Feminist in The Books Store

Born into a poor family in Putnam County, New York, Fanny Crosby lost her sight in infancy through the negligence of a doctor attempting to treat an illness that had caused her eyes to inflame. While scarring her eyes, this tragic event did not scar her heart. Fanny went on to compose more than 9,000 hymns during her lifetime, along with many secular songs, cantatas, and lyrical productions of various kinds. Celebrated in her own day for her gospel hymns, Crosby was also very publicly involved with New York City's rescue missions and with other benevolent efforts, and she rubbed shoulders with the likes of Henry Clay, Grover Cleveland, Winfield Scott, Dwight L. Moody, Ira Sankey, Jenny Lind, P.T. Barnum, and many other famous figures who people these pages.

Controversial author Sandra Schneiders asks the question, does being a religious still make sense in today's world? Her answer is yes, that religious life has a future full of hope but that it must be rethought and remodeled within the radically new context of post-Vatican-II postmodernism. Situating religious life both within a historical-cultural setting and within the Catholic Church, Schneiders addresses major questions of meaning, identity, and boundaries that have arisen over the past decades.

With tremendous cohesion, she examines issues about celibacy, permanent commitment, formation, community, vows, and prayer, as well as issues of particular concern to women: patriarchy, feminism, the role of women in the Church, and female ordination. The years since Vatican II, she says, have been a "Dark Night of the Soul" for religious life; she uses this paradigm to make sense of what has happened, the purification and transformation of religious life from dinosaur to songbird.

Discusses women's experience with the world religions, including eastern, western, and primal societies. Revision features a new chapter on American women. Appropriate for courses in world religions, introductory religion, and women and religion.