Women and Families explores the complex roles of women in Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Each religion specifies a positive set of virtues, but these imply a negative set as well. If the virtuous woman is a faithful wife and a nurturing mother, then what does each religion say to a woman who remains celibate, childless, or unmarried? What about the circle beyond home and family? Five scholars draw out the ambiguity of women's relation to religion and also explore how women attempt to shape their own lives as well as the larger public life. Jacob Neusner is Research Professor of Religion and Theology at Bard College and Senior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard. He has published more than 900 books and unnumbered articles, both scholarly and academic and popular and journalistic, and is the most published humanities scholar in the world. He has been awarded nine honorary degrees, including seven US and European honorary doctorates. He received his AB from Harvard College in 1953, his PhD from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary in 1961, and rabbinical ordination and the degree of Master of Hebrew Letters from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1960.