One could do sufficient justice to Catherine Wessinger’s Theory of Women in Religions by approaching it primarily as a textbook that offers a wide-ranging introduction to the subject at hand. It is an excellent one—multi-disciplinary, informative about basics and subtleties, evocative, and provocative. I contend that its appeal extends also to those of us who have been involved with this subject matter for decades. It offers numerous entry points to both beginner and veteran for understanding the persistence of various forms of women’s perceived “otherness” in their religious communities and multiple efforts to combat that status. To the longtime student of these patterns and issues, Wessinger’s book offers the additional gift of countering the feelings of ennui (at best) that accompany the existential concern that, in regard to the status of women, the more things change the more they stay the same. Wessinger’s advice in the first chapter is compelling...

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