Reviews for Woman at the altar

The average rating for Woman at the altar based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-08-19 00:00:00 Adrian Avalos This is a really eloquent book on women’s ordination within the Catholic Church, not least because it was written by a naughty British nun (who has since had more than a slapped wrist by the Catholic authorities) at the time of the Church of England’s reforms - 30 years on and still no women priests, though Byrne’s hope and fervour come across palpably. Perhaps this wasn’t the book I was looking for - I wanted a dense, theological, historical and ethical whatever study of women’s ordination. This was more about the validity of contemporary Catholic women’s vocations, the necessity of the modern Catholic Church accepting them. I liked the style - readable with interesting anecdotes. But it wasn’t necessarily scholarly or even constructive...? Or at least in an historical sense. Lots of interesting stuff on the pill here, changing forms of the family etc which aren’t necessarily relevant in an historical, Catholic Church doctrinal context.... But in parts - particularly the beginning and end - language was beautiful and compelling. This is a good stepping stone I think towards something else. Also Byrne didn’t address the big Q, or at least didn’t dare explicitly spell this out: would she countenance a woman Pope??? But Byrne is a very interesting writer and I can tell she’s really nice. Xxxx

Review # 2 was written on 2014-06-16 00:00:00 Meredith Slayton The only reason I read this was because the Catholic Church made such a stink about it...it turned out not to be a very good presentation of the necessity of ordaining women...I was disappointed...not at the book itself, but at the critics of it who obviously didn't read it first!!