When Religion Matters: Practicing Healing in the Aftermath of the Liberian Civil War

How does starting with womens statements that God was there in the moment of wartime violence shift the ways we think about religion conflict and healing? Religion and health scholar Annie Hardison-Moody examines this interdisciplinary question through several lenses--postconflict feminist theory practical theology and feminist and womanist theory and theology. Drawing on participatory fieldwork with a Liberian community in North Carolina Hardison-Moody argues that religion matters for many survivors of violence and that this fact must be taken into account in international conversations about women violence and healing. Consequently she looks beyond the institutional forms of religion instead studying the ways women live and profess healing and transformation as a part of their everyday lives. This she argues is the crucial task for postconflict transformation work. Understanding these everyday ways women experience and heal from violence is central to advancing our conceptions of healing and peace as they exist in a world rife with conflict. Scholars activists and caregivers will be able to draw on this resource as they attempt to understand and practice healing and transformation with those who have experienced violence and trauma. Dr. Hardison-Moodys breathtaking new book is lyrically written even as it wrestles with the raw suffering of war as it affected Liberian women. This book expands our imagination by bringing to light the distinctiveness of the transformational work accomplished by women victimized by war. By emphasizing the powerful role of religion--as understood by women--new possibilities emerge for peace-building in the aftermath of a war that seemed to make every future impossible. Highly recommended! --Wendy Farley Professor of Religion and Ethics Emory University This exemplary book showcases the impact of religion on healing from the horrors of war. Using feminist practical theological tools Annie Hardison-Moody takes up womens cause with amazing verve and intellect studying religions reconciling role not (just) as an institutional or doctrinal matter but as an everyday force in peoples lives. --Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of Religion Psychology and Culture The Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion Vanderbilt University; author of Christian Theology in Practice: Discovering a Discipline and Also a Mother: Work and Family as Theological Dilemma Annie Hardison-Moody is Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Human Sciences at North Carolina State University where her work focuses on the intersections of religion and health.