Women and Ordination in the Christian Churches International Perspectives

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?

ContentsAcknowledgementsNotes on ContributorsIntroductionIan Jones, Kirsty Thorpe and Janet WoottonPart I: Theological Perspectives1 Hermeneutical Questions: the Ordination of Women in the Light of Biblical and Patristic TypologyFrances Young2 The Ordination of Women in the Roman Catholic ChurchCatherine Gyarmathy-Amherd3 The Ordination of Women from an Orthodox PerspectiveKaterina Karkala-Zorba4 Should Theological Education Be Different for Clergywomen? Doing Women's Work; in a Mainline Protestant SeminaryEllen Blue5 Doing Leadership Differently? Women and Senior Leadership in the Church of England Rosie WardPart II: Historical Perspectives6 Winifred Kiek, Migration and the Prophetic Role of Congregational Women Ministers in Australia, 1927-1977Julia Pitman7 Women and Ministry within the British Unitarian MovementAnn Peart8 The Process in the Church of Sweden towards the Ordination of Women as Priests and the Consecration of Women as BishopsChristina Odenberg9 The Ordination of Women in Africa: a Historical PerspectiveEsther Mombo 10 Women's Ordination in the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht: Discussion, Decision-Making and ReceptionAngela BerlisPart III: Sociological Perspectives11 Forever pruning? The Path to Ordained Women's Full Participation in the Episcopal Church of the United States of AmericaAdair Lummis12 The Feminisation and Professionalisation of Ordained Ministry within the M'ohi Protestant Church in French PolynesiaGwendoline Malogne-Fer13 Neither Male nor Female: Tradition, Ordination and Nigerian Female Leaders of New Generation ChurchesBolaji Bateye,14 One Ministry, Separate Spheres: The Experiences of Ordained Women in Senior Leadership in The Salvation Army in the UKHelen Cameron and Gillian Jackson15 Daughters of Jerusalem, Mothers of Salem: Caribbean Women in the Ministry of the Anglican ChurchEvie VernonAFTERWORDIan Jones