Christian History

Issue 30

Women in the Medieval Church

Originally published in 1991

Christian History magazine was published by Christianity Today from 1982 to 2008.

Articles in this Issue

Catherine of Siena

She lived only 33 years, but her vibrant faith and writings were so influential she has been declared a Doctor of the Church.

The Black Death

Catherine of Siena lived—and helped others—during the most devastating plague in human history.

Five Religious Options for Medieval Women

In the High Middle Ages, Christian women found many ways to live a holy life.

Life in a Medieval Village

From birth to death, a peasant woman’s difficult life intersected the church.

Inside the Convent

How did convents arise? Why did so many medieval women enter them?

A Skeptic Inside the Nunnery

Spiritual vitality—and tensions—within a twelfth-century priory.

Christian Women Writers of the Medieval World

Meet the first known dramatist of Christianity, the most famous female exegete of the nature of the Trinity, and the author of the earliest known autobiography in English.

Joan of Arc

The courageous and controversial teenager who saved her country

Heloise and Abelard’s Tumultuous Affair

She became an acclaimed abbess; he was one of the greatest philosophers of the medieval world. Yet their fabled love deeply damaged them both.

The Mystics

Why did mysticism flower in the medieval world—and why did women often lead in it?

Writings from Women in the Medieval Church

Brief selections from four key books

The Faith Behind the Famous: Isaac Newton

He has been called “the greatest scientific genius the world has known.” Yet he spent less time on science than on theology.

Readers Respond to the 100 Events Issue

Which events should have been listed? Here’s what you said.

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