Bethany Seminary professor co-edits book on reproductive loss.

Ten years ago, five women theological educators discovered their common anguish during a professional growth event in Crawfordsville, Ind. Their collaborative discussions and research, along with their personal reflections, are compiled in "Hope Deferred: Heart-Healing Reflections on Reproductive Loss," recently released by Pilgrim Press. Nadine Pence Frantz, professor of theological studies at Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Ind., and an ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren is one of the book's co-editors.

Mary T. Stimming, adjunct professor of theology at Dominican University in River Forest, Ill., also served as a co-editor. Other contributing writers are L. Serene Jones, Titus Street professor of theology at Yale Divinity School; Kristen E. Kvam, associate professor of theology at St. Paul School of Theology, Kansas City; and Linda A. Mercadante, B. Robert Straker professor of theology at the Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio.

In the book's introduction, Frantz and Stimming note that during their initial conversations they shared titles of many works of sociology and psychology that document the effects of infertility and miscarriage, but were hard-pressed to name any theological works explicitly devoted to the experience. "In the course of our conversations, we spoke of struggles with prayer, of painful treatment within our churches, of anger with God and others, of being unable to speak of God coherently, and of other theological wrestling," they wrote. "We had not encountered any serious, sustained theological reflections on such topics in direct connection with infertility, miscarriage, and stillbirth. Our frustration became part of the impetus of this project."

The book contains an essay from each writer, covering a spectrum of responses to reproductive loss. "Why" centers on the loss of autobiographical narrative and the hopes and dreams contained in a marriage; "Sorrow" highlights the loss of the physical realities of pregnancy and participation in the world of mothers; "Rupture" explores the loss of control over self and of hopes and dreams of the future; "Comfort" ponders a loss of relationship; and "Faith" considers the loss of a jointly conceived, genetically linked child.

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Source: 10/26/2005 Newsline
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