Review of Women with a Mission by Laura R. Olson and Sue E. S. Crawford
Oren Martin and Barak Tjader
This book review appears in the Annotated Bibliography for Gender-Related Books in 2005, JBMW Volume 11 No. 2.
Category: Non-Evangelical - important secular works and books that addrss the subject of biblical gender issues from a religious, albeit, non-evangelical point of view. This category also serves as our classification for liberal scholars wanting to retain some sort of Christian identity.
The authors of this volume conducted research on the political attitudes and activism of female clergy. They examine the influence of gender roles and professional experience on both political ideology and mobilization of clergywomen. The authors' data suggests a highly homogenous liberal political outlook among female ministers and rabbi with a focus primarily on social injustices. This interest in issues such as poverty and racial intolerance as well as abortion and homosexual rights stems largely from perceived professional discrimination. The authors suggest that women clergy have the potential to affect a relatively broad contingent of people as they are uniquely positioned as females championing liberal causes while at the same time leading religious bodies that are looking for spiritual guidance.
