This book takes a historical-theological approach to understanding the complex relationships
among gender religion economics and politics in a global context with particular reference
to Islam and Catholicism as two worldwide culturally diverse and patriarchal religious
traditions. It looks at ways in which Catholic and Muslim women both within and between their
respective traditions are critiquing fundamentalist theological and cultural positions and
reclaiming their rightful place within the life of their religious traditions. In so doing it
argues that they offer to their respective religious communities and beyond a holistic way of
negotiating the impact of modernity in a globalized world. The final chapter of the book gives
voice to some Australian Muslim and Catholic women who at a local level reflect many of the
overall concerns of women who find themselves at the cutting edge of their respective religious
tradition's negotiation of modernity.
