Suspicious Saints: The Spiritual Paradox of the Daughters of Eve

Résumé En

The history of women and religion in the English-speaking world has been shaped by startling paradoxes which characterize both the conceptions of woman’s nature and her position within religious institutions. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, women have been associated to the all-encompassing, yet antithetical archetypes of Eve and Mary. Moreover, although women have long constituted the bulk of Church membership, they have traditionally been –and still are, in some denominations– excluded from Church leadership. Despite evidence of vibrant female participation in the piety and pastoral life of Christian congregations, the archetypal representation of women as the daughters of Eve serves as a constant reminder of their sinful potential and, by the same token, partly explains their historical exclusion from the pulpit. This collection of essays wil explore the relationships of women and their churches over the longue durée in the English-speaking world.