Circling Faith: Southern Women on Spirituality

by Wendy Reed (Contributor), Jennifer Horne (Editor), Mary Karr (Contributor)

Circling Faith is a collection of essays by southern women that encompasses spirituality and the experience of winding through the religiously charged environment of the American South.

 Mary Karr, in “Facing Altars,” describes how the consolation she found in poetry directed her to a similar solace in prayer. In “Chiaroscuro: Shimmer and Shadow,” Susan Cushman recounts how her dissatisfaction with a Presbyterian upbringing led her to hold her own worship services at home and eventually to join the Eastern Orthodox Church. “Magic” by Amy Blackmarr depicts a religious practice that occurs wholly outside of any formal setting—she recognizes places, such as a fishing shack in south Georgia, and things, such as crystal Cherokee earrings, as reminders that God exists everywhere and that a Great Comforter is always present. In “The Only Jews in Town,” Stella Suberman gives her account of growing up as a religious minority in Tennessee, connecting her story to a larger narrative of Eastern European Jews who moved away from the Northeast, often to found and run “Jew stores” in midwestern and southern towns.  Alice Walker, in an interview with Valerie Reiss titled “Alice Walker Calls God ‘Mama,’” relates her dynamic relationship with her God, which includes meditation and yoga, and explains how she views the role of faith in her work, including her novel The Color Purple.  These essays showcase the large spectrum of spirituality that abides in the South, as well as the equally large spectrum of individual women who hold these faiths.  

Genres: Nonfiction, Essays, Spirituality

248 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 2012

Reviews

[Keetha]

I'm biased because a dear friend, Susan Cushman, has an essay in this book. Other writers whose work I enjoy - Rheta Grimsley Johnson, Mary Karr, Beth Ann Fennelly - have essays in it, too.

All that being said, though, this is a great collection. Religion is extremely prevelant in the south and the take on it - agnostic, Protestant, Jewish, Orthodox - in this book is fascinating and compelling.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Circling Faith: Southern Women on Spirituality is a wonderfully edited book containing essays by Southern women on the subject of spirituality. The term "spirituality" casts a wide net encompassing thoughts by religious women, spiritual women, non-believers, doubters, who were reared as Protestants, Jews, Catholics and who may or may not ascribe to the teachings of their youth. It is the first book where I can imagine totally what each writer has so say because I too am from the South. Their Southern voices ring true.

Circling Faith is gives the reader the impression of sitting comfortably with these women and discussing the topic of spirituality without any repercussions. Oh, to be able to attend a panel discussion led by these women.

I happened upon this book in my local library and being from the South decided to read it. My next read will be All Out of Faith: Southern Women on Spirituality which was Reed & Horne's first edited book on spirituality. It should be here on Monday so I'll be enjoying it next week.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only stumbled on this book by visiting Bethanne Hill's booth at the Kentuck Arts Festival (she did the cover art), and I finally got around to reading it about a year later (after seeing it at Kentuck again).

As with any collection, I had a range of reactions and would probably do better to give each essay its own rating. But for the sake of brevity, I'll just mention my favorites.

Mary Karr's "Facing Altars" reluctantly confesses her journey into prayer via poetry. This was the first and best essay in the book. Karr's voice teeters on the erudite edge of our Southern vernacular: she's speaking my language, and she's talking about my life.

Beth Ann Fennelly wrote about trying to get into geophagy - dirt eating - as a metaphor for taking the leap into religion. "Can I make an intellectual decision to grow faith, or to crave dirt?" she muses. It's a strange comparison, but I enjoyed the read and the thoughts.

In "Going to Church," singer/songwriter Marshall Chapman describes her unintentional cycle out of and back into church. I appreciated the honesty and humor in her account, as well as the fact that her sign from God that she was in the right pew was the hat on the head of the person in front of her, turned backwards so she could read its message: "F*** OFF OR DIE!"

And dealing with a topic that I don't think comes up nearly enough in church, Episcopalian priest Barbara Brown Taylor writes about her experience of her own physical body throughout her journey of faith. I was thrilled to hear echoes of Anne Lamott here.

My final favorite was "Signs of Faith," by the late Barbara Robinette Moss. Where is God, if anywhere, when you're dying? Moss takes on the question with grit, transparency, and humility.

I was surprised to find that the essays on faith tended to be more thoughtful and cohesive than the ones about losing or rejecting faith. The no-faith writing seemed a little defensive and self-conscious...and not really very Southern. Is this because faith (encompassing both religion and superstition) is a part of the air we breathe in the American South? Or maybe I just wasn't ready for the way these no-faith essays broke from the almost gothic tone of the rest, the Flannery O'Connor-esque voice that, to me, seems quintessentially Southern.

Anyway. The book was pretty well curated, and it introduced me to a few authors from whom I'd like to read more.

[Chrissy Marlowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lessons learned:
You cannot move to faraway places to escape your problems.
Faith needs lots of quiet time.
Learn to love the space you occupy at the moment.
Not all writers are good essay writers.

[chrisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several of the essays in this book were very interesting to me. Some were confusing or slightly offensive to me... all in all a mixed bag worth checking out.

[Amy (Bossy Bookworm) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think reading this book over a longer period would serve both the essays and their audiences well. There isn't a flow that works well in terms of reading the book straight through, despite the section heads that group the essays together by general theme. The final section grabbed me more fully than the earlier ones. An interesting and noteworthy project, with varied and interesting voices.

[Alexia · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is pritty

[Kerith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving an extra star for the presence of Barbara Brown Taylor in this book