Gender and Religion

Few areas in American life have experienced as profound a change in structure and mission as religion in this epoch of women's struggle for complete equality and integration. Until recently, few studies have attempted the sort of empirical and theoretical integration that reveals the magnitude of this shift in basic roles, attitudes and participation in church life. The author has assembled a well-designed and carefully defined volume to give the reader a solid, empirical look at this revolution in religious practice and belief. It also provides an insight into the sharp differences in opinions among women involved in religion: the degree to which women change the structure if liturgy or simply partake of traditions from which they were formally excluded; the extend to which women increase church involvement in social issues or retain a classical orientation to preaching; the extent to which gender has an impact on everything from interpersonal relations of clergy with laity to preaching orientations