Episcopal Women: Gender, Spirituality, and Commitment in an American Mainline Denomination (Religion in America)

The opening of the ordained ministry to women, in the larger context of the women's movement in America, has created an unprecedented situation within Protestant denominations. Women are now increasingly visible in religious organizations previously administered solely by men. Congregations, church agencies, educational institutions, and volunteer organizations are all affected by the "gender shift" within mainstream Protestantism. Episcopal Women is the first careful historical and sociological study of the impact of these gender changes on a particular religious institution. This groundbreaking volume includes essays on Episcopal theology and women's spirituality, the urban church, aging and the church, women's organizations, women donors, clerical leadership, and black women's experience in the Episcopal Church. "Episcopal Women is an unprecedented exploration of the historical and present "lived experience" of women in one mainline-Protestant American church. It probes the realities of women who count themselves members of a contemporary Protestant church - one that is changing, though not as rapidly as the world in which it is set. As women become increasingly visible in religious organizations previously administered entirely by men, congregations, church agencies, educational institutions, and volunteer organizations are all being affected by the "gender shift."" "Focused on the Episcopal church as a representative case study, these essays offer a careful historical and sociological examination of the impact of these gender changes. Personal narratives are combined with intergenerational studies of women in several congregations to illustrate how women - always the majority in Sunday morning congregations - continue to find and create their own spiritual realities within a traditional institution." "The authors highlight the centrality of women in today's church from a variety of perspectives - feminist, historical, biographical, and theoretical. Included are essays on Episcopal women's theology and spirituality, women as mainstays of the urban church, aging as a metaphor for the institutional church, women's organizations, the impact of women in the clerical profession, and black women's experience in the Episcopal Church. Challenging the church's dominantly masculine self-image, this book presents a convincing view of today's religious reality for women in a mainline church."--BOOK JACKET Annotation Episcopal Women is an unprecedented exploration of the historical and present "lived experience" of women in one mainline-Protestant American church. It probes the realities of women who count themselves members of a contemporary Protestant church - one that is changing, though not as rapidly as the world in which it is set. As women become increasingly visible in religious organizations previously administered entirely by men, congregations, church agencies, educational institutions, and volunteer organizations are all being affected by the "gender shift". Focused on the Episcopal church as a representative case study, these essays offer a careful historical and sociological examination of the impact of these gender changes. Personal narratives are combined with intergenerational studies of women in several congregations to illustrate how women - always the majority in Sunday morning congregations - continue to find and create their own spiritual realities within a traditional institution. The authors highlight the centrality of women in today's church from a variety of perspectives - feminist, historical, biographical, and theoretical. Included are essays on Episcopal women's theology and spirituality, women as mainstays of the urban church, aging as a metaphor for the institutional church, women's organizations, the impact of women in the clerical profession, and black women's experience in the Episcopal Church. Challenging the church's dominantly masculine self-image, this book presents a convincing view of today's religious reality for women in a mainline church Contents......Page 12 Introduction......Page 16 I: Historical Perspectives......Page 30 1. Woman's Work and Woman's Calling in the Episcopal Church: Chicago, 1880–1989......Page 32 2. Episcopal Women as Community Leaders: Galveston, 1900–1989......Page 85 3. Women and the Parallel Church: A View from Congregations......Page 124 4. Beyond the Parallel Church: Strategies of Separatism and Integration in the Governing Councils of the Episcopal Church......Page 146 II: Contemporary Voices......Page 178 5. Gender and Generations in Congregations......Page 180 6. Different Voices: African American Women in the Episcopal Church......Page 235 7. Women's Works of Devotion: Feasts, Fairs, and Festivities......Page 252 8. A Woman's Journey toward Priesthood: An Autobiographical Study from the 1950s through the 1980s......Page 276 III: Images of a New Church......Page 296 9. Ordained Women in the Episcopal Church: Their Impact on the Work and Structure of the Clergy......Page 298 10. The Anthropology of Vitality and Decline: The Episcopal Church in a Changing Society......Page 323 11. Theory, Theology, and Episcopal Churchwomen......Page 343 Afterword: Episcopal Women in the Context of American Religious Life......Page 358 Contributors......Page 366 B......Page 370 E......Page 371 H......Page 372 M......Page 373 S......Page 374 T......Page 375 Y......Page 376 The opening of the ministry to women has created a new situation within Protestant denominations. This work studies the impact of these gender changes and includes essays on Episcopal theology and women's spirituality, the urban church, ageing and the church, women's organizations An historical and sociological study of the impact of gender changes on a particular religious institution, this text examines the opening of the ordained ministry to women and the unprecedented situation this has caused within Protestant denominations in the USA. The Anthropology Of Vitality And Decline: The Episcopal Church In A Changing Society / Constance H. Buchanan -- Theory, Theology And Episcopal Churchwomen / Margaret R. Miles. Edited By Catherine M. Prelinger. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.