Liberal Christianity and Women's Global Activism: The YWCA of the USA and the Maryknoll Sisters (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780813588476)

Religiously influenced social movements tend to be characterized as products of the conservative turn in Protestant and Catholic life in the latter part of the twentieth century, with women's mobilizations centering on defense of the "traditional" family. In Liberal Christianity and Women's Global Activism, Amanda L. Izzo argues that, contrary to this view, liberal wings of Christian churches have remained an instrumental presence in U.S. and transnational politics. Women have been at the forefront of such efforts.

Focusing on the histories of two highly influential groups, the Young Women's Christian Association of the USA, an interdenominational Protestant organization, and the Maryknoll Sisters, a Roman Catholic religious order, Izzo offers new perspectives on the contributions of these women to transnational social movements, women's history, and religious studies, as she traces the connections between turn-of-the-century Christian women's reform culture and liberal and left-wing religious social movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Izzo suggests that shared ethical, theological, and institutional underpinnings can transcend denominational divides, and that strategies for social change often associated with secular feminism have ties to spiritually inspired social movements.


Author: Amanda Izzo
ISBN-10: 0813588472
ISBN-13: 9780813588476
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Language: English
Published: 01/30/2018
Pages: 286
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.80h x 6.90w x 0.60d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 08/01/2018