Grace in Motion: The Intersection of Women's Ordination and Virginia Theological Seminary

Grace in Motion is a detailed account of the experiences of some of the first women priests in the Episcopal Church in the United States, as seen through the lens of the community of Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS). An elegant hardcover book illustrated with 180 photographs, it shares the stories of a variety of VTS faculty and students, from the first woman to teach at the seminary as a visiting instructor in 1949, to the female VTS alumnae who were ordained as two of the Philadelphia 11 in 1974, to present-day women priests who travel to Tanzania, East Africa, through a VTS partnership to mentor women preparing for ordination there. Author Judith Maxwell McDaniel conducted personal interviews with more than 50 women connected with Virginia Theological Seminary, following their diverse journeys of call, seminary education, ordination, and priesthood. Three of the ordained women included went on to become Episcopal bishops; another, the Very Rev. Martha Horne, served first as faculty and then dean of Virginia Theological Seminary, becoming the first female dean and president of an accredited Episcopal seminary in the United States. Through their stories, McDaniel finds a common theme of the grace of God, working to allow the gifts of all the baptized to become available to the Church.