Religion was a vital part of women's experience in Victorian Britain. This book is the first real study of the social history and cultural significance of the sisterhoods which sprang up within Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century, where women abandoned the domestic sphere to become the prototype of the modern social worker as well as pushing back the boundaries of what women could do within the structures of the Anglican church. The sisterhood movement began with the establishment of the first convent in 1845 and grew rapidly. By 1900 more than 10,000 women had joined the only Anglican organization which offered full-time work for women of all social classes. Even more impressive than the sisterhood's rapid growth was the degree of fascination that 'protestant nunneries' had for the general public -- the movement was the focus of a vigorous and heated public debate that lasted beyond the end of the century. Based upon years of research into the archives of twenty-eight religious communities, the book offers a unique breadth of coverage which allows for the formation of a more comprehensive and accurate picture of the movement than has been possible previously. Above all, the book shows that these sisterhoods were not refuges for women who failed to find husbands; rather, they attracted women who were interested in moulding careers. So successful were they in recruiting women that by the 1860s they threatened to undermine the hegemony of the ideal of domestic life as the proper sphere for women.

The life of a Victorian religious community, both within the privacy of the convent and in its work in the wider world, including front-line nursing. This book introduces readers to the life of a Victorian religious community, both within the privacy of the convent and in its work in the wider world, based on documents preserved by the Society of All Saints Sisters of the Poor.It begins by using the memoirs of first-generation members of the community, a colourful and human introduction to the Anglican 're-invention' of monastic life in the second half of the nineteenth century. The section on government includes the power struggles between the sisters and the religious establishment, and the community's determination to retain its identity after the death of the mother foundress. The sisters nursed with the newly-formed Red Cross in the Franco-Prussian War, work recorded in a diary which discusses the difficulties and dangers of Victorian front-line nursing. Most of all, the documents reveal the challenges and excitement of the struggle to establish awomen's community, to be unfettered in their work with the poor and suffering, and to govern themselves, in a world dominated by men largely hostile to their aspirations. SUSAN MUMM is lecturer in religious studies at the OpenUniversity, Milton Keynes.

This volume accompanies the five textbooks published in the Open University/Ashgate Religion Today Series, but also offers an independent, comprehensive Reader for all those studying and interested in religion today. The Reader presents primary source material structured around five key themes: Sacred text to internet; Religion and social transformation; Civil religions; Global religions in regional context; Alternative spiritualities. Each section includes an introduction by the editor, and presents an international range of the most important textual sources for study.

- Organized by themes which are central to understanding religion today - Suitable for advanced undergraduates: emphasis on controversy and debates in the field - International range of sources and religions - Includes popular as well as scholarly sources