Patriarchal ideals have long played a major role, even decisive role in the Christian church and in its understanding of its scriptures, community, ministry, and mission. This reality, and women's often creative response to it, for the subject of this collection.

Written by experts in church history, the articles take a close look at women's status in ancient, medieval, modern, and contemporary Christianity. Contributors explore such themes as women's role in early Christian communities, their role models in the Roman Empire, Elizabeth I's exploitation of women's cultural...

Many people believe that the Roman Catholic Church's teaching on marriage is clear and consistent: marriage is a sacrament, the marriage contract is indissoluble, divorce and remarriage are forbidden.

In this book, theologians, historians, and sociologists overhaul the church's teaching and practice on divorce and remarriage, as well as personal testimonies from a number of persons who have gone through the annulment process.

The authors answer the question, "Why Be Catholic?" fairly and squarely, showing a deep appreciation about what is good in Catholicism and a penetrating honesty about the Church's shortcomings. Rohr and Martos also examine what it means to be Catholic in the United States today. Finally, to answer the title question in a more personal way, they present portraits of some outstanding Catholics, especially those we...

What are the sacraments, really?

For centuries, the religious lives of Catholics and other Christians have revolved around church rituals with generally accepted individual and social effects. What, precisely, are those effects, and how are they produced? Traditional theology used Greek philosophy to understand the sacraments and how they work. But is there no other way to understand them? In fact, there are a number of ways, and this book invites you to look at the sacraments through a variety of lenses: psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, theology, morality, and...