Women and the Religious Life in Premodern Europe - Softcover

Ranft, Patricia

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9780312176792: Women and the Religious Life in Premodern Europe

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312176791 ISBN 13: 9780312176792

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 1998

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In her Women and the Religious Life in Premodern Europe, Patricia Ranft synthesizes the most recent research on women religious in chronological order and places these women in the center of the narrative. Starting with the fourth century birth of monasticism and continuing until the seventeenth century birth of the active congregation, Ranft's book puts to rest any lingering doubts about the pivotal role women have played in the development of Western culture and the Roman church. Written with both the scholar and student in mind, this is a long-awaited work that fills a gap in the history of western civilization, in the history of women, and in the history of the church.

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About the Author:

Patricia Ranft is Professor of History at Central Michigan University. Her books include"Women and the Religious Life in Premodern Europe" and "Women and Spiritual Equality in Christian Tradition,"

From Library Journal:

Calling this narrative history, Ranft (history, Central Michigan Univ.) walks chronologically through the lives of religious women from Marcella in fourth-century Rome to Mary Ward's Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 17th-century England. Intent upon whatever is unusual and distinctive to each era, she notes, "[I]t is evident by now that the history of women religious is not an echo or mirror image of that of men religious." She disdains overly academic verbiage and succeeds in making accessible a mountain of useful and diverse information. However, a critical apparatus is noticeably lacking. Ranft never fully engages the issue of authorship or voice regarding female narratives. Nor does she suggest in more than a cursory way why women in different eras chose the religious path, other than through a sense of vocation. Still, she has done women's historical scholarship an immense service in collecting such a wealth of introductory information into a single volume. Recommended for women's history and religious collections.?Sandra Collins, SLIS, Univ. of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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