Preaching That Speaks to Women by
Invites preachers to consider how gender affects the way sermons are understood and calls them to preaching that relates to the entire congregation.
Strangers and Pilgrims by
Margaret Meuse Clay, who barely escaped a public whipping in the 1760s for preaching without a license; "Old Elizabeth," an ex-slave who courageously traveled to the South to preach against slavery in the early nineteenth century; Harriet Livermore, who spoke in front of Congress four times between 1827 and 1844--these are just a few of the extraordinary women profiled in this, the first comprehensive history of female preaching in early America. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Catherine Brekus examines the lives of more than a hundred female preachers--both white and African American--who crisscrossed the country between 1740 and 1845. Outspoken, visionary, and sometimes contentious, these women stepped into the pulpit long before twentieth-century battles over female ordination began. They were charismatic, popular preachers, who spoke to hundreds and even thousands of people at camp and revival meetings, and yet with but a few notable exceptions--such as Sojourner Truth--these women have essentially vanished from our history. Recovering their stories, Brekus shows, forces us to rethink many of our common assumptions about eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American culture.
Prophesying Daughters by
In nineteenth-century America, many black women left their homes, their husbands, and their children to spread the Word of God. Descendants of slaves or former "slave girls" themselves, they traveled all over the country, even abroad, preaching to audiences composed of various races, denominations, sexes, and classes, offering their own interpretations of the Bible. When they were denied the pulpit because of their sex, they preached in tents, bush clearings, meeting halls, private homes, and other spaces. They dealt with domestic ideologies that positioned them as subservient in the home, and with racist ideologies that positioned them as naturally inferior to whites. They also faced legalities restricting blacks socially and physically and the socioeconomic reality of often being part of a large body of unskilled laborers. Jarena Lee, Julia Foote, Maria Stewart, and Frances Gaudet were four women preachers who endured such hardships because of their religious convictions. Often quoting from the scripture, they insisted that they were indeed prophesying daughters whom God called upon to preach. Significantly, many of these women preachers wrote autobiographies in which they present images of assertive, progressive, pious women--steadfast and unmovable in their religious beliefs and bold in voicing their concerns about the moral standing of their race and society at large. Chanta M. Haywood examines these autobiographies to provide new insight into the nature of prophesying, offering an alternative approach to literature with strong religious imagery. She analyzes how these four women employed rhetorical and political devices in their narratives, using religious discourse to deconstruct race, class, and gender issues of the nineteenth century. By exploring how religious beliefs become an avenue for creating alternative ideologies, Prophesying Daughters will appeal to students and scholars of African American literature, women's studies, and religious studies.
Women Preaching Revolution by
Lawless (English, folklore, and women's studies, U. of Missouri-Columbia) draws on her study of 150 sermons and interviews with clergywomen to demonstrate how women have changed traditional preaching in ways that reflect their socialization as women and their experiences of being female in America.
God in Her Midst by
Author and pastor Elaine Flake crafts a womanist theology and praxis of preaching to the population most overlooked and overwhelmed in our pews: wounded women"€"women who are wounded by virtue of their gender and more particularly black women who are also wounded by virtue of their race. Discover how to unfold in every sermon the good news that brings healing, instead of more hurt, to black women. Flake offers samples from her own ministry, sermons that explore the lives of misunderstood women from the Bible, including: € The wives of Job and Lot € The daughters of Zelophehad € Hagar, the Egyptian € Leah, the unloved € The poor widow € And the "woman with the issue of blood"
Women - to Preach or Not to Preach? by
Should women be equally free to use their God-given gifts in fulfilling their calling to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ? confronting this question head-on brings a distinctively new approach to this third volume of sermons Mitchell has compiled.
Those Preaching Women by
Each volume contains fourteen sermons by outstanding African American women preachers. Volume 2 brings messages of hope that in Christ we are lifted above worldly problems.
Those Preaching Women by
Those Preaching Women: A Multicultural Collection appears at the urging of women who have been encouraged in their ministries by the previous contributors. As in previous volumes, these women reflect many church traditions and various ministry settings, and this time they represent the rich ethnic diversity of the United States in the twenty-first century.
Women Preaching by
Considering the lack of resources that exists in the study of women's preaching, Kim makes a very significant contribution to the development of homiletics, as it joins together the history of women preachers with theological reflection from other women preachers as well as herself. It is the author's hope that this book will provide a broader and deeper basis for the theology of preaching as well as practical ways in which preachers can improve their own preaching by looking at a woman's perspective.
Trouble with Jesus by
"L. Susan Bond offers the first exploration of the homiletical implications of the new christologies suggested by feminist theology. After surveying the traditional theories of christology, she presents options suggested in contemporary feminist schools of thought: Sophia/wisdom, womanist, mujerista, incarnational/erotic, and Asian and African christologies. With each option, Bond develops the homiletical implications, then proposes a constructive homiletic for preaching these feminist christologies."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Women's Voices and the Practice of Preaching by
Expert, practical help for women who preach or lead worship Many women preachers and worship leaders have trouble speaking; they struggle to fully use their physical voices. Maintaining that there is often a disconnect between the woman's self-understanding as a preacher and her own body, Nancy Lammers Gross presents not only techniques but also a theologically empowering paradigm shift to help women fully embody their God-given preaching vocations. Grounding her work in the biblical story of Miriam, Gross begins with a discussion of how women are instrumental in the work of God. She then tells stories, including her own, of women's experiences in losing connection to their bodies and their physical voices. Finally, Gross presents a constructive resolution with exercises for discovering and developing a full-body voice.
Daughters of Light by
More than a thousand Quaker female ministers were active in the Anglo-American world before the Revolutionary War, when the Society of Friends constituted the colonies' third-largest religious group. Some of these women circulated throughout British North America; others crossed the Atlantic to deliver their inspired messages. In this public role, they preached in courthouses, meeting houses, and private homes, to audiences of men and women, to Quakers and to those of other faiths, to Native Americans and to slaves. Utilizing the Quakers' rich archival sources, as well as colonial newspapers and diaries, Rebecca Larson reconstructs the activities of these women. She offers striking insights into the ways their public, authoritative role affected the formation of their identities, their families, and their society. Extensively researched and compellingly written, "Daughters of Light" enriches our understanding of religion and women's lives in colonial America.