When the all-male College of Cardinals convenes this week to choose the next pope, we know one thing for certain: They will not select a woman.

Although later pushed to the side, women in early Christian communities ... I don't see a picture of a Golden Age of egalitarianism back there. I see a new, unformed, diverse, and threatened ...

She was indeed an influential figure, but as a prominent disciple and leader of one wing of the early Christian movement that promoted women's leadership. Certainly, the New Testament Gospels ...