna Briggs
has written a beautiful lullaby such as Mary might have sung to the
infant Jesus. Gail Golding’s “Tabitha” is written from the
perspective of the woman adulterer whom Jesus did not condemn. There are
contributions by Native women, single women, farm women, and ordained
women, to name a few categories.

The tone of the collection, though sometimes sad and resigned, is
mostly uplifting and inspiring, always affirming the value of women in
the Bible, in society, and in the Church.

Several pieces are in French, but only one of them is translated, a
definite drawback in a book written for English-speaking readers.

Pamela Harris’s photographs of women scattered throughout the book do
not appear to have any connection with the text.