This book will develop a theology of breast milk through four moments while drawing upon publications, art, personal narratives, and popular devotions. The allusions to and around the image of breast milk and breast feeding found in scripture present the first moment. Conceptualizations of breast milk and breast feeding in medieval Europe illustrate the second moment. Utilizations of these images in New Spain render the third moment. Finally, pastoral implications for a theology of breast milk in the twenty-first century depict the fourth moment.

This project responds to four particular needs: (1) the need for more female embodied images related to notions of divinity; (2) the need for further theological historical retrieval linking traditions from scripture through Latin America to current day USA so as to continue to open the frames for understanding Christian histories from a plurality of perspectives; (3) the closely connected need to have broader and deeper theologies which attend to pastoral concerns not only of the growing Latino/a population in the USA but also to the diversity of populations in North America.

This text makes contributions to academic and pastoral discourses in that it will be the first of its kind: (1) to develop a constructive theology of breast milk which connects the various sub-disciplines of scriptural, historical, and pastoral theologies; (2) to engage writings from Sor Maria Anna Agueda de San Ignacio (1695-1756), a Mexican female author previously unknown in theological discourse in the USA; and (3) to include narratives from contemporary women around conceptualizations of breast milk, breast feeding, and divinity.