Voices and Echoes: Canadian Women's Spirituality

Lynn Szabo is an assistant professor of English at Trinity Western
University in Langley, B.C.

Voices and Echoes is part of a series of studies in women and religion
“designed to serve the needs of established scholars in this area.”
It comprises short stories, legends, myths, parables, poetry and works
in translation, as well as commentaries by some 50 writers.

Jo-Anne Elder, one of the book’s two editors, asserts that the
“common definition” of spirituality in these writings is “the
lived experience of religion or belief and the deeper meaning of
everyday experience.” The writers represented in this volume have all
attempted to discover meaning in their lives. Colin O’Connell opens
the final section of the book by arguing that although no “common
thread” can be found that links individual expressions of Canadian
women’s spirituality, the overarching significance of these stories
and poems has “some family resemblance” (i.e., their marginality).

The anthology’s entries are generally more impressive than the
commentaries, which tend to be descriptive rather than analytical. A
helpful selected bibliography representing more than 20 years of
scholarly work on women and religion is included in the book.