Page:English Historical Review Volume 35.djvu/125

 1920 117 Reviews of Books The Ministry of Women. A Keport by a Committee appointed by his grace the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, with Appendices. (London: Society for promoting Christian Knowledge, 1919.) This report differs from many of its kind, less as literature in the strict sense than as furnishing information to the historical student. In the latter respect its value cannot be disputed. We have here, not indeed a uniform and systematic treatment of the subject, but a report of twenty- eight pages followed by appendices of 290 pages. The subject is treated or illustrated by various authors with contributions, partly written ad hoc, partly revived and more or less brought up to date. As the result, the student will find identical subjects or points illuminated verso aratro by many a cross light. Among the most valuable appendices are no. vi, on the ministries of women in the primitive church, by Dr. C. H. Tm"ner ; no. iii, dealing with the fourth to sixth centuries, by Bishop Maclean ; no. iv, dealing with the apostolic constitutions, by the dean of Wells ; no. viii, a very interesting collection of materials on the history of double monas- teries ; and no. xvi, in which various contributors bring together miscel- laneous notes and documents, many of them of high interest. The last- named qualification may certainly also be claimed for appendix vii, by the late Bishop Collins, originally an article published in the Church Quarterly Review for January 1899. It naturally cuts across the treatment in some other parts of the book, but is none the less fresh and arresting reading. The ultimate aim of the book is no doubt practical. But its direct aim is strictly limited, by the reference to the reporting committee, to the historical side of the question. The committee were asked to report as to the main facts of Christian history bearing upon the ministry of women, not merely as volunteers and private workers but as officers of the church. The reference is formulated as follows : ' The sanctions and restrictions which govern the ministrations of women in the life of the church, and the status and work of deaconesses.' It may surprise some readers that the question of deaconesses is thus separately emphasized. But they will find as they read that the particular subject of deaconesses forms an intricate and somewhat elusive bit of history, while it is the feminine diaconate that most directly raises the question of the ministry of women, not as volunteer workers but as an order of the clergy. As we have said, the ultimate aim is practical. The archbishop, in referring the matter for investigation, has doubtless desired to steer between too great ' newfangleness ' in sanctioning novel departures on