ABSTRACT
Why a chapter on women and spirituality? What can we learn from the inner beliefs and outward practices of women? To study the spirituality of women is to complete the circle. As Carol Ochs (1983) stated, “Since traditional spirituality has been male-centered, it has been regarded as an extension of the male maturational process that emphasizes individualitycoming into selfhood. The new spirituality offered here is an extension of the female maturational process that emphasizes nurturing-coming into relationship” (p. 2). Who would adhere to a spirituality that comes out of partial experience? Who would consider an experience complete that looks at only one sex?
