Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-216) and index.

Botox. Plastic surgery. The Wonder Bra. Women sometimes go to desperate lengths to distort, mold, and fashion their bodies into that of the "ideal" woman. They live with the reality of the body, from its reproductive implications to pressures from the media to look a certain way. They are intimately connected to their bodies, despite the historical paradigm of a disconnected body and soul. Lilian Barger notes that the splitting of soul vs. body is "part of our spiritual problem." So Eve's Revenge is written not to help women overcome their perceived shortcomings, but to provide an increased understanding of how woman's relationship with the body and its social meaning impacts spirituality. Barger investigates the tension women experience between their bodies and their desire for a spiritual life. She responds with the possibility of viewing women as something other than perennially split between body and soul. This paradigm, offered through the life and work of Jesus of Nazareth, provides insight into how women ought to live in the world and very much in their own skin. Women struggling with a body/soul tension and those interested in the social and spiritual meaning of the female body will find this book revealing and liberating.

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