This new guidebook by leading pastoral theologians challenges much in contemporary developmental theory. Arguing that women's developmental stages cannot automatically be assumed to match those of men, the authors provide a fresh analysis of the rewards and challenges of women at different stages of the life cycle.

Useful as a text or reference, the book sheds new light on developmental themes, passages, and issues in the lives of women from the perspective of pastoral care. From pre-adolescence to end-of-life-passages, from such diverse themes as the developmental context for intimate violence and the impact of trauma on development to issues of women's power and authority across the life-span, In Her Own Time provides a much-needed framework for the pastoral care of women. Designed to be used as either a textbook for students or a reference for pastors and counselors, In Her Own Time takes a probing theological and psychological look at the possibilities and hurdles in the life-span of today's women.

Like Gail Sheehy's Passages, Daniel Levinson's Seasons of a Lifetime, or Mary Pipher's Reviving Ophelia, In Her Own Time will provide a framework—in this case, a religious and theological framework—for seeing the specific issues in the lives of today's women.