Deeper Shades of Purple
Womanism in Religion and Society

Womanist approaches to the study of religion and society have contributed much to our understanding of Black religious life, activism, and women's liberation. This volume explores the achievements of this movement, and evaluates some of the leading voices and different perspectives within this field.

Womanist approaches to the study of religion and society have contributed much to our understanding of Black religious life, activism, and women's liberation. "Deeper Shades of Purple" explores the achievements of this movement over the past two decades and evaluates some of the leading voices and different perspectives within this burgeoning field. "Deeper Shades of Purple" brings together a who's who of scholars in the study of Black women and religion who view their scholarship through a womanist critical lens. The contributors revisit Alice Walker's definition of womanism for its viability for the approaches to discourses in religion of Black women scholars. Whereas, Walker has defined what it means to be womanist, these contributors define what it means to practice womanism, and illuminate how womanism has been used as a vantage point for the theoretical orientations and methodological approaches of Black women scholar-activists.