Married to the Minister: The Status of the Clergy Spouse as Part of a Two-Person Single Career

Clergy spouses have long been considered unpaid partners in two-person single careers, but a number of social forces may have begun to challenge that, including the ordination of women and increasingly accepted alternatives to traditional family forms. This study surveyed more than 3,000 United Methodist clergy spouses to assess the status of that role, focusing especially on gender, age, and region of the United States. It was determined that gender has the strongest effect, as male spouses are significantly more likely to be nontraditional than their female counterparts. To a lesser degree, younger spouses and those not from the South are also more likely to act in nontraditional ways. Higher income and higher education were also found to be correlated with nontraditional behaviors. Although the large majority of respondents continue to replicate the traditional clergy spouse model, changes seem to be underway, led primarily by the male spouses of clergy women.

"Believing Women" in Islam

Does the Qur'an permit the oppression of women? Can women pursue equality and remain within the framework of its teachings? In this original and thought-provoking work, Barias attempts to address these controversial questions. In the preface, Barias asks whether the Qur'an is a patriarchal text, and acknowledges that while this question might not be meaningful from the perspective of the Qur'anic text itself, Muslim women today are confronted with frankly patriarchal exegeses. In order to open up a discursive space for her reading, Barias asserts that various readings of the Qur'an should not be confused with the text itself, and that since Islam has no clergy, women can reclaim the right to interpret the Qur'an. Contrary to both conservative and progressive Muslims, she argues that the Qur'an challenges inequality and oppression ...