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Women and Belief, 1852–1928


Focusing on the years immediately preceding and following the turn of the century, this volume provides a selective yet illustrative sample of the diverse writings on women and religion in the 1890s and the first decade of the 1900s. It includes extracts from seminal as well as underexplored works by both well-known and obscure writers from Britain, India, Ireland and the United States. While some of the texts reproduced here are representative of feminists’ continued efforts during this period to expose what they perceived as the inherent sexism of organised religion, other writers of various faiths and political persuasions also explore the relationship between women’s social position and religious doctrines, often with particular emphasis on issues surrounding female education and the effects of religious and secularist instruction on women as a group and, in turn, on society as a whole.

Volume Contents

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    Front Matter
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    Introduction to Volume V By Jessica Cox; Nadine Muller
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    15
    Religious Education of Women (Oxford: James Parker and Co., 1894) By Lucy H. M. Soulsby
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    16
    Preface and Introduction to The Woman’s Bible (New York: European Publishing Company, 1895) By Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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    17
    How is Woman treated by Man and Religion? (Bombay: Javaji Dadaji’s “Nirnaya-Sagar” Press, 1896) By Bhagwant Hari Khare
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    18
    Extract from The God-Idea of the Ancients or Sex in Religion (London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1897) By Eliza Burt Gamble
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    19
    Joyce Maxwell’s Mistakes: A Story of Women’s Work in the Mission Field (London: Charles H. Kelly, 1899) By Lena Tyack
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    20
    Women in the Early Christian Ministry (Philadelphia: Alfred J. Ferris, 1897) By Ellen Battelle Dietrick
  • Will women help? An appeal to women to assist in liberating modern thought from theological bonds (London: Watts & Co., 1900) By F. J. Gould
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      I
      The Women Linger
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      II
      The Attitude of the Bible Towards Women
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      III
      The New Religion
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      IV
      Parting Suggestions
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    22
    “Towards freedom: an appeal to thoughtful men and women” The Agnostic Journal (London: Watts & Co., 1904-5) By Lady Florence Dixie
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    23
    Thoughts for creedless women (London: Catholic Truth Society, 1906) By Emily Hickey