Women Officeholders in Early Christianity - (Theology) by Ute E Eisen (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Here Ute E. Eisen provides a scholarly investigation of the evidence that women held offices of authority in the first centuries of Christianity. Topics include apostles, prophets, theological teachers, presbyters, enrolled widows, deacons, bishops, and oikonomae. The book concludes with a chapter on "source-oriented perspectives for a history of Christian women in official positions."

Review Quotes

Readers wishing for a more balanced approach to archaeological and literary evidence for women officeholders in the early church will welcome this translation of Ute Eisen's scholarly treatment of the subject.Trinity Seminary Review

I enthusiastically recommend the book as required reading not only for college and seminary students but also for clergy, church leaders and anyone interested in Western history or questions of church and ministry.Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Krister Stendahl Professor of Scripture and Interpretation, Harvard University Divinity School

. . . may well be the first extensive documentation of selected Greek and Latin inscriptions to be used to substantiate the role of women as officeholders, its use as an academic text is quite possible.Catholic Library World

Eisen's work is something of a watershed in the study of women in early Christianity, and its welcome appearance in English will be of tremendous interest to scholars and students, and to church members and leaders. This will become a standard reference, and it will also renew some debates.Anglican Theological Review