Seven Transforming Gifts of Menopause: An Unexpected Spiritual Journey

by Cheryl Bridges Johns

Overview

Menopause is a dramatic but largely overlooked developmental window to the second half of life. Although today's women are more aware of and actively involved in mapping their menopausal journey than generations before, many still do not see menopause as a time of important psychological and spiritual transformation.

This book goes far beyond hot flashes and gets to the very heart of the midlife journey, helping women find their unique voice and speak their truth in an era of #MeToo and #ChurchToo. Coming alongside readers as a wise spiritual guide, pastor and theologian Cheryl Bridges Johns identifies seven key developmental "tasks" of menopause and gives practical ways women can embrace each one. She encourages women to view these tasks as gifts as they experience the remarkable physical, emotional, and spiritual transformation that occurs in this stage of life.

Written in a warm and conversational tone, this book helps women chart a course for the future, leading them to a renewed sense of identity, a more focused vision for life, and a deeper spirituality. Each chapter includes guided questions for personal reflection and study questions for group discussion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781587434396
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/17/2020
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Cheryl Bridges Johns (PhD, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is senior professor of discipleship and Christian formation at Pentecostal Theological Seminary. She has researched the ways human development intersects with spiritual transformation for over three decades. Johns was formerly co-pastor of New Covenant Church of God in Cleveland, Tennessee. She is a leading ecumenist, representing the Pentecostal movement in several venues, and is past president of the Society for Pentecostal Studies.

Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction
1. Puberty and the Relational Self
2. The Gift of Uncovering
3. The Gift of Anger
4. The Gift of the Authentic Self
5. The Gift of Expanded Time
6. The Gift of Spiritual Freedom
7. The Gift of Vision
8. The Gift of Courage
Index

Editorial Reviews

02/10/2020

Johns (Pentecostal Formation), a professor at Pentecostal Theological Seminary, takes a theological approach to menopause in this encouraging study. She argues that menopause is a developmental process that opens the door to the later stages of a woman’s life, bringing what she calls “gifts” and opportunities for growth and fulfillment. She weaves together findings from science about the biochemistry of menopause with observations from such thinkers as Christiane Northrup and Carol Gilligan. That forms the backdrop for the stories she tells about herself and other women going through the “storm of perimenopause” and all that ensues. She recommends “leaning into the storm” of hormones and emotions by opening the door to repressed memories, allowing oneself to grieve, enlisting support of others, acknowledging any feelings of depression, allowing oneself to ask “what if?” questions, and finally forgiving oneself and others. Johns’s strength is her candid and pastoral storytelling, making this powerful book stand out as a treatment of the spirituality of menopause among the many medical manuals that describe this time of life. The author’s frame of reference will be most familiar to more conservative evangelical Christian readers, but any Christian reader confronting menopause will find much in Johns’s reassuring advice. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly