Evelyn L. Parker – Tending the Sacred Souls of Teenage Girls

Dr. Evelyn Parker delivers a lecture entitled, "Tending the Sacred Souls of Teenage Girls." Lives of young adolescent girls are plagued with struggles of racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism and many other –isms. How does an adolescent girl foster her personal spirituality in the face of such beasts? Dr. Parker proposes that there are four essential components for nurturing a wholesome spirituality in adolescent girls: realization, resistance, resilience, and ritual. These four concepts and the practical ways in which they can be applied to the lives of young girls to help foster that strong sense of spirituality will be the cornerstone of this session.

This lecture was delivered on June 3, 2014 as part of YMI's annual Summer Symposium, "God Power! Youth Power! Transforming the City" at Yale Divinity School.