"Four Women, Three Faiths"

Holmes has recently released her second book, "Four Women, Three Faiths," through Harbor House Publishing in Augusta, Ga. The book is a narrative piece that has a cross-cultural approach to women and how their faiths influence their lives.

In her own words, the book can be described as: "In my mind's eye I carry a picture personifying the word, woman. She is a dancing spirit: grounded in the earth, yet able to soar to the heavens. I see her idealistically in this image At this point in human history, 80 percent of American women aged 25-to-54 are working. Half of all law school graduates are women. More then 40 percent of Chrisitian seminarians are female; 50 percent of Reform and Reconstuctionistrabbis are women. Women are entering theological schools, becoming seminary professors, and exploring spirituality at an unprecedented rate.

More significantly though, they are turning self-understanding into the building blocks for new communities and coalitions. Their spiritual searching is a symphony still being composed. I hear their voices when I listen to the stories of the women I've known. They hail from every religious background. I have told their stories for more than 28 years as a newspaper reporter and religion journalist. As a college professor, I have begun to hear their voices in a new way in the young women sociologists call "the millennials." Along the way, I've learned to listen to the story behind the story, especially when the tale revolves around religion.

This book is about how other women and the feminine face of God has has shaped my own life and how they testify to the great need among women to know each other's soul stories. The soul stories of four women are told here. From these women, my friends and colleagues, I have learned to tell stories that have shaped my life, my work, and my spirituality. The stories for four women from three religious trditions are told here, but this book explores how their experiences are unifying themes in the lives and experiences of average women. It also examines how those themes may shape the next generation.

These women taught me to listen to the stories of my contemporaries and to the tales of my female forebears. The resulting book is neither cynical analysis nor factual reportage, but a word picture. It honors storytelling, what I do best and what women have done for centuries."