The Book Of Longings

Last year I stumbled onto Sue Monk Kidd. I am extremely late to the game but just happy to be here now. I have read a few of her books that have meant a great deal to me personally - specifically “The Dance Of The Dissident Daughter.”

So when I heard about this new book, “The Book Of Longings” I was excited. The premise is that in his early twenties Jesus met a girl and married her. This book isn’t about Jesus however, it is about Ana, it is Ana’s story. We get to re-live the stories of messiah, John The Baptist, Herod, Pilate and all of the characters from a completely different point of view and one that I believe is really important.

Sue Monk Kidd has been on a sacred feminine journey for some time now and she beautifully weaves in many of these themes into these characters. We get to hear the quiet prayer lives of the women including their prayers to Sofia. Ana is busy writing the stories of the s/heroes of the Hebrew faith and we even have an encounter with the goddess Isis.

Before I read the book, one of my friends said that it made Jesus seem more human. I would echo this. It enabled me to experience the story of Jesus from the ground. So often we can only see Jesus as Christ and I think that the gift of this book is the way we get to see Jesus as a real person, a day laborer, a family man, a husband and a person of great faith who lived his life in his calling.

I can’t recommend this book enough.

More About The Book:

In her mesmerizing fourth work of fiction, Sue Monk Kidd takes an audacious approach to history and brings her acclaimed narrative gifts to imagine the story of a young woman named Ana. Raised in a wealthy family with ties to the ruler of Galilee, she is rebellious and ambitious, with a brilliant mind and a daring spirit. She engages in furtive scholarly pursuits and writes narratives about neglected and silenced women. Ana is expected to marry an older widower, a prospect that horrifies her. An encounter with eighteen-year-old Jesus changes everything.

Their marriage evolves with love and conflict, humor and pathos in Nazareth, where Ana makes a home with Jesus, his brothers, and their mother, Mary. Ana's pent-up longings intensify amid the turbulent resistance to Rome's occupation of Israel, partially led by her brother, Judas. She is sustained by her fearless aunt Yaltha, who harbors a compelling secret. When Ana commits a brazen act that puts her in peril, she flees to Alexandria, where startling revelations and greater dangers unfold, and she finds refuge in unexpected surroundings. Ana determines her fate during a stunning convergence of events considered among the most impactful in human history.

Grounded in meticulous research and written with a reverential approach to Jesus's life that focuses on his humanity, The Book of Longings is an inspiring, unforgettable account of one woman's bold struggle to realize the passion and potential inside her, while living in a time, place and culture devised to silence her. It is a triumph of storytelling both timely and timeless, from a masterful writer at the height of her powers.

The Dance Of The Dissident Daughter

The Sacred Feminine is a journey worth engaging. Our world is dominated by the hierarchical structures of the Sacred Masculine dominant world of faith. Sue Monk Kidd has become a reliable voice for me when it comes to exploring other worlds of spiritual direction.

In “Dance Of The Dissident Daughter” Sue goes on a journey from faithful evangelical, to mainline protestant, to an out-of-church but overtly spiritual person all because of her journey into the sacred feminine. Her story felt like mine in many ways except her work bringing to life the idea of the mother, the voice of Mary as not only contemplative but powerful figure was inspiring for me. I really enjoyed listening to the changing dynamics of her family in her process.

Her willingness to share her fear, her doubt, and just her realness is inspiring. This book is older but as it was new for me. I believe it may have aged very well and can be used for a long time to talk about the story of transfiguration into the balance between sacred masculine and feminine which we should all seek.

If you are looking for a way out of your ordinary faith box and would like to embrace the wholeness of the earth, the interconnectedness of humanity and a bigger idea of God, this book will help give you that new perspective. It may even be life changing.

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More About “The Dance Of The Dissident Daughter” by Sue Monk Kidd
For years, Sue Monk Kidd was a conventionally religious woman. Then, in the late 1980s, she experienced an unexpected awakening, and began a journey toward a feminine spirituality. With the exceptional storytelling skills that have helped make her name, Kidd tells her very personal story of the fear, anger, healing, and freedom she experienced on the path toward the wholeness that many women have lost in the church.

From a jarring encounter with sexism in a suburban drugstore, to monastery retreats and to rituals in the caves of Crete, she reveals a new level of feminine spiritual consciousness for all women—one that retains a meaningful connection with the "deep song of Christianity," embraces the sacredness of ordinary women’s experience, and has the power to transform in the most positive ways every fundamental relationship in a woman's life—her marriage, her career, and her religion.