-17, Melanie Jones Quarles engages Black religious thought and cultural criticism to expose how the Black Church paradoxically nurtures Black women while also sustaining their oppression. Quarles mines the prophetic imaginations of influential womanist thinkers, crafting a liberating vision that resists serving as surrogate "saviors" in society and religion.  With insights into politics, Christology, and biblical interpretation, this book boldly calls Black women to unbend their bodies and reclaim their moral agency in the face of crooked systems that attempt to constrain their freedom.Melanie Jones Quarles is a womanist ethicist, millennial preacher, and intellectual activist. She is assistant professor of ethics, theology, and culture, and director of The Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership, Union Presbyterian Seminary. A third-generation ordained Baptist preacher and sought-after lecturer, she is a leading millennial Black religious scholar.