For the Black community in Haiti and the United States, Christianity has often been cited as source for spiritual connection, healing and liberation. It has been romanticized--and at times rightfully so--as a source for communal development and preservation within these communities. In this thesis, I explore Edwidge Danticats Breath, Eyes, Memory and Toni Morrisons Paradise and how these authors engage in a subversive dialogue across the Americas about the role of Christianity in the lives of Black women. Specifically, I propose Danticat and Morrison illuminate how the Black community appropriates Christianity to reinstitute gender hierarchy and gender oppression. Critical to the investigation of this matter is the role of the Virgin Mary as the ideal standard for womanhood.