| Without Benefit of Clergy: Women and the Pastoral Relationship in Nineteenth-Century American Culture Contributor(s): Gedge, Karin E. (Author), Stout, Harry S. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0195130200 ISBN-13: 9780195130201 Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA OUR PRICE: $67.45 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: November 2003 Annotation: The common view of the nineteenth-century pastoral relationship--found in both contemporary popular accounts and 20th-century scholarship--was that women and clergymen formed a natural alliance and enjoyed a particular influence over each other. In Without Benefit of Clergy, Karin Gedge tests this thesis by examining the pastoral relationship from the perspective of the minister, the female parishioner, and the larger culture. The question that troubled religious women seeking counsel, says Gedge, was: would their minister respect them, help them, honor them? Surprisingly, she finds, the answer was frequently negative. Gedge supports her conclusion with evidence from a wide range of previously untapped primary sources including pastoral manuals, seminary students' and pastors' journals, women's diaries and letters, pamphlets, sentimental and sensational novels, and The Scarlet Letter. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Religion | Christianity - History - Religion | Christian Ministry - Counseling & Recovery - History | United States - 19th Century |
| Dewey: 259.082 |
| LCCN: 2002011539 |
| Lexile Measure: 1440 |
| Physical Information: 1.11" H x 6.36" W x 9.76" (1.30 lbs) 304 pages |
| Themes: - Religious Orientation - Christian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The common view of the nineteenth-century pastoral relationship--found in both contemporary popular accounts and 20th-century scholarship--was that women and clergymen formed a natural alliance and enjoyed a particular influence over each other. In Without Benefit of Clergy, Karin Gedge tests this thesis by examining the pastoral relationship from the perspective of the minister, the female parishioner, and the larger culture. The question that troubled religious women seeking counsel, says Gedge, was: would their minister respect them, help them, honor them? Surprisingly, she finds, the answer was frequently negative. Gedge supports her conclusion with evidence from a wide range of previously untapped primary sources including pastoral manuals, seminary students' and pastors' journals, women's diaries and letters, pamphlets, sentimental and sensational novels, and The Scarlet Letter. |