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"This collection brings together scholarly and creative pieces that reveal how the intellectual, emotional, and physical work of mothering is informed by women's diverse religiosities and spiritualities. Its contributors examine contemporary and historical perspectives on religious and spiritual mothering through interdisciplinary research, feminist life writing, textual analyses, and creative non-fiction work. In contrast to the bulk of feminist scholarship which marginalizes women's religious and spiritual knowledges, this volume explores how such epistemologies fundamentally shape the lived experiences of many mothers across the globe, and it further elucidates the empowerment and enrichment that women derive from their religious beliefs and spiritual worldviews. In doing so, it highlights the vital contributions that mothers have made, and continue to make, in transforming their local communities and institutions, as well as their broader religious and spiritual traditions."--

Cover -- Copyright -- Title Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- I. Contemporary Perspectives on Spiritual and Religious Mothering -- 1. Double Scrutiny at the Vicarage -- 2. Intersectional Mothering -- 3. Faith Shifters -- 4. Praying for More -- 5. Bridging Sacred Mystery and Medicine -- II. Religious Mothering in History, Theology, and Literature -- 6. Mothers of Spiritual Change -- 7. Binding Ourselves to the Truth -- 8. Motherhood in Hindu Religion -- 9. Text Line, Blood Line -- 10. Reading Hindu Devotional Poetry through Maternal Theory -- 11. Charlotte Brontë's Villette as Spiritual Quest for the Mother -- III. Sharing Religious and Spiritual Maternal Narratives -- 12. Storytelling as a Way to Reconnect and Co-create Spiritual Contexts -- 13. "What's a Nice Jewish Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This?" -- 14. Two Mothers and Two Children -- 15. "In Your Blood, Live [With Pride, My Daughters]!" (Ezekiel 16) -- 16. Joy Unspeakable (or, a Beautiful Day) -- About the Contributors.

Intro -- Copyright Notice -- Title Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- the alarm -- 1. Impressions of my Mother -- 2. Feminism as Practice -- 3. "Tell Them You're Mexican," and Other Motherly Advice -- 4. The Bungalow Mystery -- 5. Mothering, Paid Work and Activism -- 6. It's about 1000 Miles from Oaxaca, Mexico to San Antonio, Texas and About 2000 Miles from California to Indiana -- 7. A Life Not Lost -- 8. A Matrilineal Narrative -- 9. M/aligning Mother -- 10. Carrying Generational Baggage -- 11. "The Dish Ran Away with the Spoon" -- 12. Matriarchal Mothering of a First-Generation Feminist Academic -- 13. I Love You, Mom -- 14. A (Christian) Feminist's Thoughts on Religious Mothering, Sexual Purity, and Pat Robertson -- 15. Lentils in the Ashes1 -- 16. Happy Birthday Mom! -- Contributor Notes.

"The Mother-Blame Game is an interdisciplinary and intersectional examination of the phenomenon of mother-blame in the twenty-first century. As the socioeconomic and cultural expectations of what constitutes "good motherhood" grow continually narrow and exclusionary, mothers are demonized and stigmatized-perhaps now more than ever-for all that is perceived to go "wrong" in their children's lives. This anthology brings together creative and scholarly contributions from feminist academics and activists alike to provide a dynamic study of the many varied ways in which mothers are blamed and shamed for their maternal practice. Importantly, it also considers how mothers resist these ideologies by engaging in empowered and feminist mothering practices, as well as by publicly challenging patriarchal discourses of "good motherhood""--