Preacher Woman as Change Agent, Messages of a Pastor/Scholar, 1981-2012 is a long and perhaps off-putting title. It describes the scope of this book. The dedication describes the human context. It reads, “In memory of my Grandfather, The Rev. Oscar E. Allison, Ph.D. (1880-1955) who could not have imagined that I would become a preacher...and for my adult Grandchildren—Everleigh, Chase, Madison, Ruth, Baden, and Jamie who grew up in a time in which clergywomen are not the exception, but the norm.”
Intended for busy readers, the book can be read a few pages at a time. There is no sequence in which it should be read. Stokes has graduate degrees from Yale and Harvard with an American Studies focus. The titles of these messages signal a wide range of contemporary events and topics, and their content reveal her progressive (or liberal) religious orientation. Color photos of the schools, or sanctuaries where Stokes led and preached—including Yale, Vassar, Hartford Seminary, and the University of Rochester—are included.
