Isabella Tree
Robes to Enlightenment
The Saffron Road: A Journey with Buddha’s Daughters
By Christine Toomey
Portobello Books 367pp £14.99
Two headlines caught my attention recently: one, that an increasing number of women in Britain are becoming Catholic nuns; the other, that female clergy in the Anglican Church are demanding the right to refer to God as ‘She’. Perhaps, at last, there are signs that the patriarchal hegemony of the Christian world-view is breaking down. Certainly, it seems that women continue to be attracted, perhaps more than ever, to a life of spiritual devotion.
The Saffron Road follows the path of women taking Buddhist orders, not just in the East, where Buddhism began 2,500 years ago, but in America and Europe too, including the UK, where the Buddhist movement is growing fast. The reasons for the women’s calling and their renunciation of material comforts, marriage and children, and sometimes lucrative careers lie at the heart of this beguiling and
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
How to ruin a film - a short guide by @TWHodgkinson:
Thomas W Hodgkinson - There Was No Sorcerer
Thomas W Hodgkinson: There Was No Sorcerer - Box Office Poison: Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops by Tim Robey
literaryreview.co.uk
How to ruin a film - a short guide by @TWHodgkinson:
Thomas W Hodgkinson - There Was No Sorcerer
Thomas W Hodgkinson: There Was No Sorcerer - Box Office Poison: Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops by Tim Robey
literaryreview.co.uk
Give the gift that lasts all year with a subscription to Literary Review. Save up to 35% on the cover price when you visit us at https://literaryreview.co.uk/subscribe and enter the code 'XMAS24'