Bell Hooks’ Spiritual Vision: Buddhist, Christian, and Feminist

Bell Hooks was a Black feminist and scholar who wrote more than three dozen books. She was catapulted to prominence with her book Ain't I a Woman, which examines how Black American women have historically faced gender, class, and racial oppression.

Hooks also identified as a Buddhist Christian. She kept her spiritual practice private for years, fearing there was no room to discuss her faith in the feminist movement or in the academy. However, she ultimately decided to talk and write about her faith to give hope to students curious about her source of strength in a society she deemed an "imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy."

Hooks's spiritual practice was centered on love as a force for social change. She was influenced by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Nittle argues that hooks's contributions to religious discourse are largely unheralded.

This book offers readers a window into spirituality's role in hooks' life, writing, and activism. It speaks both to hooks's longtime followers and to newcomers to her writing. Regardless of their starting points, readers will get to know bell hooks for all she was: Buddhist, Christian, and feminist.