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 The Ministry of Ordained Women

Gary Macy

in The Hidden History of Women's Ordination: Female Clergy in the Medieval West

A detailed analysis of the references to and the liturgical functions of four ministries are the focus of this study: episcopae (women bishops), presbyterae (women priests), deaconesses, and ... More

A detailed analysis of the references to and the liturgical functions of four ministries are the focus of this study: episcopae (women bishops), presbyterae (women priests), deaconesses, and abbesses. Women are described, for instance, as leading liturgies, distributing communion, hearing confessions, and serving at the altar. The ministries of episcopae presbyterae and deaconesses may have been supported by an understanding of the local church as an extended family, as clergy were married and clerical spouses may have co‐ministered those churches. The role of deaconess and abbess were understood by some contemporaries to have merged by the 10th century. The functions of deaconess and abbesses is much clearer as the rites for the ordinations of both have survived, as have detailed instructions on the role of abbesses in their religious rules.Less

Religious Women in the Conversion Period c.Ad 400–600

Christina Harrington

in Women in a Celtic Church: Ireland 450-1150

The ideal starting point of a study of religious women in early medieval Ireland is the native society into which Christianity obtruded: the pagan religion, the status of women, and the roles of ... More

The ideal starting point of a study of religious women in early medieval Ireland is the native society into which Christianity obtruded: the pagan religion, the status of women, and the roles of female religious professionals. Against such a background, the following can be more fully appreciated: the powers religious women enjoyed, the strictures they had to follow, the way secular society regarded them, and how their nunneries were treated. This procedure, which has been extremely valuable in the study of early Christianity in the late antique world and in Germanic areas, is well-nigh impossible for Ireland because the sources are so limited. This chapter discusses Saint Patrick's encouragement of women to contravene social authority and his views on virgins, women in the monastic vocation in the 5th and 6th centuries, the issues of permanence and lapses among women, participation of religious virgins in missionary activities, and widows and deaconesses.Less

Roles in Public Worship

Karen B. Westerfield Tucker

in American Methodist Worship

The leadership of Methodist worship has always involved men and women, lay and clergy, although there have been limitations placed upon certain categories of people at different times. Unordained ... More

The leadership of Methodist worship has always involved men and women, lay and clergy, although there have been limitations placed upon certain categories of people at different times. Unordained preachers served Methodism from its beginnings, and laity has always had roles as class leaders, exhorters, stewards, stewardesses, and song leaders. Deaconesses assisted or led in worship to the extent that any layperson could. The principal liturgical ministers were the elders and, to a much more limited extent in terms of sacramental presidency, the deacons. The only distinct liturgical role of the general superintendent or bishop came at services of ordination.Less

Women Religious

Timothy Willem Jones

in Sexual Politics in the Church of England, 1857-1957

This chapter explores the significance of the revival of women’s religious orders on Anglican sexual politics. It compares the revival of the order of deaconesses with that of the sisterhoods, or ... More

This chapter explores the significance of the revival of women’s religious orders on Anglican sexual politics. It compares the revival of the order of deaconesses with that of the sisterhoods, or nuns. Both movements utilized Victorian notions of social motherhood to enable middle-class women to expand their sphere of activity, often free from direct male authority. Deaconess’s ancient genealogy and sacral ambiguity, the unresolved question of their place in Holy Orders, meant that they grew less rapidly than the sisterhoods. It also, however, meant that they posed a much more substantial challenge to Anglican sexual metaphysics.Less

Deaconesses, Sisters of the People, and the revival of female itinerancy

Jennifer Lloyd

in Women and the Shaping of British Methodism: Persistent Preachers, 1807-1907

This chapter describes a parallel home development to the opening of foreign missions to women in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. The evolution of the deaconess movement and the ... More

This chapter describes a parallel home development to the opening of foreign missions to women in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. The evolution of the deaconess movement and the emergence of the Sisters of the People—the latter as a response to middle-class concern for inner-city poverty, crime and disease—provided opportunities for women evangelists. All larger Methodist Connexions supported deaconess or Sisters' houses, allowing educated middle-class women to devote themselves to charitable and evangelistic work in formal and respectable organizations. The male leadership usually described this work as female-centred, even if it involved working with men, and many of the women themselves embraced an ideal based on gender difference. Nonetheless, their presence and their professionalism worked to undermine gender norms. Some women became deaconess-evangelists, effective and sought-after preachers who, while arousing some disquiet, were seen as sufficiently unthreatening to enable them to continue their evangelical work into the twentieth century. In a few cases deaconess organizations and sisterhoods provided Protestant women with opportunities for leadership unprecedented outside the Salvation Army.Less

“Prepared to Go or Stay with Equal Graciousness”

Joan C. Tonn

in Mary P. Follett: Creating Democracy, Transforming Management

In early October 1931, Mary P. Follett returned to America for the first time in nearly eighteen months. She went back to London with Katharine Furse in December even as she remained anxious about ... More

In early October 1931, Mary P. Follett returned to America for the first time in nearly eighteen months. She went back to London with Katharine Furse in December even as she remained anxious about the impact of the global economic depression on the United States. She still found time to read some of the works of Virginia Woolf and began preparing for a series of five lectures for the London School of Economics in the fall of 1932. On December 16, 1933, Follett underwent surgery for an enlarged goiter at the New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston. However, there had been complications. Two days later, Follett died at the age of sixty-five. A simple memorial service was held on December 21 in the Crematory Chapel at the Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston before Follett's ashes were brought to Overhills, the Vermont home she had shared with Isabella Louisa Briggs.Less

Deaconesses in the South China Missions of the Church Missionary Society (CMS), 1922–1951

Peter Cunich

Wai Ching Angela Wong and Patricia P. K. Chiu (eds)

in Christian Women in Chinese Society: The Anglican Story

The ancient Christian order of deaconess, reintroduced into the northern European churches from the 1830s, had grown to include nearly 60,000 women around the world by the 1950s. The Church of ... More

The ancient Christian order of deaconess, reintroduced into the northern European churches from the 1830s, had grown to include nearly 60,000 women around the world by the 1950s. The Church of England set aside its first deaconess in 1862, but the potential benefits of deploying deaconesses in the southern China missions was not appreciated so quickly by the Church Missionary Society. The Fukien mission ordained the first six deaconesses for southern China in 1922, and another three were ordained in the Kwangsi-Hunan diocese in 1932, but these were all European women. Seven Chinese deaconesses were ultimately ordained in Fukien before 1942, but the only other mission field where the female diaconate rose to prominence was Hong Kong, where Florence Li Tim-oi’s ordination as a deaconess in 1941 led to her controversial ordination to the priesthood in 1944. This essay examines the slow growth of the deaconess movement in the CMS south China missions up to 1950 and evaluates the achievements of these women before the closure of China to Western missionaries. It also suggests some reasons why the widespread hopes that the female diaconate would provide an ‘enlarged sphere of service’ for women missionaries in south China ultimately proved elusive.Less

Creating Primitive Christianity Anew: Wesley’s Ministry in Georgia

Geordan Hammond

in John Wesley in America: Restoring Primitive Christianity

The centrality of Wesley’s vision for restoring primitive Christianity is most clearly seen in the manner he conducted his ministry in Georgia. The application of his view of primitive Christianity ... More

The centrality of Wesley’s vision for restoring primitive Christianity is most clearly seen in the manner he conducted his ministry in Georgia. The application of his view of primitive Christianity in his clerical practice in the colony is the focus of chapter 4. His endeavours to imitate the practices of Christ and the early church manifested themselves variously through interest in prayer book revision, precise sacramental observance, confession, penance, ascetical discipline, deaconesses, religious societies, and missions to the Indians. Not surprisingly, Wesley’s implementation of practices encouraged by the Usager Nonjurors was met with varying degrees of approval and opposition. By the end of his time in Georgia, his confidence in the early church councils and canons was diminished, but his pursuance of the form and spirit of the primitive church was maintained.Less

Domesticating Deborah: Disputes about Women’s Leadership in Early Judaism and Christianity

Joy A. Schroeder

in Deborah's Daughters: Gender Politics and Biblical Interpretation

Early Christian men writing about Judges 4–5 were challenged by the presence of outspoken women of their own day, such as deaconesses, assertive married women, wealthy widows, and female ... More

Early Christian men writing about Judges 4–5 were challenged by the presence of outspoken women of their own day, such as deaconesses, assertive married women, wealthy widows, and female prophets—both those deemed orthodox and Montanists, whom they considered heretical. In response church fathers such as Origen, Jerome, Augustine, and Chrysostom lifted up Deborah as an example, “domesticating” her by stressing her supposed submissiveness and obedience to her husband. Following the example of Josephus, Christian men emphasized that her name “bee” symbolized Deborah’s gentle domesticity and industriousness. Early rabbis, on the other hand, acknowledged Deborah’s public role. The Talmud highlights her public location beneath the palm tree. However, Jewish sages attempted to regulate women’s behavior by criticizing Deborah’s supposed haughtiness. In Midrash Rabbah, she is called an unpleasant “wasp.” Jewish and Christian approaches to Deborah, though appearing to be opposite, nevertheless demonstrated their shared view about women’s roles.Less

Religious Professionals in Emigrant Ships

Rowan Strong

in Victorian Christianity and Emigrant Voyages to British Colonies c.1840 - c.1914

This chapter looks at the religion of those emigrants, and others in emigrant ships, who earned their living from religion. These professionals were principally male clergy, but there were also some ... More

This chapter looks at the religion of those emigrants, and others in emigrant ships, who earned their living from religion. These professionals were principally male clergy, but there were also some women who were nuns, deaconesses, or matrons supervising parties of single women. Among these religious professionals studied in the chapter are Anglicans emigrant chaplains, but also Nonconformists who acted unofficially as emigrant chaplains, and Catholic priests ministering to their own constituents. The chapter finds that Anglican chaplains particularly were taken seriously by emigrants and emigration officials, though some of them took advantage of the general hegemony of Anglican worship in British-flagged vessels. The chapter also looks at comparisons between the earlier and later nineteenth century, and finds that religious professionals in the latter period were remarkably cooperative with each other, notwithstanding the usual religious divisions held to by some.Less

Women Deacons in Ancient Christian Communities: Leadership and Ordination

John Wijngaards

in Patterns of Women's Leadership in Early Christianity

This chapter considers ‘Women Deacons in Ancient Christian Communities: Leadership and Ordination’. Women deacons are widely attested in the Greek-speaking Catholic East during the first millennium. ... More

This chapter considers ‘Women Deacons in Ancient Christian Communities: Leadership and Ordination’. Women deacons are widely attested in the Greek-speaking Catholic East during the first millennium. Ancient rites that have been preserved show that the ordination of women deacons was truly ‘sacramental’, just as that of male deacons. Their role consisted in instructing and baptizing female catechumens, guiding women at Sunday worship, taking communion to the sick, and ministering at funeral services. They belonged to the clergy in virtually every parish. They enjoyed more or less the same legal status as male deacons. As time passed, however, the female diaconate was relinquished, partly because of the diminishing of adult baptisms, partly on account of growing anxiety about female clergy possibly polluting the altar through menstruation.Less

The Awakening and New Religious Societies for Social Reform

Andrew Kloes

in The German Awakening: Protestant Renewal after the Enlightenment, 1815-1848

This chapter examines how the Awakening became a modern, popular religious movement through the foundation of hundreds of new religious voluntary societies to ameliorate the living conditions of ... More

This chapter examines how the Awakening became a modern, popular religious movement through the foundation of hundreds of new religious voluntary societies to ameliorate the living conditions of those in poverty. Such efforts were related to awakened Protestants’ holistic understanding of evangelism, in which the physical needs of those in difficult circumstances had to be addressed in order to remove them as obstacles to their hearing of the gospel message. This chapter examines new societies and institutions that awakened Protestants created to provide care for the unemployed, orphans, and those in need of medical care. In particular, it analyzes the principal roles that Protestant women played in such new organizations. In establishing these new religious institutions to alleviate social problems, awakened Protestants rationalized the church’s historic task of charity by creating administrative bureaucracies to operate these new institutions.Less

Anglicanism in Australia, c.1829–1910

Hilary M. Carey

in The Oxford History of Anglicanism, Volume III: Partisan Anglicanism and its Global Expansion 1829-c.1914

The Church of England was planted in Australian at the same time as the first convict settlement and grew to become the largest and most socially diverse of the continent’s Christian churches. ... More

The Church of England was planted in Australian at the same time as the first convict settlement and grew to become the largest and most socially diverse of the continent’s Christian churches. Through its engagement with settlers, missions to Aborigines, and entanglement with government, the Church advanced its social, educational, and imperial mission. This chapter traces the changing character of the Church of England, including its move away from establishment to integration with the liberal, democratic aspirations of a new nation. By century’s end, it shows how Anglicanism continued to mirror the imperial nationalism of the majority of Australians while struggling to develop a distinctive, post-colonial identity.Less

Women and Religion in Victorian London

W. M. Jacob

in Religious Vitality in Victorian London

New opportunities emerged in churches for women as volunteer district visitors, Sunday school teachers, and for poor women to be trained and employed as Bible and parish women, Bible-nurses, and ... More

New opportunities emerged in churches for women as volunteer district visitors, Sunday school teachers, and for poor women to be trained and employed as Bible and parish women, Bible-nurses, and elementary school teachers which broadened the sphere of women’s activities beyond their homes to their parishes. Some women also formed religious communities, initially relieving poverty, provide nursing care and education for poor children. Growing awareness of wider social issues, particularly in relation to poverty, led some middle- and upper-class women, motivated by faith, to begin to develop activities in a wider sphere, including improving conditions in workhouses and hospitals, and establishing ‘settlements’ and pioneering systematic ‘social work’ methods. Some women also began to undertake public ministries, notably in the Salvation Army, but also leading informal congregations. Women were also generous contributors to religious-based projects. Building on these experiences, religiously motivated women stood for election to public office as London School Board members, guardians of the poor and London County Councillors. Succeeding chapters show that women also played a significant part in faith-motivated philanthropic and educational initiatives.Less

Gender Perspectives: Women and Anglicanism

Cordelia Moyse

in The Oxford History of Anglicanism, Volume IV: Global Western Anglicanism, c.1910-present

In 1910 women’s experience of church was distinct from men’s. Women could usually be found in the pew or active in women’s organizations but they did not exercise institutional or liturgical ... More

In 1910 women’s experience of church was distinct from men’s. Women could usually be found in the pew or active in women’s organizations but they did not exercise institutional or liturgical leadership. Over the course of 100 years changes in women’s political and social roles in secular society and new understandings of ministry and gender in the Church opened up new opportunities for women to exercise their spiritual gifts as members of the body of Christ. This chapter explores the steps by which the various constituent Churches of Western Anglicanism adjusted their ministries, organization, and theologies to include women. Nonetheless this process was different for each Church, illustrating both the unity and diversity of the Anglican experience.Less