Women in Religions Series

Within Christianity, women are often referred to as the “backbone of the church,” though their leadership roles have been limited in a variety of ways. Indeed, women have played key roles in religions throughout the world, though they are frequently less visible on the institutional level. While women have been active within their religions for millennia, our understandings of women’s contributions to their faith communities, as well as the ways in which religious worldviews have helped to shape cultural gender roles, have only fairly recently become the subject of research.

Further, the exploration of the role of women in various religions can be seen as yet another means of expanding our general understanding of experiences of religion around the world, thus hopefully leading to more tolerance and acceptance of diversity in our increasingly multicultural societies. This topic has central relevance for many of our key cultural debates, and there is a need for quality texts to facilitate thoughtful teaching and discussion.

This carefully curated series offers volumes on women in selected religious traditions ranging from Christianity, Yoruba religions, and Islam to Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Chinese religions, Japanese religions, and New Religious Movements. Each book provides a short, single-authored, very accessible introduction to women and their roles, representations, and challenges within each religious tradition discussed.

GENERAL EDITOR

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS