Women towards Priesthood
Ministerial Politics and Feminist Praxis

This book charts the aspirations of women towards priesthood and the resistance that they have encountered. It brings together a record of official documents and debates on the issue that takes place over the last two hundred years in the English Methodist Church, the Church of England, and the Roman Catholic Church. These debates are interpreted at a number of levels, and the author draws on sociology, history, biblical studies, theology, and psychoanalysis in the course of her presentation. In the author's view it is the patriarchalisation of ecclesiastical structures, and the subsequent theological and christological justification given over to this, which emerges as a recurring pattern in the debate. Dr Field-Bibb offers a feminist analysis of such resistance to the ordination of women, in an attempt to break down what she sees as the false consciousness engendered by the propagation of subversive symbols.

Reviews & endorsements

'This book places the Women's Ordination Movement in a carefully researched ecumenical context. It does so by judiciously analyzing the politics of theological argument in the struggle for equal rights of women in Christian churches. It will be essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of the Church and its ministry.' Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Harvard Divinity School

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Product details

• Date Published: March 1991
• format: Hardback
• isbn: 9780521392839
• length: 401 pages

• dimensions: 236 x 159 x 25 mm
• weight: 0.725kg
• availability: Unavailable - out of print October 1999