Course Code: BHC04

Role of Women in the History of Christianity

BD IV, Semester I, 2 Credit Hours, College Paper

1. Introduction

• Seeing History through the Eyes of Women
• Feminist Historiography
• Silencing in History: How women have been excluded/neglected in the writings of history of Christianity

Course Requirements

• Final Examination 60%
• Internal Assessment 40%

2. The Status and Role of Women in the Early Church

• Role of Women in the Jesus Movement: Mary, the Mother of Jesus, etc.
• Women in the Apostolic Circles as Missionaries and Co-workers
• Women leaders in the New Testament
• Portrait of Women in Pauline writings and Tecla, Nestorians, Montanists, etc.

3. Women during the Middle Ages

• Women in the Theology of Church Fathers
• The Development of Women’s Religious Orders during the medieval period and their impact on the status of women
• Role of Women Mystics in the Middle Ages with special reference to Catherine of Siena

4. Women during Reformation and Post-Reformation Period

• Women’s participation in the Reformation
• The Role of Women in the Evangelical Movements of the 18th and 19th Centuries

5. Women in the Modern Period

• Role of Women in the Missionary Movements
• Women’s Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries
• Feminist Movement in the 20th Century

6. Women in the Indian Church

• Impact of Christianity on Women in India
• Indian Christian Women in diaconal ministries and public witness

Bibliography

• Anderson, Bonnie S. and Judith P. Zinsser. A History of their own: Women in Europe from Prehistoric to the Present. New York: Harper and Row, 1988.
• Bainton, R.H. Women of the Reformation. Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1971.
• Brown, Peter. The Body and Society: Men, Women and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity. New York, 1988.
• Chakravarthi, Uma. Rewriting History: The life and times of Pandita Ramabai. New Delhi: Kali, 1997.
• Crawford, J. In God’s Image. Geneva: WCC, 1983.
• De Riencourt. Women’s Power in History. Delhi: Sterling, 1983.
• Fiorenza, E.S. In Memory of her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins. New York: Crossroad, 1993.
• Gryson, R. The Ministry of women in the Early Church. Minnesota: Collegeville, 1976.
• Hardesty, N. Women, Called to Witness: Evangelical Feminism in the Nineteenth Century. 1984.
• Heine, S. Women in the Early Christianity. London: SCM, 1987.
• Imchen, Narola. Remembering our Foremothers. Women Studies Series No. 2. Jorhat: WSDETC, 2003.
• Women in the History of Christianity. Jorhat: LDCC, 2010.
• John, Mary E. Women’s Studies Reader. Delhi: Penguin Books, 2008.
• Kulp, P.M., ed. Women Missionaries and Cultural Change, Studies in Third World Societies. 1987.
• Langdon/Davis, L. Short History of Women. Sterling, 1990.
• Lerner, Gerda. The Creation of Feminist Patriarchy. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
• Miles, R. A Women’s History of the World. London: 1990.
• Mishra, L. Education of Women in India. Bombay: 1966.
• Parvey, C. Ordination of Women in Ecumenical Perspective. Geneva: WCC, 1986.
• Parvey, C. A Community of Men and Women in the Church. Geneva: WCC, 1983.
• LaPorte, Joan B. The Role of Women in Early Christianity. Lewiston: 1982.
• Ruether, R.P. & McLaughlin, E. Women of Spirit. Female Leadership in the Jewish and Christian Traditions. Simon, 1979.
• Russell, L.M. Future of Partnership. Louisville: Westminster, 1978.
• Russell, L.M. Growth of Partnership. Louisville: Westminster, 1981.
• Sebastian, Mrinalini. “Implications of Postcolonial Thinking for Feminist Praxis in India.” In Feminist Theology: Perspectives and Praxis. Edited by Prasanna Kumari. Chennai: GETS, 1999.
• Spivak, Gayatri Chakraborty. “Subaltern Studies: Deconstructing Historiography.” In Selected Subaltern Studies. Edited by Ranajit Guha et al. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988, pp. 3-32.
• Torjesen, Karen Jo. When Women were Priests: Women’s Leadership in the Early Church and the Scandal of their Subordination in the Rise of Christianity. San Francisco: 1993.
• Visvanathan, Susan. The Christians of Kerala: History, Belief, and Ritual among the Yakoba. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.