Montanism: Gender, Authority and the New Prophecy

Description

The rise of Montanism was important in the history of the early Church. This prophetic movement survived for centuries after its beginnings in the second half of the second century and was a challenge to the developing Catholic tradition. Montanism looks at its teachings and the response of other Christians to it. To an unusual degree Montanism allowed public religious activity and church office to women. This is the first study of the movement in English since 1878. It takes account of the scholarship of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

"The book is a must for students of the early church...Her solid treatment of this rich topic should prove to be a challenge and a treasure to Christians of widely divergent interests: feminists and their critics, charismatics and their critics, advocates of particular loci of religious authority and their critics. Montanism could engage the attention and imagination of all these and more." Rebecca Harden Weaver, Interpretation "Trevett's book is a welcome addition to an understudied area." Lori Beaman-Hall, Sociology of Religion