Women in Christian Traditions

Uncovers women's participation and impact on defining historical moments and themes of Christian traditionsWomen in Christian Traditions offers a concise and accessible examination of the roles women have played in the construction and practice of Christian traditions, revealing the enormous debt that this major world religion owes to its female followers. It recovers forgotten and obscured moments in church history to help us to realize a richer and fuller understanding of Christianity.This text provides an overview of the complete sweep of Christian history through the lens of feminist scholarship. Yet it also departs from some of the assumptions of that scholarship, raising questions that challenge our thinking about how women have shaped beliefs and practices during two thousand years of church history. Did the emphasis on virginity in the early church empower Christian women? Did the emphasis on marriage during the Reformations of the sixteenth century improve their status? These questions and others have important implications for women in Christianity in particular, and for women in religion in general, since they go to the heart of the human condition.This work examines themes, movements, and events in their historical contexts and locates churchwomen within the broader developments that have been pivotal in the evolution of Christianity. From the earliest disciples to the latest theologians, from the missionaries to the martyrs, women have been instrumental in keeping the faith alive. Women in Christian Traditions shows how they did so.

A very useful introductory book to women's roles in Christian history. It provides a solid overview of feminist scholarship from the beginnings of Christianity to the present. It will play a key role in courses on this history., A major contribution to the literature on women in Christianity. Moore effectively synthesizes the last thirty years of scholarship. . . . Using the template of saints, seers and scholars, she has managed to bewonder of wondersboth comprehensive and brief. Both readable and informative, this book will inform undergraduates in courses on the history of Christianity and in women's and gender studies classes. And some might want to buy it for a religious leader who should be better informed on the issues!, The book would be an excellent source in an introduction to Christianity or a class on women in religion., An excellent conversation starter and would be a wonderful addition to any course syllabus looking to inspire classroom dialogue., Women in Christian Traditionsdirects a feminist lens at what would be, in less skilled hands, an unmanageable corpus of topics and source materials, and achieves a work that surveys the breadth and depth of its topic in a way that is informative, fresh, and engaging.

Rebecca Moore is Professor of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. She is the author of Voices of Christianity: A Global Introduction, and co-author of A Portable God: The Origin of Judaism and Christianity, with Risa Levitt Kohn. Her most recent book is Understanding Jonestown and Peoples Temple.