Customer Reviews

Sisters in Arms: Catholic Nuns through Two Millennia

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One of the only books available to provide an overview of the orders from beginning to recent times. Readers are likely to be surprised by the diversity of the early orders, and the range of growth and the transitions they have made over the centuries. The majority of the text describes the development of the orders, providing fascinating insight to some of the practises that have come and gone over the years. Detailing social culture that surrounded the convents as well as the communities within the convents, it provides context to the lives of the nuns. This book may not present the ideally framed version of history many would like to see, especially if you're pursuing some notion of blissful cloistered weak women protected by the Church. Politics aside, this is a compelling view into the lives of women through the centuries who have exhibited strength in their dedication to their ideals with or without the aid of men.

2,000 years of women's contributions (specifically nuns) within Christianity are covered in 644 pages. It is not an easy task or even plausible to cover every single detail, but McNamara did a great job in portraying a wide spectrum of experiences. Whenever we look at the history of any subject, one book is never enough. But Sisters in Arms is a definitive book that should be included by anyone interested in the history of women within Christianity. Both the good and the bad come out in this book; there is no battle over the sexes in this book. Women are portrayed from different parts of the world with different experiences. It is amazing and inspiring to see the obstacles in the way of these women and how they dealt with them. It is an insult to claim that talking about the horrors of history is only a person whining with no reason (No Jew would take such criticism if someone would degrade all the suffering they have gone through for over 4,000 years and no woman should either). This book is a fresh reminder of the hopes, suffering and accomplishments that celibate women have shared with the world for over 2,000 years.

The author cannot be faulted for research, but the presentation is focussed entirely on such "male oppression" as nuns endured. Anyone looking for compelling spirituality, a full look at the incredible achievements of religious in any century, or even recognition of the fact that the professional and educational achievements of religious Sisters far exceeded that which other women could begin to hope for in recent centuries will be disappointed.

It is unbalanced, rather dismal, and not likely to appeal to anyone unless her philosophy of religious life is entirely one of a fight between the sexes.