A history of women in Christian worship (Hardcover)

This quote with which Susan White begins this history of women in Christian worship gives a good idea of both the problems and the approach of this monumental work; whereas mens such books are histories of institutions, with biblical tests, pronouncement and commentaries bearing nearly the full weight of interpretation; women have been far less institutional than men in their church lives and in she has had to search elsewhere for women's worship identities and its places beyond short exclusion. How do we find women in the history of Christian worship. In what kinds of spaces have women shown in worship? White has established women as the center and inbeingsof their own liturgical lives, lives lived often by necessary and sometimes by choice with a much more fluid and understanding of what constitutes sacred space, lives evidently of worship as can be seen in the ways they prepared their households for worship the cloth they donated in their churches for particular uses the requests noted in their wills: the records of their living and dying set down in journals, hymns, prayers and plaques; their participations in various liturgical arts and crafts; their care of the bodies of the living and dead; their leadership in temporary movements and in comments its tending wayside shines and providing meeting space, spiritual leadership and Impartially during the American pioneering age. White uncovers a rich heritage indeed writing down and gathering together for us a much neglected, but rich wealth of stories of women and worship. Chapter topics include: Finding women in Liturgical History; the Spaces of Women's Worship; Women of Influence; Liturgical Piety and Liturgical Formation; Going toChurch on Sundays: women, Worship and the Household and women and the Liturgical Arts.