And Your Daughters Shall Prophesy: Stories From the Byways of American Women and Religion Store Online

“. . . the perfect hybrid of memoir and history. . . Adrian Shirk is one of the great millennial thinkers. Read this book and be exhilarated.” ―Ariel Gore, author of We Were Witches

And Your Daughters Shall Prophesy is a powerful, personal exploration of American women and their theologies, weaving connections between Adrian Shirk’s own varied spiritual experiences and the prophetesses, feminists, and spiritual icons who have shaped this country.

Laced throughout this hybrid memoir are stories of American religious traditions revised by women. Shirk collects the histories of astrologers, faith healers, preachers, priestesses, mambos, and mediums who’ve had to find their own ways toward navinity outside prescribed patriarchal orders. Each woman represents a pathway for Shirk’s own spiritual inquiries. She introduces us to the New Orleans high priestess Marie Laveau, the pop New Age pioneer Linda Goodman, the prophetic vision of intersectionality as preached by Sojourner Truth, “saint” Flannery O’Connor, and so many more.

Through her journey, Shirk discovers that, as the culture wars flatten religious discourse and shred institutional trust, more and more Americans are yearning for alternative, innavidualized, feminist routes through religion. And women, having spent so much time at the margins of religious discourse, illuminate its darkened corners.

And Your Daughters Shall Prophesy is a beacon to those who are searching for a spirituality of resistance, for an unsteady truth. It draws a line from our own era of unrest to the women who came before us, those fascinating innovators, boundary crossers, paradoxes, and radical justice seekers.

“Shirk is a generous writer whose penchant for detail and poetic observation will surprise even the staunchest skeptic.” ―Juan Vidal, NPR’s “Best Books of 2017”

“Shirk writes with sincerity. In these stirring vignettes, she mixes historical accounts, interpretations, and fictionalized encounters to provide insight into her personal journey tracing the steps of American women who have sought out an alternative spirituality.” ―Publishers Weekly

“Shirk’s first book examines and exalts the often overlooked histories of religious movers and shakers . . . and offers as a timely antidote to our culture’s current schism between fundamentalist conservatism and radical progress . . . Divine.” ―Bitch

Author: Adrian Shirk
Publisher: Counterpoint
Pages: 288p
Size: 5.5 x 8.25 x 1
Notes: paperback
Date Of Publication: August 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-1640091016