Essay Example on Women in Evangelism and Faith-Based Leadership: A Theological Discourse

Introduction

Modern historians continue to investigate the increasing role of women in evangelism and faith-based leadership (Gallagher, 2004). Theological discourse persistently supports the mutuality between men and women in modern Christian beliefs. Protestantism, for instance, proceeded from holding women as the “good” proverbs woman to more citizen roles. These increased evangelical roles for women peaked in the middle of the 20th Century when women theologians began to question the hegemonic patriarchy of the bible and dominant traditional Christian beliefs. The feminism movement that started to sweep the Western society in the 1970s thereby found its way into protestant non-conformist ideas and began to restructure the theological view of feminism (Baillie, 2002).

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However, the term “evangelical feminism” sounds like an oxymoron (Cochran, 2005). Evangelism, in its strict interpretation, invokes the conservative images of Christianity and the traditional gender roles. Feminism questions these very roles and societal misogynistic hegemony. The theological advancement of the biblical feminism perspective in modern Christianity, however, provides grounds for an analysis of the societal restructuring from male societal dominance from the Middle Ages. In this study, Puritan womanhood shall form a foundation for studying the empowerment of women in their journey towards the successful feminism movements of the mid-20th Century.

The author shall reference the roles expressed of women in the famous Puritan allegory, Pilgrim´s Progress. Overall, women in the Puritan era of Christianity are shown as more active in the domestic sphere within a repressive male-dominated society. However, the feminist perspectives of the modern woman (especially 19th-century feminism) are often linked to the Puritan womanhood perspectives. The foundational question for this study as such is; what comparisons exist between the Puritan beliefs of womanhood and the evangelical feminist? The author theorizes that Puritan Womanhood, as presented by John Bunyan in the allegory Pilgrim´s Progress, laid the foundation for the increased interests in biblical feminism of the 19th and 20th Centuries.

Puritan Womanhood as Illustrated in Pilgrim´s Progress

The second part of Pilgrim´s Progress follows the journey of Christiana – Christian´s wife – and the children to the Celestial City from the City of Destruction (Bunyan, 1880). Christiana and her Children are joined in the journey by their neighbor – Mercy. During their pilgrimage, the women and children are accompanied by Great-heart, who serves both as their guide and protector. The spiritual journey to the Celestial City is thereby much easier for the women as the man (Christian). While Christian had met danger and exemplification of wrong all through most of his travel, Christiana meets people who are either saved or are worthy of salvation.

Through their journey, however, the woman is typified as a family care-giver and “weak.” Nonetheless, these women are also seen to obtain “inspired heroism” from their guide and protector. While commentating on the novel, Sir Walter Scott notes that: “notwithstanding the natural feebleness and timidity of their nature,” Mercy and Christiana obtain “inspired heroism” from Great-heart, who supplies the valor and strength to overcome danger and distress (Swaim, 1990; p.387). From this section, we may already infer that the women were exposed to some form of empowerment despite the societal suppression of feminine heroism.

While the first part of Pilgrim´s Progress centers around themes of self, heroisms, and spirituality, the sequel extends the ideas to entail gender, ecclesiology, time, place, and belief (Swaim, 1990). Men in the Puritan period (as expressed in Pilgrim´s Progress) were always portrayed to possess dominant societal traits, including assertiveness, physical courage, independence, authority, and legitimacy. The men often occupied defined societal hierarchies, and their masculinity often transcended nature and mortality. Self-discovery, consciousness, and judgment are shown to characterize the male self. These expressed dominant traits in men, however, contrast with the portrayal of women. Part two of the allegory is shown as joyous and lightsome (Bunyan, 1880; Swaim, 1990).

While the male perspective in the allegory appears focused on transcendence, it remains somewhat oblivious of the relationships between nature and time (Swaim, 1990). He is focused solely on full-filling the will of a mysterious God while establishing themselves as a hero. The Puritan woman is, however, a loving mother and neighbor, obedient wife, and the matron to unstained life. Christiana thereby lives by the injunctions of biblical texts (1 Timothy 2:11) for obedience, chastity, and silence. Women are, however, portrayed in such books and Christian literary texts as “york-mates” rather than slaves to their husbands. Despite the view of the female gender as the “weaker vessel,” they are still seen as the essential components of the social set-ups. The allegory is founded on robust Christian theology. A woman is thereby recognized as the mother of Christ. The women are, thus, closer to the savior than men.

The allegory, furthermore, reinforces the dominant masculine principles of Western society that position men as the “face of humanity.” (Swaim, 1990). Females are denied autonomy and are thus stagnant in comparison with mobile males. According to Marylin French, such highly unequal conceptual bases onto which either gender´s stories are told requires their stories to be painted on different canvases (Styer, 2016; Swaim, 1990). However, the story of Mercy in the story is somewhat reminiscent of the one Christian. Mercy longs for the mirror in Shepherd’s room that could be similar to Christian´s perspective glass. The mirror is identified as the word of God, and whoever looks into it shall see the law of liberty and not their reflection. Unlike the mirror used by Christian, however, Mercy´s mirror shows a reflection that persists and does not entirely disappear. This persistent reflection may illustrate the presence of Christ as a domestic presence as opposed to a mysterious being.

As a useful illustration of feminine strength, Mercy also has her story and history told through the allegory (Swaim, 1990). While Christiana´s story is continuously referenced to familial roles and interrelations with others, Mercy´s story is described with reference to her individuality. As such, she is in control of the family´s generations. Such standout selfless traits share similarities with the story of Christian. As such, Mercy is shown to rise above the traditional gender roles and display courageous attributes and heroism that were often associated with masculinity during the Puritan period. The feminine traits shown by Christiana and Mercy, as well as the heroic traits expressed by Mercy, could then be theorized to emphasize the Puritan womanhood traits of the 16th and 17th Centuries. These traits can, moreover, appear in various Biblical texts and form a basis for the feminist movements of the later centuries. While women are shown as feeble and “weak vessels,” they appear willing to learn and acquire the masculine traits that dominated society. The women are, furthermore, feared, and respected as they are seen as the giver of life. The men who highly value transcendence recognize the closeness of the women to Christ.

Evangelical Feminism

Evangelical feminism re-emerged in Western culture in the 1960s after a period of continued repression by the conservative Protestants in the early 20th Century (Cochran, 2005). The renewed debates around evangelical feminism of the mid-20th Century pitted the feminine theologians against biblical conservatives. Despite the modern pragmatic egalitarianism among the Protestants, the concept of biblical feminism remains marginalized in the evangelical subdomain (Gallagher, 2004). Biblical feminism continues to fail in dislodging the “male headship” narrative in churches for a variety of cultural and institutional reasons. Culturally, the church settings – despite the levels of egalitarianism – maintain the hierarchical perspective of family. They, thereby, continue to hold the viewpoints that the family is headed by a male figure. The evangelicals thus view themselves in the light of society and look at the representative headship of the family in the traditional male perspective.

The marginalization of evangelical feminism, furthermore, springs from the fact that feminist discourse is always attached to the secular societal domain (Cochran, 2005). As such, evangelical feminism lies in a vulnerable intersection between doctrinal (biblical) beliefs and untested societal perspectives and cultural standings around gender. While the egalitarian pragmatists continue to curve a path towards divine androgyny, the progress at elevating female evangelicals has remained at a slow pace. While the discourse in the 1970s towards biblical feminism intended to advocate for egalitarianism, the intense focus on the dangerous chauvinism of the era made the topic itself a deeply contested discourse. The theologians and scholars interested in evangelical feminism thereby began to focus on rather frivolous “semantic” debates while straying from the topic at hand. When non-evangelical scholars started to question the interpretation of the scripture itself, the conservative evangelists engaged such scholars in discussions around fundamentalism. As such, the evangelical feminism topic ceased to receive significant focus (Gallagher, 2004).

While fundamentalists isolated themselves from the secularism that the feminist movement associated with, neo-evangelicals continued to open themselves to such conversations by staying engaged in discussions into the intellectual components of society (Cochran, 2005; Gallagher, 2004). Hierarchical teachings in protestant discourse were as such open to scrutiny in the neo-evangelical circles. Women in secular settings were beginning to occupy more senior and majority roles in public traditional leadership positions. Such a rise in secular androgynous campaigns then started to give women a voice and a grounds to question their involvement in evangelical domains. The fundamentalists would not readily concede grounds to the new culture that looked to be contradicting the biblical doctrines and was based on a lack of conclusive literacy grounding.

Evangelicals in the early age of secular feminism were, however, meeting various Christian publications like “Woman´s Place: service or Silence” by Letha Dawson Scarzoni from 1966, which pled for more attention to Women´s roles in vocational positions in the Church (Gallagher, 2004). She pointed out inconsistencies in the Church leadership that allowed her to lead evangelical services but prevented her from teaching Sunday school classes. In response to Scarzoni´s letter, one male pastor retorted by pointing to her emotional involvement in her calls for more leadership roles. Other answers pointed back to bible teachings that provided rules against “over-ambitious” women who could not understand the basic hierarchical requirements of the bible. Women were already scoring leadership roles in the church that were meant for the males (Baillie, 2002). Scarzoni and her fellow feminists who intend to introduce radical feminist voices to evangelical discourse are, as such, always silenced by quick references to Biblical doctrines.