The Dark Womb

LONGLISTED FOR THE MICHAEL RAMSEY PRIZE 2023

The experience of reproductive loss raises a series of profoundly theological questions: how can God have a plan for my life? Why didn’t God answer my prayers? How can I have hope after such an experience? Who am I after such a loss? Sadly, these are questions that, along with reproductive loss, have largely been ignored in theology. Karen O’Donnell tackles these questions head on, drawing on her own experiences of repeated reproductive loss as she re-conceives theology from the perspective of the miscarrying person.

Offering a fresh, original, and creative approach to theology, O’Donnell explores the complexity of the miscarrying body and its potential for theological revelation. She offers a re-conception of theologies of providence, prayer, hope, and the body as she reimagines theology out of these messy origins.

This book is for those who have experiences such losses and those who minister to them. But it is also for all those who want to encounter a creative and imaginative approach to theology and the life of faith in our messy, complex world.