I really loved this book, despite a few minor disappointments (which is why it's getting four stars instead of five). But seriously, if you are a woman, and also if you are a man who loves a woman, (actually really just if you are a living breathing human) this book has important things to say. Things the church needs to hear and talk about.
Bauman's basic premise is that since women are made in the image of God, then the things about our bodies that make us distinctly female are not a mistake or by chance. They are created, designed, and intended to show us something about God and who He is. I found that to be such a beautiful and freeing revelation, and the book proceeded to expand on that in really lovely and thought-provoking ways. (I was already tearing up just reading the introduction).
I was a little disappointed by the chapter on birth, because she spent a lot of time talking about her experience with infant loss and miscarriage. Don't get me wrong, those are really important topics, but I thought she missed an opportunity to explore the spiritual significance of birth that results in life. I also felt my enthusiasm for the book waning towards the end, and it started to feel less specific to being a woman and more just about death in general. Again, an important topic, but perhaps misplaced in this book.
There are some things in this book that would feel really strange and far-out to some readers, so read it with an open mind I guess?
But all in all, this is one of those books that shaped my thinking so profoundly that there are ways I am not the same since reading it.
"I am woman, imago Dei, an image bearer of God, chosen to carry a message of creation, death, and ultimately everbearing life."