God Gave Us The Right - by Christel Manning (Paperback)

About the Book

What does it mean to be a religious conservative, particularly for a woman, in America today? Drawing on two years of ethnographic research in Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish communities, Christel Manning explores the diversity of views among women who have returned to tradition. Arguing that America has undergone profound cultural and economic changes in the last thirty years--changes that have created tension between women's lives and traditional gender roles--she demonstrates that conservative Catholics, Evangelical Protestants, and Orthodox Jews negotiate those tensions in a variety of ways.

Book Synopsis

What does it mean to be a religious conservative, particularly for women, in America today? While it appears that people are returning to conservative religion because they are fed up with the excesses of liberalism, including feminism, a closer look at the lives of religious conservatives reveals a more complex reality. Drawing on two years of ethnographic research in Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant communities, Christel Manning explores the diversity among women who have returned to tradition. Arguing that America has undergone profound cultural and economic changes in the last thirty years, which create tension between women's lives and traditional gender roles, she demonstrates that conservative Catholics, Orthodox Jews, and Evangelical Protestants negotiate those tensions in different ways. Manning also shows that women in conservative religious communities share many of the same concerns as secular women. Manning looks at how the religious communities profiled have been influenced by feminist values and describes the ways in which these women negotiate gender roles at work, religious services, and at home. She explains how they deal with the inconsistencies created by their attempts to integrate feminist and traditionalist norms. In highly accessible prose, Manning examines their attitudes towards the feminist movement, its impact on American culture, and the extent to which the women seek to resist it. God Gave Us the Right explains how these different views of feminism reflect the diverse theologies and historical experiences of the three communities.

Review Quotes

Christel Manning's ethnographic study of conservative Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish women is a cautionary tale about the dangers of generalizing about traditionalists/fundamentalists across the lines of historic religious traditions. Her method entailed a study of documents, extensive participant-observation fieldwork, and over seventy-five interviews with women who are members of three anonymous congregations....This work is an impressive scholarly achievement. Those looking for careful Calvin exegesis, detailed analysis, and excellent discussions of contemporary debates about Calvin would be well-advised to read it.-- "Journal of Religion"

Delves into the complex, seemingly contradictory, emotions and behaviors of women who embrace conservative religious traditions as they come to terms with feminism.--Debra Renee Kaufman "author of Rachel's Daughters"

Highly accessible....Manning introduces us to some thoughtful women from evangelical Protestant, Orthodox Jewish, and conservative Catholic backgrounds, analyzing their lives as a complicated blend of modern values and traditional belief.--Margaret Bendroth "author of Fundamentalism and Gender, 1875 to the Present "

Manning unravels the broad stereotypes of religiously conservative women as servile and passive. This book brings to life the many dimensions of conservative religions and their relationship to women's feelings about their rights and roles, as well as opinions about the broader women's movement....This book...reveals how these women weave meanings for and from religion and gender issues....Well written and discerning.-- "Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion"

The points of agreement and disagreement among the members of Manning's three constituencies are provocative and illuminating. Manning argues persuasively that we need to think about cultural conflict in new ways that reflect and expose the complexity and diversity in the traditionalist religious worldview. Recommended.-- "Choice"

This book shatters stereotypes and portrays the religious lives of ordinary women as they really are.--Wade Clark Roof "J. F. Rowny Professor of Religion and Society, Department of Religious Studies, "

About the Author

CHRISTEL MANNING is an assistant professor of religion at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT.