According to St. James, a Grammy award–winning artist, and Hunter-Bjorklund, a radio talk show host and founding editor of Single-Parent Family
magazine, today's Christian woman should be proud to be termed a "SHE"—the authors' acronym for Safety, Health and Empowerment. Both authors believe it's now time to redefine feminism, and they employ the rather unimaginative term "new feminism" to describe their goal: to enable Christian women to move beyond daily stresses and rediscover the fulfilling life God intended all along. There was a time when evangelicals dared not mention the word "empowerment" for fear of being associated with New Age philosophies, but here the word connotes having what it takes and is considered a necessary resource for success. Using a mixture of homespun advice, biblical characters and cleverly designed questions and answers, the authors cover such timeless subjects as protection, intimacy, femininity, beauty, purity, freedom, mentorship, boundaries and purpose. Only the chapters on feminism and beauty provide a more novel approach to these timeworn topics, yet even these sections resort to hokey word plays such as describing the inner transformation from defeated Bathsheba to BathSHEba, the "safe, healthy, and empowered" biblical figure who repented of her sins. Although fans of St. James will likely flock to this book, most of its content rehashes familiar material. (Nov.)
