Workers in the vineyard: Catholic women and social action

Abstract

Women have played an active role throughout the history of Christianity, yet the historical accounts of the religious commitment of Christian women were relatively marginalized until modern feminist scholarship brought them back into the light of day. We know now that women were influential and active throughout the history of Christianity, and for the purposes of this chapter, throughout the history of the Catholic Church (Fiorenza 1992; Jensen 1996; Malone 2000; Ruether 2002).