When Women's Bodies Are Sacred: Rev. Akosua Hobert's New Anthology

Image: Three contributors to A Walk Around the Sun at KRST Unity Center, Los Angeles. (Courtesy: Black Voice News)

Now, Hobert brings that theology to the page with a new anthology, A Walk Around the Sun, weaving together birth, caregiving, grief, and doula work into one unbroken narrative of what she calls “the divine woman.”

“This book shows how the sanctuary lives in real life, in terms of birth, in terms of caregiving, in terms of grief and celebration, and everyday sacred work that women do. It’s like the legacy of the church expressed through this life.”
— Rev. Akosua Hobert

The anthology gathers the personal doula experiences of women and men who have served as birth, life, or death doulas — reframing the doula not as a birth companion alone, but as a spiritual guide for any of life’s thresholds. Drawing on Afrocentric and Christian traditions, the work centres on remembrance: reclaiming the wisdom of “the first woman” and restoring practices that have guided families across generations.

One of its most striking threads is the call to expansive, inclusive sisterhood. “It is very, very important that we recognise all sisters — not across colour, ethnicity, or cultures,” Hobert writes. “Sisters form a natural sisterhood.” That openness extends to men, who participate in the church’s life regularly. “Men have an X chromosome, which really makes them our sisters,” she says. “It’s very important that the concept of the divine feminine include men.”

A Walk Around the Sun is available now on Amazon.