Female Ministry, Priesthood and Children’s Literature

by Pat Pinsent

Course Description

Since women have not been admitted to the ordained ministry in any mainstream Christian church until relatively recently, and are still denied ordination in some bodies, especially the Roman Catholic Church, there is little literature, for children or for adults, which portray women in a directly ministerial role. Nevertheless, if the role of the priest is seen as making Christ present in the world, mediating God to others and ‘standing for’ Christ, by actions such as nurturing the young, and teaching scripture, tradition and the Christian life, then female characters in literature have undoubtedly had what might be termed a priestly function. In this course, a wide range of literature, either written for children or often presented to them in school, will be analysed, with the intention both of examining how writers have portrayed the role of the ordained male priests, and of establishing how the various forms of female ministry are depicted. A number of questions are inevitably raised during this analysis, in particular in relation to the way in which children’s literature helps determine the perceptions of young readers.

Although the material considered is not restricted to children’s fiction, all texts to some extent partake of the nature of ‘story’. Sources are not exclusively Catholic, but attention is given to a number of ‘forgotten’ Catholic writers whose work provides an insight into earlier attitudes towards childhood and religion.

The essential texts referred to in the course material are either available on-line, or easily obtainable from libraries and in cheap editions. Most of the texts discussed are of British origin, but some reference is made to North American texts and to literature in translation. Some critical material is recommended while copies of relevant papers by the course tutor are provided on-line. Since these were written for a variety of books and journals, they are not specific to the course material but should provide further insights. Students are free to follow these up if they wish, but this is not essential to the course.

	Lesson One Children's Literature and Childhood; Sources for Study
	Lesson Two The Ordained Priest; Priesthood and the Role of Women and Girls
	Lesson Three The Mother in Children’s Fiction
	Lesson Four The Grandmother, the Servant, and the Governess
	Lesson Five The religious woman and the woman Religious
	Lesson Six Ministering Children and the Romantic Child
	Lesson Seven Case Study of Female Spirituality
	Lesson Eight Female Spirituality in Picture books; Poetry
	Lesson Nine Literature from North America
	Lesson Ten Conclusion.
	Course Assessment: Assignment Details
	Bibliography
	Female Ministry: Excerpts

Required Reading

Because the length of the required texts in different sessions varies, students are advised to space their reading evenly throughout the course, by looking ahead to the novels which are to be read in their entirety, as indicated below:

Session Two: George Eliot, Adam Bede

Session Four: George MacDonald, The Princess and the Goblin

Session Six: Hesba Stretton, Jessica’s First Prayer

Session Seven: C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Session Nine: Louisa M. Alcott, Little Women; Susan Coolidge, What Katy Did

Primary Texts

The following extracts from relevant texts will be available on-line:

1. Bearne, D. (1906) Francis Apricot, London: Washbourne

2. Benson, R.H. (1927; first published 1906) Come Rack, Come Rope London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne

3. Cologan, W.H. (c.1888) Molly’s Prayer, London: Catholic Truth Society

4. Cormier,R. (1991; USA 1990) Darcy, London: Gollancz

5. Drew,F.B. (1880) Dominus Vobiscum, London: R.& T. Washbourne

6. Hallack, C. (1937) Adventure of the Amethyst, London: Macmillan

7. Hallack, C. (n.d.) (illustrated by ‘Robin’) All about Selina, London: Burns Oates & Washbourne

8. Herbert, Lady (c.1888) The Story of Mary, London: Catholic Truth Society

9. ‘Lunky Lee’, (1927) The Garden, London: Sheed & Ward

10. Marryat, F. (n.d., first published 1841-2) Masterman Ready, London: Collins

11. Mulholland, R. (1876) Five Little Farmers, Belfast: Marcus Ward & Co

12. Mulholland, R. (1894) A Book of Irish Stories, Catholic Truth Society

13. Pilling, A. (1989) Our Kid, London: Viking Kestrel

14. Richardson, M. (1956) Annals of St Audrey’s, London: Sands & Co

15. Richardson, M. (1960) Anne, Sheed & Ward, New York

16. Trevor, M. (1955) Sun Slower, Sun Faster, London: Collins

17. Tynan, K. (before 1924) Bitha’s Wonderful Year, London: OUP

18. Von Schmid, C. (n.d.; translator unnamed; first published in German 1823) The Basket of Flowers, London: Jarrold

The following complete texts are available on-line at http://wordsworth.roehampton.ac.uk/digital/chlit/:

Edgeworth, M. (1801) Rosamond

Sherwood, M. M. (1818) The History of the Fairchild Family

Stretton, H. (1867) Jessica’s First Prayer

In addition, students are asked to have access to the following, in any edition. Original dates of publication are given here for reference.

Alcott, L. M. (1868) Little Women

Coolidge, S. (1872) What Katy Did

Eliot, G. (1859) Adam Bede

Lewis,C.S. (1950) The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

MacDonald, G. (1871) The Princess and the Goblin

Rossetti, C. (1862) Goblin Market [This is to be found in many anthologies, and also in Rossetti’s complete works]

Secondary Reading

The following critical papers by Pat Pinsent will be available on-line:

1. ‘British Children’s Literature between Vatican I and Vatican II’: Paper given at a conference at the Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium in May 2002 and due to appear shortly in the publication of the proceedings of the conference.

2. ‘Children’s Literature and the Development of Spirituality in a Multi-faith Context’ Paper given at a conference at University of Surrey Roehampton, 2001

3. ‘Narnia: An Affirmative Vision’ Paper given at a conference celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the publication of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Bethnal Green 2000, and subsequently appearing in the journal Papers

4. ‘Religion and the State in Catholic Children’s Fiction’ Paper given at a conference at University of Surrey Roehampton, 2002

5. ‘Signifiers of Religious Identity in Late Twentieth Century Children’s Fiction’ Paper given at a conference at Reading University, 2000

6. ‘The Depiction of Elderly Characters in Recent Children’s Fiction’ Paper given at the IBBY conference at University of Surrey Roehampton, 2000, and subsequently appearing in The Big Issues (NCRCL Papers 6, 2001)

7. ‘ “The things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them” (The Last Battle): Religious Mystery and Children’s Literature.’ Paper subsequently appearing in (ed.) A.Gavin & C. Routledge, Mystery in Children’s Literature, Palgrave Macmillan 2001

8. ‘The Varieties of British Protestant Children’s Fiction: Severe Moralising versus Flights of Fancy’ Paper written for the book of Conference Proceedings mentioned in item 1.

9. ‘Unexpected Allies?: Philip Pullman and the Feminist Theologians’ Paper to appear in book on Philip Pullman edited by Millicent Lenz, 2004

10. ‘Women’s Spirituality and the Works of Monica Furlong’ Article in Network 74