The Hidden History of Women's Ordination

Female Clergy in the Medieval West

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Reference, History, Christianity
Cover of the book The Hidden History of Women's Ordination by Gary Macy, Oxford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Gary Macy ISBN: 9780199885077
Publisher: Oxford University Press Publication: November 30, 2007
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Gary Macy
ISBN: 9780199885077
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication: November 30, 2007
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

The Roman Catholic leadership still refuses to ordain women officially or even to recognize that women are capable of ordination. But is the widely held assumption that women have always been excluded from such roles historically accurate? In the early centuries of Christianity, ordination was the process and the ceremony by which one moved to any new ministry (ordo) in the community. By this definition, women were in fact ordained into several ministries. A radical change in the definition of ordination during the eleventh and twelfth centuries not only removed women from the ordained ministry, but also attempted to eradicate any memory of women's ordination in the past. The debate that accompanied this change has left its mark in the literature of the time. However, the triumph of a new definition of ordination as the bestowal of power, particularly the power to confect the Eucharist, so thoroughly dominated western thought and practice by the thirteenth century that the earlier concept of ordination was almost completely erased. The ordination of women, either in the present or in the past, became unthinkable. References to the ordination of women exist in papal, episcopal and theological documents of the time, and the rites for these ordinations have survived. Yet, many scholars still hold that women, particularly in the western church, were never "really" ordained. A survey of the literature reveals that most scholars use a definition of ordination that would have been unknown in the early middle ages. Thus, the modern determination that women were never ordained, Macy argues, is a premise based on false terms. Not a work of advocacy, this important book applies indispensable historical background for the ongoing debate about women's ordination.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Roman Catholic leadership still refuses to ordain women officially or even to recognize that women are capable of ordination. But is the widely held assumption that women have always been excluded from such roles historically accurate? In the early centuries of Christianity, ordination was the process and the ceremony by which one moved to any new ministry (ordo) in the community. By this definition, women were in fact ordained into several ministries. A radical change in the definition of ordination during the eleventh and twelfth centuries not only removed women from the ordained ministry, but also attempted to eradicate any memory of women's ordination in the past. The debate that accompanied this change has left its mark in the literature of the time. However, the triumph of a new definition of ordination as the bestowal of power, particularly the power to confect the Eucharist, so thoroughly dominated western thought and practice by the thirteenth century that the earlier concept of ordination was almost completely erased. The ordination of women, either in the present or in the past, became unthinkable. References to the ordination of women exist in papal, episcopal and theological documents of the time, and the rites for these ordinations have survived. Yet, many scholars still hold that women, particularly in the western church, were never "really" ordained. A survey of the literature reveals that most scholars use a definition of ordination that would have been unknown in the early middle ages. Thus, the modern determination that women were never ordained, Macy argues, is a premise based on false terms. Not a work of advocacy, this important book applies indispensable historical background for the ongoing debate about women's ordination.

More books from Oxford University Press

Cover of the book Handbook of Child and Adolescent Tuberculosis by Gary Macy
Cover of the book Language Arts, Math, and Science in the Elementary Music Classroom by Gary Macy
Cover of the book Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners by Gary Macy
Cover of the book The Prisoner of Zenda by Gary Macy
Cover of the book Alger Hiss's Looking-Glass Wars by Gary Macy
Cover of the book Gender, Sexuality, and Meaning by Gary Macy
Cover of the book American Genesis by Gary Macy
Cover of the book Readers and Reading Culture in the High Roman Empire by Gary Macy
Cover of the book Plague and Fire by Gary Macy
Cover of the book The Obama Doctrine by Gary Macy
Cover of the book Commonsense Consequentialism: Wherein Morality Meets Rationality by Gary Macy
Cover of the book Everyone Can Write by Gary Macy
Cover of the book Americans Against the City by Gary Macy
Cover of the book Early Modern Spain: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide by Gary Macy
Cover of the book Which Sin to Bear? by Gary Macy
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy