Deviating Voices: Women and Orthodox Religious Tradition By S.W. Jackman Twelve lively and revealing biographical accounts of women - whether saints and reformers or seers and spiritualists - who spoke out against the mainstream teachings of the Church. ISBN-13: 9780718830243 Specifications: 234x156mm, 160pp, Paperback Price: £15.00 • US$30.00 Publication: January 2003 Order this Title Now

About this Book

The strongest voices in Christian history regarding the place of women in religious and secular society gave them only a very limited role, but there have always been those who disagreed with that view and with much other church orthodoxy. Often reviled by the Church, many of these women nevertheless had significant influence in their times.

Some of them were considered to be heretics - unsurprisingly since they made great claims for themselves and their written and spoken words: Maximilla, a Montanist, announced that 'After me there will be no further prophets', while Joanna Southcott later claimed to be 'The Greatest Prophet that ever came into the world'. As this demonstrates, they did not speak with a single voice, but included Montanists, Jansenists, Pelagians, Antinomians, Spiritualists and Theosophists as well as Saints.

This book describes the lives of twelve such women, outlining their beliefs, their attempts to make themselves heard, their clashes with the spiritual authorities, the influence they achieved and the legacies they left behind:

Elizabeth Barton
Teresa Sanchez de Cepeda y Ahumad
Jeanne Marie Guyon
Selina, Countess of Huntingdon
Ann Lee
Joanna Southcott
Barbara Juliana, Baroness De Krudener
Lydia Sellon
Mary Baker Eddy
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Ethel Cecilia Dodd
Aimée Semple Macpherson

Some of these women saw themselves as reformers, others as revolutionaries; some saw their mission as lying within the Church, others broke with established religion completely. What they had in common was that each of them had a vision, some literally, others in a more figurative sense. None of them had any doubts as to the rightness of the mission to which they were called. While some of the opprobrium that they attracted from the ecclesiastical authorities related to their heterodox opinions, it is clear that had they been men their ideas might well have found more support and their activities greater approbation. Everyone who has an interest in Christian history and in women in the church - as well as in men’s reaction to them - will want to read this book.

Download an extract from Chapter 1 - Elizabeth Barton here (PDF, 18KB)
Download an extract from Chapter 4 - Selina, Countess of Huntingdon (PDF, 17KB)
Download an extract from Chapter 10 - Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (PDF, 16 KB)

About the Author

S.W. Jackman is a retired professor of history from St Edmund's College Cambridge, where he spends six months every year. The rest of the year he spends in British Columbia. His education has been extensive, including a Ph.D. (Harvard); D.Litt. (Hon) (University of Lethbridge); D.Litt. (Hon) (University of Victoria); Professor of History, Emeritus, University of Victoria; and Fellow Commoner, St. Edmund's College, University of Cambridge.

Other titles available by S.W. Jackman:
Hibernia's Muses: The Daughters of Thalia and Melpomene
Man of Mercury: The Mind of Henry St John, Viscount Bolingbroke