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REVIEWS

Angelica made a clear distinction between cure and metaphors of borderland and dance to frame spiritual
healing in the context of Alzheimer’s: “Cure is a medical direction, and she offers an “alternative, a third culture …
term, and healing is a spiritual term. To heal means to third space where two different cultures encounter one
‘make whole.’ This is the life work of our souls and is not another” (3). She then shares her own experience on the
dependent on our physical well-being. … Caregiving and faculty of the spiritual direction formation program at
hope are the cornerstones for healing—in the absence of San Francisco Theological Seminary (SFTS), California,
cure, they are all that’s possible” (51). USA, which took on the process of ameliorating the lack
With 44 million people today diagnosed with of cultural diversity there. SFTS embarked on a multiyear
Alzheimer’s —a number expected to reach 135 million by process of discernment and action and then reflected on
2050, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International—it what did and did not work in its process. Park explicates
is likely that virtually all of us, including our spiritual this experience with transparency and clarity, concluding
directees, will be touched by this disease in some way. with a vision for change
This book offers a way to deal with the vulnerability that includes creating safe
and fragility of our existence with life-affirming love. It space that addresses issues
reminds us that human beings retain the capacity for of marginality, deviance,
relationship long after disease claims body and mind. We “hybridity,” (9) and power
seem never to lose the desire to love and be loved. ■ dynamics.
Linda Douty is a spiritual director and retreat leader The chapters that follow
living in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. She is the author of lift up the personal testi-
two new books, Praying in the Messiness of Life: 7 Ways monies that are integral to
to Renew Your Relationship with God and How Did I the calling and formation
Get to Be 70 When I’m 35 Inside?: Spiritual Surprises of spiritual directors and
of Later Life. Her e-mail address is [email protected]. that shape their ministries
as well. All of the authors are also members of the Spiritual
Embodied Spirits: Directors of Color Network, which was first convened dur-
Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color ing the Spiritual Directors International educational events
edited by Sherry Bryant-Johnson, Rosalie in 2008. Each writer’s unique journeys with God, includ-
Norman-McNaney, and Therese Taylor- ing challenges, triumphs, and transformations, invite the
Stinson reader to walk with them as spiritual companions.
New York, NY: Morehouse Publishing, 2014 Some of the essays are more theologically focused, such
158 pages, CAD$15.70, GBP£11.51, as the one from Maurice Nutt, while others are grounded
USD$18.00 in the narrative of the author’s lifelong spiritual autobi-
Reviewed by Karen L. Erlichman ography. For example, Lerita Coleman Brown’s chapter
If there is one spiritual direction book you must run begins with her childhood memory of sitting outside
out and buy today, Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual on a windy day and feeling connected to the vastness
Directors of Color is that very book. Embodied Spirits is a of creation (39). Several authors write about illness and
collection of thirteen essays written by spiritual directors of healing, exploring and connecting to a variety of other
color, primarily African American, and almost exclusively spiritual traditions and practices; I especially appreci-
from a Christian perspective. This anthology celebrates ated the title of a particularly notable chapter by Ineda P.
the anointed voices and testimonies of spiritual directors Adesanya, “Becoming a Contemplative Sistah; Finding
of color and reflects the long-overdue inclusion of these Weird Joy in Spiritual Freedom.”
stories into the canon of spiritual direction literature. Ruqaiyah Nabe’s chapter offers a fresh addition to
The collection opens with an essay by Jung Eun Sophia the collection, and her story includes her vocations of
Park that provides useful language and metaphors that interfaith ministry and interspiritual spiritual director.
frame the remainder of the anthology. Park offers the Nabe describes open-hearted pilgrimage through many

Volume 20 No. 3 • September 2014 65