This book applies insights from feminist theology to highlight spiritual themes in
twentieth-century fiction by women writers. The author traces the way women writers of the
twentieth century have not only challenged religious discourse but employed spiritual themes in
order to explore more fluid possibilities of gender and identity. The book is wide-ranging in
its choice of authors. As well as British and American writers Irish African-American
Canadian Jewish and Caribbean women writers are discussed. Spirituality in women's fiction
embraces a wide range of themes. After an introductory chapter sketching out developments in
feminist theology for the non-specialist reader there are chapters on the convent school and
the role of the Virgin Mary the Goddess the female mystic womanist spirituality and
ecofeminism. The book demonstrates the way in which many women writers attempt to preserve a
dialogue between traditional religious discourse and women's contemporary religious experience.
The determinedly secular stance of much feminist literary criticism has led to a downplaying of
spiritual themes in twentieth-century women's fiction. This study provides a bridge between
feminist literary criticism and feminist theology.
