Journal: Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
Volume: JBMW 16:1 (Spring 2011)
Article: Women in Black Too: The Untold Story of Women and the Reformation
Author: Stephen J. Nichols

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JBMW 16:1 (Spring 2011) p. 7

Women in Black Too:
The Untold Story of Women and the Reformation1

Stephen J. Nichols

Research Professor of Christianity and Culture

Lancaster Bible College and Graduate School

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

The home, cities, economic life, and government would virtually disappear. Men can’t do without women. Even if it were possible for men to beget and bear children, they still couldn’t do without women.

Martin Luther

Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, Conrad Grebel, Menno Simons, Thomas Cranmer, John Bunyan, Jeremiah Burroughs—all of them have at least one thing in common. They’re all men. When the story of the Reformation gets told, it’s typically their story. There is another story to be told, however—the inspiring story of the courage and fortitude of the women of the Reformation. Their too often untold story needs to be heard.

The women of the Reformation fit into two categories: Reformers’ wives who made quite an impact themselves and women who made substantive contributions on their own. Among the first category, none is more well-known than Katherina von Bora, the former nun who married Martin Luther. In the latter category we find mostly nobility and even royalty—some risking great wealth and family honor for their commitment to the Reformation cause. All of them played significant roles.

The official dogma of the Roman Catholic Church disallowed a married clergy. Monks and the ranks of the clergy were married to the church; nuns were married to Christ. Breaking the vow of celibacy whether theoretically or officially would mean that one would have to give up a position in the church. Unofficially and practically, of course, there were secret marriages and mistresses and affairs. Thomas Cranmer, for instance, had a wife long before he and Henry VIII brought about the British Reformation. When Ulrich Zwingli became priest of the Great Minster at Zurich he was replacing a “celibate” priest who somehow managed to father a number of children.

The Reformers, with Luther and Calvin leading the way, championed the institution of marriage and the family. They saw no biblical warrant for celibacy of the priesthood—Peter, after all, had a mother-in-law. Conversely, they saw marriage elevated and celebrated everywhere in the pages of Scripture. Once they got married, however, they faced a challenge that the church as a whole hadn’t faced in over a millennium: What does a minister’s family look like? Just as they broke new ground on so many areas of theology, they also needed to pioneer the Christian home. Fortunately, they were not alone. They had for...

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