Carter Heyward is awesome! As a senior in high school her book had a massive impact on my young life. She not only inspired me to further explore the priesthood, she inspired me to further explore myself. Her book was a life changing experience that everyone should have!

Heyward writes from her personal experience of a therapeutic realtionship that has gone bad and her struggle to reconcile herself and her feminist ideals with this experience. Her conclusions challenge the assumptions on which current professional ethical standards are based. She calls us to re-think the balance of power in therapeutic relationships and seek new ways to relate in feminist models of power and relationships. Mental health professionals will find her analysis disturbing as it shakes the foundations of our ethical codes. However, Heyward's analysis is an essential voice to be heard if feminist therapists truly seek to remove the patriarchal assumptions from our professional practice.

I found this book to be an excellent study as to how badly a psychotherapist can damage a clients emotional and psychological health, and then blame or discredit the client for bringing on that damage, instead of taking responsibility for harming the client. This is called counter-transference in the profession.

I can also fully understand why many psychotherapists including social workers and psychologists would hate this book; many therapists do not like to take responsibility for counter transference, which is basically hate or abuse directed towards clients. It does not portray the profession in a good light. It does, however, bring out many unfortunate truths inherent within the psychotherapy industry, and also is a premier as to what kind of psychotherapists to avoid. It get's five stars from me!

Carter writes personally of her own experience in therapy, and the problems within it as a woman, lesbian, and person. Her therapy crashes, not because it failed AS A WHOLE, but because of the problems of the therapeutic model-i.e. Therapist as an authority. It is brilliant, as Carter challenges this model, which is rigid and, unfortunately, centuries old, and presses against fine boundaries which pretend to protect us but actually serve to subtley harm us. She is very sensitive, and anyone who would have strong feelings against this book either doesn't understand or has never felt the kind of passion for someone that Carter writes of. A brilliant book.

"God in the Balance: Christian Spirituality in Times of Terror," by Carter Heyward, is a work of Christian theology that attempts to address spiritual and ethical issues in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The back cover notes that the author is a theology professor at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The book is very much in the liberal/progressive/radical Christian tradition; Heyward cites such figures as Mohandas K. Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Desmond Tutu. At 110 pages, it's a fairly short book.

Heyward's words are consistently thought-provoking. She discusses many topics: the idea of a just war, the idea of loving one's enemies, the concept of God as mother, etc. She is very critical of the Bush administration and of the "[Jerry] Falwell-[Pat] Robertson version of Christianity." Some of the most compelling material in the book deals with her involvement in a therapeutic horse riding program; ultimately she points toward a theology that more fully embraces the worth of non-human beings. Overall, a compelling work from a consistently interesting theologian.

Carter Heyward has written the book that should be required reading for all in the mental health field. She advocates loosening the boundaries between client and therapist in the theraputic relationship in order to create a mutual interacton between two people where deeper intimacy is established. A seemingly innocuous premise, Heyward then goes on to demonstrate the precise reason this is a dangerous practice--especially when the client they face is Heyward. Unsatisfied that her therapist was unable to meet her persistant demands for constant attention, unpaid sessions, touch, and sexual advances, Heyward's behavior escalated to stalking, lying, inventing psychological problems, and manipulation in order to get what she wants. When she fails at this, her revenge is writing the book. I can only believe that it was published due to Heyward's reputation for innovative thinking because if those who care for her had read the unpublised manuscript, they would have realized she has embarassed herself badly. Like an adolescent in heat, Heyward has reduced herself to shameful behaviors, freely admitted. Her idea for mutuality in therapy(an exciting basis for innovative work) are masked by her obcessive needs and sexual desires. She even claims that her pets psychically communicated that she should continue her stalking behavior, and that her therapist welcomed the attentions. As a mental health professional reading this work, I realize I could have been reading a case study for borderline behavior. The book that needs to be written about intimacy, mutuality, and experimental relations in therapy remains unwritten. But, "When Boundaries Betray Us" is a fascinating study of a disintegrating mind. A sad story, but recommended to all clients and therapists alike.

I found this book to be an excellent study as to how badly a psychotherapist can damage a clients emotional and psychological health, and then blame or discredit the client for bringing on that damage, instead of taking responsibility for harming the client and trying to repair the damage done. This is called counter-transference in the profession. This happens when a psychotherapist "loses" control of their faculties within the therapeutic relationship and it is sad to see therapists go off the deep end. The therapist is more responsible than the client for keeping therapy under control, because it is the therapist who has the professional training and experience. If the therapist described in this story had kept their wits about them, this sad situation would never have happened. It takes two to tango.

I can also fully understand why many psychotherapists including social workers and psychologists would dislike this book; many therapists do not like to take responsibility for counter transference, which is basically a therapists mental illness projected towards the client. It does not portray the profession in a good light. It does, however, bring out many unfortunate truths inherent within the psychotherapy industry, and also is a premier as to what kind of psychotherapists to avoid. It get's five stars from me! A book with guts, for a client who was harmed to not only stand up for their rights, but ALSO to write a book about it I am impressed!

Carter Heyward has written a brilliant book on the failure of her psychotherapist, in essence, to own her issues. In contrast to another review I read about this book, it is not an 'embarrassing read on borderline behavior", but rather the very real development of a relationship. I actually identified t with this book as I had a very similar experience with a therapist. There are VERY few models that I have found that deal with the "patient" BECOMING, and maturing and being able to challenge the therapist. This is precisely because therapy is built on a patriarchal model, and this is what Ms. Heyward very thoroughly (perhaps a tad redundant at times) describes. Either health exists inside a person, and needs healing, or it is "given" to the person, as the patriarchal model suggests. There needs to be mutuality for development of health and relationship. She is extremely insightful, and articulate in her writing, and describes the push- ! ! pull of a relationship developing very accurately. I think if one is a psychotherapist in a traditional sense, it is almost impossible for one to understand this book, for precisely the reason that Carter suggests. She is way beyond her colleagues, and any genius in this world that shines, is always in the beginning, harshly criticized. Excellent book, and the critiques in the end are excellent as well.

I was disappointed. Carter's understanding of justice amounts to nothing more than they (i.e. men) had theirs so we want ours.

Her understanding of liberation does absolutely nothing to further the cause of women because it essentially alienates men; You cannot raise yourself up by putting down others.

These essays amount to nothing more than self-pitying polemics against "patriarchy," but she offers nothing constructive. It is whiny and arcane adolescent fervor.

Carter Heyward's work is a balm of wisdom for anyone hurt or disoriented by the hateful rhetoric of the religious right. In "Staying Power" Heyward provides an example of spirit connected to the realities of living, hardships and sacred over-comings. Through it all there is a sense of calm reassuring groundedness in our connectedness. It is wonderfully nourishing to the soul.

Christianity is so rethought here that there's nothing left. Scripture's too patriarchal. The Eucharist is too traditional. The Book of Common Prayer is too Eurocentric. What is left is a series of vaguely leftist bumper stickers. Even the four virtues seem to have collapsed!

but my critical thinking got the better of me. I agree with Heyward's stance on inclusiveness within the church, and the importance of not letting our concepts of Christ get the better of us, but she seems to have left Christianity entirely behind, or worse, used isolated Christian terms for their cultural weight while reinventing them to suit her own personal agenda. Her Christianity relates not to church or the story of Jesus, even in an allegorical sense, but to the wispy New Age mysticism that reduces religion to nonsensical abstract terms with no reality or practicality to them at all. Her spirit is fluffy and her flesh is entirely absent.

In stepping beyond the tradition of male-oriented, straight-oriented, white anglo-oriented thinking, Ms Heyward promptly induces a feeling in the reader of not-knowing-where-we-are -- a response to be welcomed, to be encouraged, to be deepened. In opposing "right-thinking", Ms Heyward does the Church, indeed all of us, a great service. In opposing "ruled-thinking", Ms Heyward actually may open the Church, and all of us, to the power and presence of God.