Dissertation Information for Naomi L. Nelson NAME: - Naomi L. Nelson
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- History
SCHOOL:
- Emory University (USA) (2001)
ADVISORS: - Elizabeth Fox-Genovese
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - James L Roark - E Brooks Holifield
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: She considered herself called of God: White women's participation in the southern Methodist Episcopal Church, 1820--1865
Abstract: Women are both everywhere and nowhere in the history of antebellum southern evangelicalism. In time and place, they comprised approximately 65% of church membership, were lovingly memorialized in church histories, and increasingly became responsible for religious life within their households, yet we know surprisingly little about southern women's participation in the institutional church during that period. This dissertation explores white women's efforts to establish recognized roles for women within the Methodist Church's ecclesiastic structure during a time when the church itself was experiencing dramatic changes.
The tension within Methodism between its hierarchical, increasingly bureaucratic system of government and the democratizing tendencies of its doctrine and system of lay leadership allowed women to create new roles for themselves within the church, but limited their participation to the local level. The male church leaders appreciated women's skill at fundraising and their devotion to providing a home for the local church and pastor, but they resisted any initiatives that might threaten the itinerancy or might divert funds from the centralized hierarchy of conferences and committees established to direct the work of the church.
Methodist women developed a distinctly Methodist version of the preacher's wife, provided the church with a home, and founded Sunday schools. They established female societies that made significant financial contributions to support mission work, the families of retired clergy, and poor relief. The new roles, which these women created, represented greater lay participation and a stronger female voice within the church. At the end of this period of apprenticeship, they were prepared to request recognition of their own agency at the denominational level. In contrast to the early days of Methodism, when the church was governed by a bachelor brotherhood, these requests were delivered to a largely married clergy, many of whose wives either signed the petitions or were active themselves in women's work within the church. Women who sought a vocation of their own within the southern Methodist Church during the antebellum period laid firm foundations upon which the church-wide female societies of the 1870s would be built.
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calculated 2008-02-02 23:16:10
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