Popes and Feminists: How the Reformation Frees Women from Feminism

Is being a wife and mother a "holy" calling for Christians? Roman Catholics at the time of the Reformation and contemporary feminists would both say No.

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Before the time of the Reformation, in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church, a wife or mother was not a holy vocation. The only spiritual calling for women was to be found in a convent. The Reformers confronted the bad theology which lead to this (and other worse abuses, like priest-patronized brothels) and returned to the Bible to develop a theology of vocation that began to free women to be "holy" no matter their occupation. But today, modern feminist claims about vocation have more in common with the pre-Reformation popes than anything else—except feminists have replaced the nunnery with the hallowed corporate workplace. Christian women wondering about their place in society and comparing feminism with the Bible should start with the teaching of the Reformers and the lives of many exceptional women of the Reformation.

Part history and part contemporary reflection, Popes and Feminists argues that women today have some of the same choices facing them as women in the sixteenth century. In this fascinating book, published on the five hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, Elise Crapuchettes shows how the Reformation changed the lives of Christian women as it turned them away from trying to earn their salvation in the convent towards a joyful, liberating view of vocation and work. And that changed their families and the world.

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What People Are Saying:

"It’s an intriguing proposition: that feminist dogma and Roman Catholic theology treat women’s pursuit of vocation in substantially similar ways. It’s especially so coming not from a U.S. nuns’ network or Jesuit institution, but from a Reformed housewife, whose take is decidedly different from a feminist whitewash of Catholic theology.... A lively read full of juicy quotes and historical anecdotes." -Joy Pullman, The Federalist

READER REVIEWS:

"We live in a confused culture. Popes and Feminists brings clarity and truth, cutting through the lies of feminism and bringing to light the stories from our sisters in Christ of another century, whose shoulders we can stand on as we find our place in this century." -Valerie

"solid, honest, sometimes painful, and so, so good." -Megan

"I was so encouraged by the many stories of these courageous women of the Reformation, who were willing to defy the most powerful organization of their time (the Catholic Church) to stand for what they, and in many cases their husbands, believed concerning Scripture, marriage, and the home. They were not willing to be cowed into submission; rather, they were determined daily to take up their cross and follow their savior, despite tremendous persecution and humiliating slander." -Kristina