Description: This volume engages women's lifeworlds, practices, and experiences in relation to Orthodox Christianity in multiple, varied localities, discussing both contemporary and pre-1989 developments. It critically engages the pluralist and changing character of Orthodox forms of institutional and social life in relation to gender by using feminist epistemologies and drawing on original ethnographic research.
Brief description: Kristin Aune is Professor of Sociology of Religion at Coventry University's Centre for Trust, Peace, and Social Relations. Her research is on religion, gender, and higher education, and her books include Women and Religion in the West (edited with S. Sharma and G. Vincett, Routledge, 2008). Her recent journal articles include "Feminist Spirituality as Lived Religion" (Gender & Society) and "Navigating the Third Wave: Contemporary UK Feminist Activists and 'Third-Wave Feminism' " (Feminist Theory). She is coeditor of Routledge's Gendering the Study of Religion in the Social Sciences book series and an editor of the journal Religion and Gender.
Review Quotes: This innovative collection of essays offers fresh and much needed perspectives on Orthodox worlds as experienced by women. These ethnographies not only bring us into the lived religious experiences of Orthodox women but show how they are animated by broader dynamics of political theology and neoliberalism. A must read for anyone interested in Orthodoxy today.---Catherine Wanner, Pennsylvania State University