The opening of the ordained ministry to women, in the larger context of the women's movement in America, has created an unprecedented situation within Protestant denominations. Women are now increasingly visible in religious organizations previously administered solely by men. Congregations, church agencies, educational institutions, and volunteer organizations are all affected by the "gender shift" within mainstream Protestantism. Episcopal Women is the first careful historical and sociological study of the impact of these gender changes on a particular religious institution. This groundbreaking volume includes essays on Episcopal theology and women's spirituality, the urban church, aging and the church, women's organizations, women donors, clerical leadership, and black women's experience in the Episcopal Church.

The late Catherine M. Prelinger, author of Charity, Challenge, and Change: Religious Dimensions of the Mid-Nineteenth-Century Women's Movement in Germany (1987), was Assistant Editor of the Benjamin Franklin Papers at Yale University.