Reviews
Beyond the Altar: Women Religious, Patriarchal Power, and the Church, by Christine L. M. Gervais
anniefwrites's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
If you think you know nuns, no you don’t. While the style of this book is academic, the story is exciting—radical nuns, surreptitiously fighting the patriarchy within their own religious institution. Gervais does an excellent job of examining the complexity of these women’s relationships with the Catholic Church and reveals so much about their ingenuity and resourcefulness in the face of restriction and sexism. It’s very info-heavy, so it took me a while to read, but I found it interesting and heartening, even as an American Former Catholic™️, as opposed to the Canadian nuns interviewed in this volume. It’s really such a shame that anonymity has to be so protected in these cases (literally to prevent excommunication) because I’d love to see a documentary about these women.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Colonisation, Confinement, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Racism, Abortion, Child abuse, and Rape
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