Women, Identity and Religion in Wales: Theology, Poetry, Story

Women, Identity and Religion in Wales is a groundbreaking study in a Welsh context of practical theology, a field within theology that has grown internationally in recent years. With the first book on Welsh feminist theology, Manon Ceridwen James explores the impact of religion on Welsh women’s identity, provides empirical evidence for the ways women construct their identities, and closely examines the current roles that religion play in it. To achieve this, James used an eclectic methodology: narrative interviews with women aged between thirty and fifty-five living in all areas of Wales; a case study looking at the works of influential Welsh poet Menna Elfyn; and her own reflections, experiences, poetry, and engagements with writings by a range of Welsh women.

Ultimately, James contradicts the established mythology that there is a strong contemporary relationship between nonconformity and female Welshness. Instead, she conceptualizes a Welsh identity that is changing rapidly from respectability and commitment to community to self-fulfillment and globalism. Her research points to the need for cultural change within Welsh churches-one more compatible with the true values and expectations of women (and men) in Wales today.