These essays on the complex influence of gender on the development of Christian religion extend the gender issue to questions concerning the role of men and masculinity in the development and spread of Christianity, and to more theoretical issues arising from the wider concept of gender and questions of gender awareness. Chronologically the collection moves from the martyrdoms of the Early Church to the twentieth century; geographically it includes both the heartland of western Christendom in Britain and Europe, and colonial missions in the nineteenth century and more recent developments in South Africa and Australia. Evidence drawn on extends from Middle English texts to Romanian wall-paintings, from seventeenth-century religious polemic to intimate personal diaries. Dr R. N. SWANSON teaches in the Department of Medieval History at the University of Birmingham.