by compiled and edited by Carolyn DeArmond Blevins (1995)
For much of Christian history, the role of women in the life of the church both local and universal has been downplayed, overlooked, or simply denied. Such a state of affairs of course also denies the testimony of the church's Scriptures regarding the key role women played in Jesus' own ministry and that of the early church. It denies or deliberately overlooks the significant role of women in the life of the church throughout the church's history, down to and including the present day. In recent years such denial of the significant place of women in Christian history of course has been addressed. But nowhere is there available a more comprehensive bibliography than the present one compiled by Carolyn Blevins. The reach of Blevins's bibliography is wide, from the earliest church to present times, across every ethnic and national boundary, and throughout virtually every segment of the church, Catholic and Protestant and stripes in between or beyond. This is in many ways but a beginning place. Yet with the help of Blevins's good work, students, teachers, researchers, historians, and all other seekers after the significant place of women in Christian history, have indeed a place to make a good beginning.
edited and with an introduction by David Turley
This set offers a wide range of primary source material spanning several centuries of religious experience in the United States. The material is grouped thematically and chronologically with a critical apparatus which includes a substantial introductory essay giving an overview of the subject, a chronology, and bibliographies.
Carol Ann Drogus
What happens when liberation theology's attempt to mobilize the Brazilian poor for political and social change meets the realities of church, community, and culture in this predominantly Catholic country? In Women, Religion, and Social Change in Brazil's Popular Church, Carol Ann Drogus assesses the successes and failures of the movement as she documents how religious personality and gender affect the way the urban poor on the eastern outskirts of Sao Paulo respond to the liberationist message. All who are interested in Latin American studies, political science, sociology, anthropology, religion, and women's studies will gain much from Drogus's first-hand reports and careful analysis of the role of women, who are the majority participants in the Popular Church.
Gregory J. Riley
An expert on the historical context in which Christianity arose, Riley illuminates the Greco-Roman world of the early Christians, a world steeped in heroic ideals. Jesus was embraced as a new and compelling hero that one could follow into a whole new life of caring community and transcendent hope. Riley boldly asserts that it was only as Christianity became the religion of the empire that the myth of the Apostles' Creed was created, thereby promulgating the illusion that the Apostles had gathered together and agreed upon a core set of doctrines essential to Christian faith. But the reality is that doctrinal orthodoxy was not an issue for the early Christians. Rather, they focused, in quite varied ways, on following Jesus as a model for living. This book not only provides a whole new understanding of the nature of earliest Christianity, but it also conveys a vital message for today about what Christian faith is really about. Riley reveals the authentic character of Christianity as inherently pluralistic and tolerant of diverse ideas while passionately centered in Jesus.
photographs by Clark G. Baker
At the crossroads of Central Texas, cotton once ruled as king. Around this demanding monarch, numerous communities grew up and thrived. From the distant horizon, the communities were marked by church steeples stretching skyward. Today, cotton has disappeared from the land, and the communities too are largely gone. Only the churches remain - the rock beneath the sands of time. This powerfully illustrated book seeks to explain the staying power of these rural churches and to introduce the people who keep them alive while the surrounding communities have given way to the larger towns and cities nearby. Beyond the power of religion itself, the authors have uncovered the roles of geography, race, ethnicity, and family in giving life to these small churches. Authors Lois Myers and Rebecca Sharpless enhance our understanding of the interplay of religion and culture, the qualities of late twentieth-century rural life, and the continuing draw of the open country. Photojournalist Clark Baker portrays open-country churches and their members in vivid black and white photographs. Churches featured in the volume include the oldest Norwegian Lutheran church in Texas, four African American Baptist churches organized soon after emancipation, white Southern Baptist churches, Protestant and Catholic churches founded by European and Mexican immigrants, and one union church that for most of the past century accommodated both Methodists and Baptists. Based on memories of longtime members, church minutes and histories, baptism records, and family histories the authors collapse decades of tradition into the enchanting and informative pages of this book. Given in memory of Jameson Garrett Brown by the Rotary Club of Aggieland with matching support from the Sara and John H. Lindsey '44 Fund.