{"title":"Books by Christena Cleveland","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780062988799","title":"God Is a Black Woman","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn this timely, much-needed book, theologian, social psychologist, and activist Christena Cleveland recounts her personal journey to dismantle the cultural “whitemalegod” and uncover the Sacred Black Feminine, introducing a Black Female God who imbues us with hope, healing, and liberating presence.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor years, Christena Cleveland spoke about racial reconciliation to congregations, justice organizations, and colleges. But she increasingly felt she could no longer trust in the God she’d been implicitly taught to worship—a white male God who preferentially empowered white men despite his claim to love all people. A God who clearly did not relate to, advocate for, or affirm a Black woman like Christena.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHer crisis of faith sent her on an intellectual and spiritual journey through history and across France, on a 400-mile walking pilgrimage to the ancient shrines of Black Madonnas to find healing in the Sacred Black Feminine.\u003cem\u003e God Is a Black Woman\u003c\/em\u003e is the chronicle of her liberating transformation and a critique of a society shaped  by white patriarchal Christianity and culture. Christena reveals how America’s collective idea of God as a white man has perpetuated hurt, hopelessness, and racial and gender oppression. Integrating her powerful personal story, womanist ideology, as well as theological, historical, and social science research, she invites us to take seriously the truth that God is not white nor male and gives us a new and hopeful path for connecting with the divine and honoring the sacredness of all Black people.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56222306009461,"sku":"9780062988799","price":17.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780062988799_7a30edda-2c47-4f6d-aeee-5850fe1adbb4.jpg?v=1786011474"},{"product_id":"9781648480614","title":"Decolonizing the Body","description":"\u003cp\u003ePowerful, body-based practices to help you reclaim confidence, dignity, and self-worth. As a woman of colour, you are more likely to experience oppression, discrimination, and physical or sexual violence in your lifetime. In addition, your family may have experienced generational trauma and systemic racism going back for centuries. This old and new trauma can manifest in both the mind and body. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHowever, there are ways you can free yourself from this trauma, build confidence in yourself and your abilities, and restore your powerful sense of self. Written by a woman of colour for women of colour, Decolonizing the Body offers proven-effective somatic, body-centred practices to help you heal from systemic oppression, trust the profound wisdom of your own body, and reconnect with your true self. And by slowing down, cultivating a daily ritual, and setting strong boundaries, you can reclaim your inherent dignity and worth-as well as those aspects of yourself that you may have cast aside in an effort to survive. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWith this empowering guide, you'll discover:   \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e·How bodies are colonized through systems of oppression   \u003cbr\u003e·Why slowing down is essential for healing   \u003cbr\u003e·How to listen to what your body needs   \u003cbr\u003e·How to create a space for ritual in your daily life   \u003cbr\u003e·How to strengthen feelings of capability   \u003cbr\u003e·How to cultivate community-starting with yourself \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo decolonize the body is to become whole again, and to come home again. Let this book be your guide on this crucial journey.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312732778869,"sku":"9781648480614","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781648480614_2f129cc8-2c0d-4c3c-9549-d60d08b7f993.jpg?v=1792424680"},{"product_id":"the-black-madonna","title":"The Black Madonna","description":"Meet Black Madonna—Mother of Abundance, Holy Insurrectionist, Our Lady of F Around and Find OutThis bold reclamation of the divine feminine offers a new vision of Black Madonna as a unifying figure of refuge, resistance, and renewal. When we are exhausted and burned out, Black Madonna invites us to surrender to her protective embrace and be revitalized by her subversive life force. When disillusionment takes hold, Black Madonna offers radical belonging—urging us to reclaim our own sacred power.   Christena Cleveland expertly blends personal experiences, global stories, and historical records to reveal the cunning colonial forces that poison our social and spiritual landscape, while illuminating our Divine Ancestor as an endless source of spiritual nourishment, liberation, and protection. Intimate invocations and empowering rituals within each chapter help you to nurture your own authentic connection with Black Madonna and feel her loving guidance through the twists and turns of life. This book is a call to mystic-activism—for all of us who are alert to injustice and fervently devoted to co-creating a world of love.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57490296045941,"sku":"9781837826759","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781837826759.jpg?v=1786442183"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-christena-cleveland.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}