Sor Juana Press

Sor Juana Press is dedicated to publishing the works of women—particularly women of color and women religious—on topics rooted in women’s spirituality and relationship with Earth, la Tierra, nuestra Madre.

The Press invokes the name and honors the memory of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695), a Mexican nun, scholar, poet, playwright, musician, and scientist—a woman with a
sed de conocer (a thirst for knowing)—who was silenced for advocating women’s education. Hers is the first voice in the Americas to speak out in favor of a woman’s right to learn and to express concern about human depredation of the environment.

Dominican Women on Earth Series

We draw upon a rich 13th century tradition in publishing the Dominican Women on Earth series. Beginning at that time, a new form of theology emerged in which women, “for the first time in Christianity, took on an important, perhaps even preponderant role,” Bernard McGinn writes in the introduction to MEISTER ECKHART AND THE BEGUINE MYSTICS.

“Vernacular” theology differed both in content and audience from the academic concerns of scholastic theology and the biblical commentary of monastic theology. Written not in Latin but in the spoken language of medieval people, vernacular theology “implied a different and wider audience than that addressed by traditional monastic and scholastic theology.”

Among those who contributed significantly to the body of vernacular theology were the Beguines, women in Europe who took up a nontraditional form of independent and apostolic religious life beginning in the 12th century. Written by nontraditional women in a nontraditional language, the vernacular teachings also came in nontraditional forms.

According to McGinn, “Much of it was expressed in sermonic form, though of many kinds. A wide variety of treatises and ‘little books’ were employed, as well as hagiography and letters. Poetry was also of significance.”

We draw upon this tradition in publishing this series of “little books,” written by Dominican women in a vernacular created out of the soil of their experience of living into new ways of being human, at the dawn of the 21st century. These new ways of being are impelled by an inchoate awareness of our place in the Universe and by the shocking awareness of an imperiled Earth. The series explores the many issues connected with these new awarenesses.

La Mujer y La Tierra Series

In this series of “little books,” we draw upon the wisdom and experience of Latina women who speak of their lives, their connectedness to Earth, their sense of spirituality, their struggles with oppression, their bonds to familia y comunidad.

These works are in process. We will post titles as they become available. In the meantime, we urge you to tap into the wisdom of African-American, Latina, and Native-American women, who share their own powerful and poignant stories and pathways to leadership in Ohtli Encuentro.