Most feminists have turned away from the Christian churches, regarding both Catholicism and the protestant denominations as bastions of sexism and patriarchal oppression. However, Christian feminists committed to improving the position of Christian women and to the spiritual renewal of their respective churches are drawing inspiration for their struggles from the contemporary Women’s Movement. In this study Sara Maitland looks at what has been happening to Christian women in general, and Christian feminists in particular, over the last fifteen to twenty years. She sets their experiences in the framework of the history of the churches and reviews it in the light of events such as the Second Vatican Council, the ordination of Baptist and Episcopal women ministers in America and Britain, and the debate about the ordination of women in the Anglican communion. She argues that the insights gained by Christian feminists put them in a unique position to prophesy to their respective churches, leading them back to the Gospel imperatives of love, justice and freedom, and that an understanding and acceptance of this role of women is crucial to the well-being of the whole Church. As well as studying the history, theology and institutional structures of the denominational churches, the book uses a wealth of interview material from both sides of the Atlantic to describe the experiences of women from many different backgrounds, including nuns, women priests and lay workers. Sara Maitland concludes that Christianity can and must pass beyond the long centuries of oppression and division into ‘a new country’, a country in which women and men are equally ‘made in the image of God’. First published in 1983.

Most feminists have turned away from the Christian churches, regarding both Catholicism and the protestant denominations as bastions of sexism and patriarchal oppression. However, Christian feminists committed to improving the position of Christian women and to the spiritual renewal of their respective churches are drawing inspiration for their struggles from the contemporary Women’s Movement. In this study Sara Maitland looks at what has been happening to Christian women in general, and Christian feminists in particular, over the last fifteen to twenty years. She sets their experiences in the framework of the history of the churches and reviews it in the light of events such as the Second Vatican Council, the ordination of Baptist and Episcopal women ministers in America and Britain, and the debate about the ordination of women in the Anglican communion. She argues that the insights gained by Christian feminists put them in a unique position to prophesy to their respective churches, leading them back to the Gospel imperatives of love, justice and freedom, and that an understanding and acceptance of this role of women is crucial to the well-being of the whole Church. As well as studying the history, theology and institutional structures of the denominational churches, the book uses a wealth of interview material from both sides of the Atlantic to describe the experiences of women from many different backgrounds, including nuns, women priests and lay workers. Sara Maitland concludes that Christianity can and must pass beyond the long centuries of oppression and division into ‘a new country’, a country in which women and men are equally ‘made in the image of God’. First published in 1983.

Films and television programs about nuns (women in a religious order) are among the most successful and popular we watch, from old favorites like The Sound of Music to recent smash hits like Call the Midwife and Mrs. Davis. This new collection studies the fascinating and often controversial ways nuns have been portrayed in popular media, such as warriors, career women, and agents of supernatural horror. Specialist contributors in popular culture study more than a century of works from around the globe in genres as diverse as musicals, horror films, and even heavy metal music videos.

The ‘minority’ feminist viewpoints have often been submerged in the interests of maintaining a mainstream, universal model of feminism. This anthology takes into account the various differences among women while looking at the important areas of feminist struggle. While sisterhood is indeed global, it certainly does not mean that all women are required to submerge their specific differences and assimilate to a universal model. Consequently, the collection includes essays by leaders in the field of post-structuralist enquiry as well as by those immersed in the new spirituality, and the social consequences of recent biological research. Other essays reflect the political struggles which continue to be waged with different strategies by socialist and radical feminists, and the self-searching analyses undertaken by feminists uneasy about their inclusion within educational institutions and the radical new interpretations of sexuality within the cultural domain. The collection begins with a critique of white mainstream feminism emanating from Aboriginal women in Australia. The implications of the critique indicate that there is a pervasive racism within the feminist movement.

The Roman Catholic order of Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, founded in Ireland in 1776 by Nano Nagle as the Society of Charitable Instruction of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and migrating to North America in the mid 1850s, remains commited to tutoring, healing, and nuturing.

Writing Catholic Women examines the interplay of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, and sexuality through the lens of Catholicism in a wide range of works by women writers, forging interdisciplinary connections among women's studies, religion, and late twentieth-century literature. Discussing a diverse group of authors, Jeana DelRosso posits that the girlhood narratives of such writers constitute highly charged sites of their differing gestures toward Catholicism and argues that an understanding of the ways in which women write about religion from different cultural and racial contexts offers a crucial contribution to current discussions in gender, ethnic, and cultural studies.

This book offers a systematic and comparative analysis of the intersections of religion and gender in times of populism across the EU-Mediterranean. The chapters explore tensions and issues related to religion and gender in nations including Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Greece, Turkey, and Israel/Palestine. Shifting attention from the European Union to the Mediterranean area allows the inclusion of countries whose history is significantly interwoven, taking into account the legacies of colonialism, the effects of post-colonialism, and the role of the EU in relation to gender-related issues in particular. The volume investigates not only country-specific cases but highlights similarities and differences in the region and aims to understand how the interconnections influence the issues at stake. It draws together countries with non-Christian majoritarian religions, with different political regimes, and where feminism and women’s movements have different shapes, histories, and relationships with religion. The book will appeal to scholars interested in the entanglements of gender, religion and populism from a range of disciplines including anthropology, sociology, political science, religious studies and gender studies.