Augsburg Fortress

Karen Baker-Fletcher here seeks to recover and renew the often strong historic tie of black peoples to the land, sometimes broken by migration and urbanization. Cultivating the ecological side of black womanism, she combines a keen awareness of environmental racism with reflection on her own journey and a keen constructive theological vision. She works the biblical and literary metaphors of dust and spirit to address the embodiment of God, Spirit, Christ, creation, and humans and to fashion a powerful justice-oriented spirituality of creation.

Baker-Fletcher evinces a strong sense of God in nature. She appreciates the glint of broken glass in an alley as the shimmer of a waterfall in the wilderness. And she writes in a simple, direct style, "a small effort at embodied theological wording, writing from the heart, where spiritual life lives, dances, and breathes more deeply."

Its earnest, reflective character makes this small volume ideal for individual, adult study, or classroom use.