For the Love of God

By Lucy Kaylin
Rating: +serene+
Read: February 2006

I’m taking a class on Womens’ Spirituality this semester and this was our first long assigned reading. I really, really like it.

The author, Lucy Kaylin, was not raised with religion. She chose to do this, go to monasteries across America and interview nuns, to discover what’s going on with them these days.

She has gathered a compelling collection of stories; women who knew they had been called, women who chose somethign else, women who wrestled for years with the decision. She touched on all the big political issues for today’s nuns (the habit, personal relationships, confinement, sexism in the church, etc) as well as their history, from specific sisterhoods like the Poor Clares to the upheaval of Vatican II.

Ironically, nuns are typically considered to be something other than wholly human… They must be more austere, or otherworldly. The nuns here are very relatable people. Myths are dispelled and a new respect found.

Even better? It’s EASY TO READ! I just about inhaled in, a feeling I sorely miss when I’m in school.

Alas, though it was only published in 2000 it’s already been taken out of print. Get yourself a secondhand copy somewhere or write to the publisher to demand a reinstatement.