Feminism and Christian Tradition

This annotated bibliography, a volume in the Greenwood series, Bibliographies and Indexes in Religious Studies, provides access to the numerous writings, from the 1960s through the 1990s, on feminism and Christian tradition. Major feminist theologians and sociologists are represented. As a guide to further research, this cross-disciplinary approach presents themes and issues in both a historical and a topical framework. An extensive overview of feminism in relation to the women's movement, women's studies, sociology and American religion introduces the literature and provides a historical context for the nearly one thousand entries that follow.Cross-referenced throughout, the literature is presented in six thematic categories that include introductory and background materials, feminism and the development of feminist theology, topical literatures in feminist theology, feminism and womanist theology, religious leadership of women, and responses and recent developments. Separate author, subject, and title indexes complete the volume.

"A work of breathtaking scope! Dr. Mary-Paula Walsh provides an astonishingly comprehensive road-map through the variegated literature that makes up the feminist Christian landscape. This work is essential reading for anyone interested in the feminist movement in American Christianity--its history, theoretical development, trends, issues, sub-disciplines, and principal authors. Irenic in tone and analytically perceptive, Feminism and Christian Tradition opens interdisciplinary windows that will enhance bridge-building conversations among religious feminists of every persuasion. An invaluable resource!"-Frances Taylor Gench Associate Professor of Biblical Studies Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, "An important sociologist of Religion, Walsh has missed little and has also made a unique contribution by highlighting writings that specifically relate not only to the theological and cultural/ritual reconstruction of Christian traditions, but those that have socio-theoretical import and that track impacts and reactions in the sociological, socio-theoretical, and public policy arenas. She has identified important versions of anti-feminist theological response, including those of the Christian Right. No library or Research Center should be without this splendidly conceived and well crafted resource."-Beverly W. Harrison Carolyn Williams Beaird Professor Emeritus of Christian Ethics Union Theological Seminary, "Feminism and Christian Tradition is a book that should be put on immediate reserve in university departments of religion and graduate-level seminaries in this and other countries....This incredible volume will prove valuable to students and mature academics well into the next century."-Adair T. Lummis Research Faculty Associate Center for Social and Religious Research Hartford Seminary, "Mary-Paula Walsh...has read, evaluated, and categorized 976 books and articles on theology and sociology related to feminism, and she has put it all into this very useful reference work. It is a magisterial product, the result of years of reading and organizing. Its annotations are more like book reviews than traditional annotations, and they will speed the job of anyone wanting to comprehend this field."-Dean R. Hoge Professor of Sociology Catholic University of America, .,."a useful volume for scholars and students, as well as those who are relatively new to and curious about the field. Its comprehensiveness makes it a great addition to parish libraries as a way to make accessible a vast quantity of material for those interested in adult education, the role of women in the church, the development of Christian worship, and other subjects which closely touch the hearts and minds of local readers. Overall, Feminism and Christian Tradition is an invitation to discover and rediscover the remarkable growth and development of feminist studies in religion."-Anglican Theological Review

MARY-PAULA WALSH is a sociologist with specializations in feminist and religious studies./e She was formerly on the faculty of the Lutheran Theology Seminary at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where she served as Professor of Church and Society for eight years. Currently, she is Lecturer at Montgomery College in Germantown, Maryland and Senior Research Analyst at a private consulting firm outside Washington, D.C.