Description
Book SynopsisChristian theology at its core is a story about someone being in trouble. In response to this trouble, the triune God intervenes. God identifies with those in trouble, walking with them through the experience. Yet, the God of Christian theology goes a step further. God prevails over trouble. God is an overcomer. Black women with breast cancer identify with this God. They also see themselves in this theological narrative. They see themselves in the midst of troubles, troubles like racism, poverty and environmental exposures that create the disease affecting their bodies. They see the troubles of breast cancer, their biological disposition towards more aggressive cancers, later stage diagnoses, poorer prognoses, diminished quality of care and worse outcomes. Black women also palpably feel the troubles breast cancer brings like fear, physical disfigurement, social isolation, being stereotyped for treatment decisions, abandonment and even death. Black women feel the myriad troubles breast
Trade ReviewElizabeth Williams effectively joins the ideas and practices of cultural anthropology and theology to help the reader comprehend the understandings of a group of African American, cancer-surviving women. The foundation of William’s account are the voices of these women extended through her thoughtful reading and theoretically informed analysis. Her account is both intellectually elegant and of great utility for those providing medical care to African American women. -- John van Willigen, University of Kentucky
Through interdisciplinary analysis and intersectional advocacy, Williams examines the theological anthropology of breast cancer’s impact not only on Black women’s bodies, but also the moral and spiritual implications it has for human flourishing amidst the ravages of disease. Through her ties to medical research and underserved communities, she deftly identifies and explores the ideological and intimate underpinnings that womanist thought and praxis has for offering moral visions of hope and holistic approaches to a more thoroughgoing anthropological understanding of what it means to survive and thrive amidst death-dealing circumstances. -- Stacey Floyd-Thomas, Vanderbilt University
Table of ContentsChapter 1: Talking God and Talking Cancer Chapter 2: The Power of Black Women’s Cancer Testimonies Chapter 3: Black Women’s Cancer Support Seeking Chapter 4: Healing Claims as Acts of Faith and Resistance Chapter 5: Black Women Transformed into Cancer Survivors Chapter 6: Black Cancer Survivors’ Transformative Theology of Hope
