#BuyThisBook: World faiths collide in Charlotte Gordon's "The Woman Who Named God"

Wracking your tryptofan and powdered sugar addled brain for gift ideas? We asked our publishing peers and peeps to help us recommend a book every day from Black Friday to Christmas Eve!

The Woman Who Named God: Abraham's Dilemma and the Birth of Three Faiths by Charlotte Gordon
Recommended by Joni Rodgers (bestselling author, parochial school survivor, religion history nerd)
Perfect for anyone who loved The Red Tent.

Buy from Amazon
Buy from B&N
Buy from IndieBound

At the root of all three monotheistic faiths (and a whole lot of violent conflict) is the oft repeated but catastrophically misunderstood story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar: three all-too-human people in a disastrous love triangle. To understand the story's world-shattering impact, we have to go to that time and place. PW says The Woman Who Named God is "provocative...Gordon gives new power to a woman often left in the shadows. Focusing on Hagar's vision of God in the desert, Gordon argues that Hagar is a prophet and a mystic who names God El-Roi, or 'the God of my seeing'...provides glimpses of the power of Hagar's story for modern religions."

Tomorrow author Charlotte Gordon visits BoxOcto to talk about research and storytelling.