Elizabeth A. Williams is associate professorin the Department of Public Health, Health Administration and Health Sciences at Tennessee State University.

Williams (Tennessee State Univ.) explores cultural theology and how it connects to African American women diagnosed with, treated for, or surviving breast cancer. Williams interviews survivors about their faith during this period of their lives to better understand the way they see God and how that view affects how their response to their disease. Williams includes an extensive bibliography for her research, and attaches notes to each chapter. She opens up in the introduction about her subjective position on the issues she studies—her position in the clergy and the relationships she developed with the women she interviews. She addresses how she conducted her research in the introduction, making it the most academically focused chapter in the book; though less rigorous, the rest of the book offers a useful ethnography; Williams addresses the roles God plays for women with cancer and how they identify themselves during the treatment—for example, some identify their struggle with breast cancer as parallel to Jesus’s struggle; many see God as either judge or liberator. In the second half, Williams examines the way survivors are changed from their experiences and find new roles in their church.Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates and above; general readers.

• Chapter 1: Talking God and Talking CancerChapter 2: The Power of Black Women’s Cancer Testimonies Chapter 3: Black Women’s Cancer Support SeekingChapter 4: Healing Claims as Acts of Faith and Resistance Chapter 5: Black Women Transformed into Cancer SurvivorsChapter 6: Black Cancer Survivors’ Transformative Theology of Hope

Elizabeth A. Williams is associate professorin the Department of Public Health, Health Administration and Health Sciences at Tennessee State University.

Williams (Tennessee State Univ.) explores cultural theology and how it connects to African American women diagnosed with, treated for, or surviving breast cancer. Williams interviews survivors about their faith during this period of their lives to better understand the way they see God and how that view affects how their response to their disease. Williams includes an extensive bibliography for her research, and attaches notes to each chapter. She opens up in the introduction about her subjective position on the issues she studies—her position in the clergy and the relationships she developed with the women she interviews. She addresses how she conducted her research in the introduction, making it the most academically focused chapter in the book; though less rigorous, the rest of the book offers a useful ethnography; Williams addresses the roles God plays for women with cancer and how they identify themselves during the treatment—for example, some identify their struggle with breast cancer as parallel to Jesus’s struggle; many see God as either judge or liberator. In the second half, Williams examines the way survivors are changed from their experiences and find new roles in their church.Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates and above; general readers.

• Chapter 1: Talking God and Talking CancerChapter 2: The Power of Black Women’s Cancer Testimonies Chapter 3: Black Women’s Cancer Support SeekingChapter 4: Healing Claims as Acts of Faith and Resistance Chapter 5: Black Women Transformed into Cancer SurvivorsChapter 6: Black Cancer Survivors’ Transformative Theology of Hope

Elizabeth A. Williams is associate professorin the Department of Public Health, Health Administration and Health Sciences at Tennessee State University.

Williams (Tennessee State Univ.) explores cultural theology and how it connects to African American women diagnosed with, treated for, or surviving breast cancer. Williams interviews survivors about their faith during this period of their lives to better understand the way they see God and how that view affects how their response to their disease. Williams includes an extensive bibliography for her research, and attaches notes to each chapter. She opens up in the introduction about her subjective position on the issues she studies—her position in the clergy and the relationships she developed with the women she interviews. She addresses how she conducted her research in the introduction, making it the most academically focused chapter in the book; though less rigorous, the rest of the book offers a useful ethnography; Williams addresses the roles God plays for women with cancer and how they identify themselves during the treatment—for example, some identify their struggle with breast cancer as parallel to Jesus’s struggle; many see God as either judge or liberator. In the second half, Williams examines the way survivors are changed from their experiences and find new roles in their church.Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates and above; general readers.

• Chapter 1: Talking God and Talking CancerChapter 2: The Power of Black Women’s Cancer Testimonies Chapter 3: Black Women’s Cancer Support SeekingChapter 4: Healing Claims as Acts of Faith and Resistance Chapter 5: Black Women Transformed into Cancer SurvivorsChapter 6: Black Cancer Survivors’ Transformative Theology of Hope