She Preached the Word

<em>She Preached the Word</em> is a landmark study of women's ordination in contemporary American congregations. In this groundbreaking work Benjamin R. Knoll and Cammie Jo Bolin draw upon a novel collection of survey data and personal narrative interviews to answer several important questions including: Who supports women's ordination in their congregations? What are the most common reasons for and against women's ordination? What effect do female clergy have on young women and girls particularly in terms of their psychological economic and religious empowerment later in life? How do women clergy affect levels of congregational attendance and engagement among members? What explains the persistent gender gap in America's clergy? Knoll and Bolin find that female clergy do indeed matter but not always in the ways that might be expected. They show for example that while female clergy have important effects on women in the pews they have stronger effects on theological and political liberals. Throughout this book Knoll and Bolin discuss how the persistent gender gap in the wider economic social and political spheres will likely continue so long as women are underrepresented in America's pulpits. Accessible to scholars and general readers alike <em>She Preached the Word</em> is a timely and important contribution to our understanding of the intersection of gender religion and politics in contemporary American society. <p/>