Reviews in English:
- NewWomen, NewChurch (USA) Spring 2002.
“No person should graduate from seminary without reading this book . . . It should be required reading for everyone training for priesthood. This book is appropriate for courses in church history, ecclesiology, and theology of ministry.” Diana Wear. - The FURROW (Ireland) 53 (2002) pp. 316-317.
“An easy-to-read book on theology and the history of theological ideas, very up-to-date in presenting its evidence . . . amazing. Incontrovertible in its conclusion that there is no sustainable argument in scripture or tradition against the ordination of women”. Bernadette Toal. - The Tablet (UK) 27 October 2001, p. 1530.
“The author demolishes, in a lucid, lively and persuasive book, the key arguments against the ordination of women. He leaves us with the conclusion that the continued ban has no authentic roots in Christian tradition, but results from the perpetuation of base, pagan prejudice.” Judith Champ. - Australian Reforming Catholics (Australia) December 2001, p. 5.
“Systematically, in clear language, with great scholarship, Wijngaards refutes Rome’s arguments . . . I recommend The Cuckoo’s Egg warmly!” Jim Taverne. - The Times Literary Supplement (UK) 11 January 2002, p. 28.
“This is a valuable book, crisply and accessibly written and presented.” Archbishop Rowan Williams. - Catholic Women’s Network (UK) no 69, December 2001, pp. 20-21.
“Scholarly and well-documented . . . I would recommend this book both to those who are already committed to women’s ordination – it will furnish them with clear and well-supported arguments – and to those who are as yet unconvinced.” Pat Pinsent. - The Church Times (UK, Anglican) 24 August 2001.
“One of the most potent cases yet made against a male-only priesthood”. Rupert Shortt. - The Catholic Citizen, (UK) Spring 2002, pp. 26-28.
“Wijngaards provides us with a definitive status quaestionis . . . The official Church maintains that the matter has been decided ‘infallibly by the ordinary universal magisterium’. Wijngaards in a long passage establishes that this is theological nonsense, and unhappily, can only be regarded as bully-boy tactics.” Bruce Stewart. - THE EXPOSITORY TIMES (April 2002 p. 247)
“An important book which highlights the situation and the need of women in the Roman Catholic Church for support from their brothers and sisters in other denominations”. Natalie K. Watson - RRT (April 2002) pp. 184 – 186
“This book serves a valuable purpose in outlining the issues clearly and passionately. The book will be ideal for use in the classroom or as a resource for church groups, and any others who wish to explore and discuss the issues surrounding the question of women’s ordination.” Isabel Wollaston. - ANVIL 19 (2002) no 4, pp. 316 – 317.
“This is a fascinating book. Called a ‘landmark book’ it is written by a Roman Catholic biblical scholar and church historian who suffers the displeasure of the hierarchy for his persistent and pursuasive presentation of the case for ordaining women to the priesthood.” Roy Barker - Renew March 2002 p. 10.
“Wijngaards finds the reasons given to the exclusion of women to be unconvincing and reeking of misogyny. He lists the teachings of the Church Fathers stating that women were deficient human beings, liable to go, and to lead others, astray because of their lack of understanding; divinely ordained to be subject to men, impure because of menstruation and sharing the guilt of Eve for the Fall. Such things are no longer said openly, but there persists among some clerics a tendency to downplay or ignore our common humanity and see us as mysterious aliens, safe only when pigeonholed as virgins or mothers . . . The book is a meticulously researched and cogently argued account.” Josephine Way - Readers’ Reviews.
Reviews in other languages:
- Trouw (the Netherlands) 16 June 2001.
Further information on the book: