Description
Book SynopsisThe Pious Sex strives to enlighten the reader with respect to the relationship between women and religion. The notion that there is a special relationship between women and piety may call to mind the worst of the prejudices associated with women over the ages: the characterization of women as superstitious and inherently irrational creatures who must be kept firmly in hand by the patriarchal establishment. The suggestion that there is a special relationship between women and piety conjures up the most oppressive picture of womanly virtue. The contributors of this volume revisit the claim that women constitute the pious sex and investigate the implications of such a designation. This collection of original essays examines the relationship between women and religion in the history of political thought broadly conceived. This theme is a remarkably revealing lens through which to view the Western philosophical and poetical traditions that have culminated in secular and egalitarian modern society. The essays also give highly analytical accounts of the manifold and intricate relationships between religion, family, and public life in the history of political thought, and the various ways in which these relationships have manifested themselves in pagan, Jewish, Christian, and post-Christian settings.
Trade ReviewA sparkling collection of essays that examines the old assumption that women are the pious sex. The authors take testimony from the highest sources in philosophy, poetry and religion as they begin the task—so long postponed—of studying women as they are. This is feminism as it should be. -- Harvey Mansfield, Professor of Government, Harvard University; Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Table of ContentsChapter 1 1. Introduction: The Pious Sex? Chapter 2 2. Esther's Piety Chapter 3 3.Three Tragic Versions of Female (Im)piety: Clytemnestra, Jocasta and Antigone Chapter 4 4. Women, War, and Piety in Plato's Laws Chapter 5 5. Educating the Perfect Wife: Piety and Rational Control in the Oeconomicus Chapter 6 6. Love and Piety in Machiavelli's Mandragola Chapter 7 7. Nay, then Tis past Jesting: Piety and Female Friendship in Catharine Trotter's Love at a Loss Chapter 8 8. Women, Christianity, and the Modern in Montesquieu's Considerations on the Romans Chapter 9 9. Rousseau's Domestication of Amour-Propre 10 10. Jane Austen's Education of Women: A Study of Mansfield Park Chapter 12 12. Nietzsche in Eden
