The Black Madonna

Social psychologist and author of God Is a Black Woman Christena Cleveland brings forth the Black Madonna as a Divine icon and spiritual home.

This is a call to reclaim a spirituality that has always been ours. Through story, image, reflection and ritual, The Black Madonna becomes an invitation for the spiritually curious and justice-minded to move beyond dogma and towards embodied, mystical liberation. Written in a voice that bridges scholarship and devotion, this book is for all who are longing for a decolonized, diasporic and feminine-rooted sacred – one that speaks directly to the soul’s hunger for belonging, meaning and collective healing.

Drawing on Christian mysticism, Black feminist theology, ancestral memory and global iconography, this work is both a historical excavation and a contemporary invocation of an iconic figure. Each chapter brings the reader into conversation with a different embodiment of the Black Madonna, from ancient statues hidden in caves to modern artistic visions, illuminating her power as a sacred symbol.