A Still Small Voice: Women, Ordination, and the Church

Writing as a seminary-trained sociologist, Frederick W. Schmidt, Jr. concentrates on the roles of clergywomen in five denominations--Episcopal, United Methodist, Evangelical Lutheran, Southern Baptist, and Roman Catholic. He maintains that behind the façade of equanimity, women are often relegated to the outskirts of church hierarchy.

In compelling stories, we learn about the Episcopal woman denied a job because she was too short; the Methodist women burdened by the old saw of women preache...