Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk

This landmark work first published twenty years ago helped establish the field of African-American womanist theology. It is widely regarded as a classic text in the field.

In this landmark work of emerging African American womanist theology, Delores Williams finds in the biblical figure of Hagar-mother of Ishmael, cast into the desert by Abraham and Sarah, but protected by God-a prototype for the struggle of African-American women. African slave, homeless exile, surrogate mother, Hagar's story provides an image of survival and defiance appropriate to black women today.

Exploring all the themes inherent in Hagar's story-poverty and slavery, ethnicity and sexual exploitation, exile and encounters with God-Sisters in the Wilderness traces parallels in the history of African-American women from slavery to the present. A particular theology-a womanist theology-emerges from this shared experience; specifically, from the interplay of oppressions on account of race, sex, and class.