Nelle Katherine Morton (1905-1987) was a church activist for racial justice, a teacher of Christian educators, and, later in her life, one of the leading influences on the powerful and growing movement of women's spirituality and feminist theology.

Nelle Morton began her journey in 1905, when she was born in the hill country of east Tennessee. Her circumstances were humble, but her heritage was proud. As she would later write, "I did not have to start at the beginning." One historian has referred to her grandmother's people as a little band of Presbyterians from the Scottish Highlands seeking freedom and justice. Morton's mother, whom she referred to as "a strong Appalachian Amazon," remained a powerful influence all of Morton's days, entering even into a vision reported in one of her final essays. Her mother was a schoolteacher, a faithful church woman, and a social activist who had written in...