Breaking Free: The Story of a Feminist Baptist Minister

Jann Aldredge-Clanton didn't start out as a reformer. When she was a pre-teen, she almost starved herself to death trying to fit into the culture's feminine mold. In high school she felt inadequate because she never won a beauty crown, even though she graduated at the top of her class. Slowly, she began waking up to her own voice, and became one of the first women ever to be ordained as a Baptist minister in the South. It has not been an easy road. She almost lost her job as a professor at a Baptist university because she refused to sign a fundamentalist statement of beliefs. She was labeled a "heretic" for calling God "She" and "Mother." Others said she couldn't be an ordained minister because it would be "unbiblical." The controversy over women's roles in religion was just another example of the glass ceiling women too often face in American society.

Called "Waco's Give 'Em Hell Minister" for her outspoken opinions and action on social issues, Jann divulges in Breaking Free how she discovered her mission of freeing people, including herself, from sexism and other injustices. Breaking Free is a remarkable memoir that shows the liberating power of faith combined with feminism. It will inspire readers of all ages to find the freedom to become all God created them to be.