Our Bodies Are Alive

""In this profoundly integrative work, seasoned chaplain and clinical pastoral educator Bridget Piggue, in conversation with African American clergy women, draws creatively upon the disciplines of neuroscience, womanist theology, psychology, and indigenous spirituality to demonstrate how radical self-regard and respect for body intelligence do provide a process of healing and path toward effective leadership practices in church and community."" --Emmanuel Y. Lartey, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Pastoral Theology and Spiritual Care, Emory University ""In 1964, Civil Rights icon Malcolm X poignantly observed, 'the most disrespected person in America is the Black woman.' Almost one hundred years later, this statement is still true now more than ever. Dr. Bridget Piggue courageously shines a light on the current sociopolitical plight of Black women and provides a useful, much-needed caring practice that spiritual care providers desperately yearn for especially today. While the Black woman's body has been weaponized and used as a battleground since the inception of African enslavement in 1619, Dr. Piggue's project restores the Black woman's body as healing balm in a sick world. The pages of this work will prick your consciousness and heart and inspire you to collective action on behalf of the most disrespected in America."" --Danielle J. Buhuro, executive director, Sankofa CPE Center ""Research on trauma has helped us to understand that there is no liberation without liberation of the body. In Our Bodies Are Alive, Bridget Piggue points us to a liberating praxis that frees African American women's minds, bodies, and souls from theological and cultural bondage."" --Chanequa Walker-Barnes, professor of practical theology and pastoral care, Columbia Theological Seminary