Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-270) and index.

For such a time as this: Aglow and American culture -- Released, restored, set free: spirituality in practice -- Into light and life: healing and transformation -- Unveiling the heart: secrecy, openness, and intimacy -- Free to submit: discipline, authority, and sacrifice -- Submissive wives, wounded daughters, and female soldiers: reinventing Christian womanhood.

"In this exploration of Women's Aglow Fellowship, the largest women's evangelical organization in the world, R. Marie Griffith challenges the simple generalizations often made about charismatic, or "spirit-filled," Christian women and uncovers important connections between Aglow members and the feminists to whom they so often seem opposed." "Skillfully using both ethnography and history, Griffith explores the lives and complex roles that women play within Pentecostalism, one of the most important movements in twentieth-century world religion. By subtly deciphering the doctrine of female submission to male authority, long held by many evangelicals, Griffith reveals the intricate ways in which women both in and outside the Aglow Fellowship achieve unexpected forms of power and liberation. This is a remarkable and revealing book for anyone interested in women, religion, feminism, and American culture."--BOOK JACKET.