Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 38:3 (Summer 2024)
Article: Historical Egalitarian Theology: Contributions From European And English Women In The Sixteenth Through Eighteenth Centuries
Author: Julie Walsh

PP 38:3 (Summer 2024) p. 8

Historical Egalitarian Theology: Contributions From European And English Women In The Sixteenth Through Eighteenth Centuries

Julie Walsh

Julie Walsh is a PhD candidate in theology at Regent University’s School of Divinity, focusing on egalitarian theology. She has earned an MA in ministry, a Master of Theology, and a Certificate in Biblical Languages. Julie lives in the Washington D.C. area, and she enjoys kayaking and gardening.

Although specific women who promoted egalitarian theologies since the Reformation have been studied, scholarship has not adequately traced the origins of their egalitarian beliefs. It can be shown that from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, a steady stream of European and English women wrote texts offering biblical views for women’s equal roles in the home, church, and world.

The Handbook of Women Biblical Interpreters: A Historical and Biographical Guide1 makes clear that many contemporary lines of reasoning for women’s equality have their earliest beginnings in these sixteenth- through eighteenth-century writings by women. Including a few from North America, the writings of these women are highlighted in this study: Domenica Narducci da Paradiso (1473–1533), Argula von Grumbach (1492–ca. 1563/68), Marie Dentière (1495–ca. 1561), Katharina Zell (ca. 1498–1562), Teresa of Ávila (1515–82), Moderata Fonte (1555–92), Justina Sengers (fl. 1585), Rachel Speght (ca. 1597–ca. 1661), Bathsua Makin (ca. 1600–after 1675), Arcangela Tarabotti (1604–52), Sarah Cheevers (ca. 1608–ca. 1664), Margaret Fell (1614–1702), Katherine Evans (ca. 1618–92), Mary Cary (b. 1620/21, fl. 1647–53), Anne Docwra (ca. 1624–1710), Hester Biddle (1629/30–97), Johanna Eleonora Petersen (1644–1724), Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651–95), Mary Astell (1666–1731), Susanna Wesley (1669–1742), Elizabeth Bathurst (fl. 1678–85), Anne Dutton (ca. 1692–1765), Mary Bosanquet Fletcher (1739–1815), Dorothy Gott (1747/48–1812), Jarena Lee (1783– ca. 1849), Phoebe Palmer (1807–74), Catherine Booth (1829–90), Amanda Berry Smith (1837–1915), and Frances Elizabeth Willard (1839–1898). The foundational thoughts and works by these twenty- nine women enable contemporary authors to retain and build the ongoing tradition of egalitarian scholarship.

Categories Of Egalitarian Arguments

Using a modification of Paul Chilcote’s categories, the following categories of egalitarian biblical arguments are well established:2

1. Questioned Prohibitionism. Refuting interpretations of the prohibition of women in key biblical texts (e.g., You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
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