Women and Christianity

From The Critics

In Women & Christianity, educator and author Mary Malone examines the chronic and pervasive ambivalence towards women throughout the first thousand years of Christianity. While women from the very beginnings of the Christian Church have been graced, called, inspired, and canonized down through the centuries, they have also been excluded and even oppressed by clergy and other leaders of the Christian community who cited scripture and Christian tradition (including Apocryphal and Gnostic literatures) as the justifying source of their discrimination. Very highly recommended for women's studies and students of Christian history from 30 C.E. to 1002 C.E. (the "Dateline" section is particularly noteworthy), Women & Christianity showcases both the persistent courage and the innovative quality of women's lives, as well as offering a critical analysis of previous conventional histories. The clear emphasis throughout is the enduring importance of women's contributions to the creation of Western culture in general, and the evolving Christian community in particular.