Women Doctors of the Church (CH9217Y)

Postgraduate, 24.0 points

Content

Paul’s injunction that women remain silent in the Church (1 Cor 14: 34-36) could be said to have led to a significance absence of Women’s Wisdom from the official teaching of the Church over its 2000 year history. Of the 37 Doctors of the Church, only 4 are women, Teresa of Ávila, Catherine of Siena, Thérèse of Lisieux and Hildegard of Bingen, all of whom have only been recognised in the last 50 years. This unit will concentration on the contribution of these women to our theological understanding of God and also explore other important female voices that have been overlooked through the centuries.

Unit code: CH9217Y

Unit status: Approved (Major revision)

Points: 24.0

Unit level: Postgraduate Elective

Unit discipline: Church History

Delivery Mode: Intensive

Proposing College: Yarra Theological Union

Show when this unit is running

Learning outcomes

1.

Evaluate and articulate the particular challenges facing women in church history, particularly in terms of recognition of their wisdom and capacity for leadership.
2.

Demonstrate a critical understanding of the context from which these challenges arose.
3.

Analyse critically the writings, and depiction in art, of the four Women Doctors of the Church.
4.

Evaluate arguments for and against the addition of other female voices to the rank of Doctor of the Church.
5.

Formulate a sustained critical argument in response to the unit readings on the contribution of women to theology and church life in the contemporary world.

Unit sequence

1x foundational CH or DS unit

Pedagogy

Asynchronous and synchronous lectures, tutorials, and discussion forums

Indicative Bibliography

  • Bain, Jennifer (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021.
  • Hildegard of Bingen. The Book of Divine Works. Translated by Nathaniel M. Campbell. Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2018.
  • Malone, Mary T. Four Women Doctors of the Church. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2017.
  • Muir, Elizabeth. A Women's History of the Christian Church: Two Thousand Years of Female Leadership. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019.
  • McGinn, Bernard. The Doctors of the Church: Thirty-Three Men and Women Who Shaped Christianity. NY: Crossroads, 2009.
  • Newman, Barbara. Sister of Wisdom: St. Hildegard's Theology of the Feminine. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1989.
  • Radford Reuther, Rosemary. Women and Redemption: A Theological History. 2nd ed. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2012.
  • Teresa of Avila, Saint. The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila. Translated by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez. Vols. 1 and 2. Washington: Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1976-80.
  • Thérèse of Lisieux, Saint. Story of A Soul: The autobiography of Saint Therese of Lisieux. 3rd ed. Washington, Institute of Carmelite Studies, 1996.
  • Tyler, Peter and Edward Howells, (ed.). Teresa of Avila: Mystical Theology and Spirituality in the Carmelite Tradition. London: Routledge, 2017.

Assessment

Type Description Word count Weight (%)
Oral Presentation 1000 20.0
Essay

Short Essay

 2000 30.0
Essay

Major Essay

 4000 50.0
Approvals

Unit approved for the University of Divinity by Prof Albert Haddad on 28 Jul, 2025

Unit record last updated: 2025-07-28 09:33:55 +1000