Description

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An Ecofeminist Perspective on Ash Wednesday and Lent develops a conversation between classical historical Lenten practices and contemporary Christian ecofeminism. Building on David Tracy's definition of a religious classic, it includes a historical examination of the development of Lent and the Ash Wednesday rites beginning from wellsprings in the early church traditions of penance, catechumenal preparation, and asceticism through medieval and reformation expressions of the rite to their twentieth-century Episcopal iteration in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. In the discussion of ecofeminism, women's death experiences and current ecofeminist writings are used to develop an ecofeminist hermeneutic of mortality.

About the Author

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The Author: Sylvia A. Sweeney is Dean and President of Bloy House, The Episcopal Theological School at Claremont in the Diocese of Los Angeles, California. A central theme of her teaching and writing is the development of a twenty-first-century baptismal ecclesiology as an essential common ground for conversation and cooperation between scholars and lay and ordained ministers. Her doctorate is in Liturgical Studies from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, and she is a graduate of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. She formerly served congregations in Montana, Idaho, and California, and was Ministry Development Officer for the Episcopal Diocese of California. She has written and collaborated on numerous publications and discussion guides published and used within the Episcopal Church.