With Love and With Passion

Using many of the portraits from an exhibition at a festival in Harare, Zimbabwe, in December 1998, this book weaves together photographs and short texts by more than 30 women. There have been many photo exhibits of women. This one was different. At an event to mark the end of the Ecumenical Decade, the first pictorial history of women in the ecumenical movement was inaugurated. The exhibit has since been touring the world and has generated excitement and comment. Now this book, inspired by the exhibit, picks up its key themes and images to make them available to readers worldwide. We accompany a Sri Lankan woman through a stressful day, we hear about women dealing with HIV/AIDS and violence, we feel for the women dealing with situations of racism and for those who have to flee their homes and their countries, for those in political struggles and those trying to negotiate peace. Then there are the women who have played a key role in furthering the ecumenical movement and understanding between churches -- both in their regions and in international ecumenical organizations -- and those whose theological studies have raised a host of issues and opened them up to discussion.