Includes bibliographical references and index.

Women in Orthodox Christianity: A Foreword / Kristin Aune -- Introduction / Ina Merdjanova -- Women and Greek Orthodoxy in the Twenty-First Century: Charting Elements of Change / Eleni Sotiriou -- Women, Orthodox Christianity, and Neosecularization in Bulgaria / Ina Merdjanova -- Lay Women and the Transformation of Orthodox Christianity in Russia / Detelina Tocheva -- Women and the Georgian Orthodox Church / Ketevan Gurchiani -- Women and Orthodox Dissent: The Case of the Archangelist Underground Movement in Soviet Moldavia / James Kapaló -- Gender and Religiosity in Communist Romania: Continuity and Change / Maria Bucur -- Doubly Neglected: Histories of Women Monastics in the Serbian Orthodox Church / Milica Bakić-Hayden -- Women as Agents of Glocalization in the Orthodox Church of Finland / Helena Kupari and Tatiana Tiaynen-Qadir -- Head Coverings, Vaccines, and Gender Politics: Contentious Topics among Orthodox Christian Women in US-based Digital Spaces / Sarah Riccardi-Swartz -- Acknowledgments -- List of Contributors.

"Women and Religiosity in Orthodox Christianity fills a significant gap in the sociology of religious practice: Studies focused on women's religiosity have overlooked Orthodox populations, while studies of Orthodox practice (operating within the dominant theological, historical and sociological framework) have remained gender-blind. The essays in this collection shed new light on the women who make up a considerable majority of the Orthodox population by engaging women's lifeworlds, practices and experiences in relation to their religion in multiple, varied localities, discussing both contemporary and pre-1989 developments. These contributions critically engage the pluralist and changing character of Orthodox institutional and social life by using feminist epistemologies and drawing on original ethnographic research to account for Orthodox women's previously ignored perspectives, knowledges, and experiences. Combining the depth of ethnographic analysis with geographical breadth and employing a variety research methodologies, this book expands our understanding of Orthodox Christianity by examining Orthodox women of diverse backgrounds in different settings: parishes, monasteries, the secular spaces of everyday life, and under shifting historical conditions and political regimes. In defiance of claims that Orthodox Christianity is immutable and fixed in time, these essays argue that continuity and transformation can be found harmoniously in social practices, demographic trends, and larger material contexts at the intersection between gender, Orthodoxy and locality"-- Provided by publisher.

Description based on print version record.