GirlTalk / GodTalk Why Faith Matters to Teenage Girls--and Their Parents [Paperback]

GirlTalk/GodTalk offers a refreshing exploration of the faith lives of adolescent girls and shows how they think about, experience, and express spiritual and religious meanings in their lives. The book also explores the important role mothers, fathers and other parenting adults play in shaping that faith. As Joyce Ann Mercer explains, religion and faith can hold things together for girls as they move between the childhood self, the person they are in the present, and the adult self that is beginning to develop.Acknowledgments ix

Preface xiii

Introduction xix

1. Girl Talk: A Way of Hearing the Lives of Adolescent Girls 1

2. Girl Talk on Faith 14

3. Girl Talk on Gender 45

4. Girl Talk on Mothers 75

5. Girl Talk on Fathers 99

6. Girl Talk, God Talk 124

Appendix River of Life: A Life-Review Activity 135

Notes 137

Bibliography 147

The Author 151

Index 153

Joyce Ann Mercer teaches practical theology at the Virginia Theological Seminary and has more than twenty years of experience as a pastor and clinical social worker.

People are Talking About GirlTalk / GodTalk

Joyce Mercer practices wonderfully the spiritual discipline she preaches—listening attentively, thoughtfully, sympathetically to adolescents—and takes us straight to the heart of the rich complexities of faith as framed through the voices of teenage girls. For all those eager to understand how theology is woven into everyday life, for those ready to serve as advocates for vital faith among teens, this book is an immeasurable resource.
—Bonnie Miller-McLemore, Carpenter Professor of Theology at Vanderbilt Univel£!