Women and Ordination in the Christian Churches

The growth of women’s ordained ministry is one of the most remarkable and significant developments in the recent history of Christianity.

This collection of essays brings together leading contributors from both academic and church contexts to explore Christian experiences of ordaining women in theological, sociological, historical and anthropological perspective.

Key questions include: How have national, denominational and ecclesial cultures shaped the different ways in which women’s ordination is debated and/or enacted? What differences have women’s ordained ministry, and debates on women’s ordination, made in various church contexts? What ‘unfinished business’ remains (in both congregational and wider ministry)? How have Christians variously conceived ordained ministry which includes both women and men? How do ordained women and men work together in practice? What have been the particular implications for female clergy? And for male clergy? What distinctive issues are raised by women’s entry into senior ordained/leadership positions? How do episcopal and non-episcopal traditions differ in this?


‘Forever Pruning? the ECUSA Path To Ordained Women’s Full Participation?’ - Dr Adair Lummis (Hartford Institute of Religious Research, USA)

‘We see them and hear them...but has it made any difference?’: The Ordination of Women in Africa' - Dr Esther Mombo (St. Paul’s United Theological Seminary, Limuru, Kenya)

‘The process in the Church of Sweden towards ordination of Women Priests and Consecration of Women Bishops’ - Bishop Christina Odenberg (Bishop of Lund, Church of Sweden)

'Hermeneutical questions: the ordination of women in the light of biblical and patristic typology' - Revd Professor Frances Young (University of Birmingham, UK)

‘Women's Ordination in the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht - Developments and Experiences’ - Prof. Dr. Angela Berlis (University of Utrecht, Holland)

‘The Almost Fully Ordained Meat Pie: The General Synod Doctrine Commission and the Doctrine of Reception’ - Revd. Kay Goldsworthy (Anglican Diocese of Perth, Australia)

‘Walking with Women Called and the Ministry of Irritation’ - Evelyn Hunt, Diana Wear and Regina Bannan (Women’s Ordination Conference, USA)

‘Women's ordination in the Roman Catholic Church: Forcing an Open Door’ - Bishop Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger (an ‘irregularly’ consecrated Roman Catholic woman bishop from Austria):

‘The Ordination of Women in Anglican and Quaker Perspective’ - Revd. Paul Oestreicher

Women and Ordination in the Christian Churches by Ian Jones;Janet Wootton;Kirsty Thorpe was published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC in July 2008 and is our 28466th best seller. The ISBN for Women and Ordination in the Christian Churches is 9780567031549.

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