Women are still not allowed to hold the priesthood in the Catholic Church, and the Church maintains its strict stance on issues of marriage, abortion, and contraception. This was not always the case, as the great theologian Hans Küng demonstrates in this book: In early Christianity and the early Church, for example, women were naturally also disciples and prophets. It was only in the Middle Ages that women were increasingly pushed out of the Church. Küng vividly and comprehensively describes how the position of women in Christianity has evolved throughout history - from early times through the Middle Ages and the Reformation to the present day.