New Catholic Women: A Contemporary Challenge to Traditional Religious Authority

This assessment of currents in Roman Catholic feminism is a strong argument against existing structures in the Church. In a wide-ranging survey that includes the significant Womanchurch movement, Weaver, a professor of religious studies at Indiana University, examines older models of women's participation in the Church and presents questions and developments in the framework of what could be seen as a new Reformation. In the author's view, feminist theologians, breaking through the door of patriarchy, express a new understanding of ecclesiology and present an exhilarating variety of human possibilities. Weaver's account of the historically marginal status of women in the Church is troubling; her readable advocacy is enlightening as well. January 22