Church women claimed greater practical missionary power than ordained theologians

Evidence

The earnest well trained Christian young woman, as a teacher, as a home-maker, as wife, mother, or silent influence even, is as potent a missionary agency among our people as is the theologian; and I claim that at the present state of our development in the South she is even more important and necessary. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 115

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Women’s Bible-literate organizing threatened uneducated rural male pastors’ authority — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 360; Female church workers pushed formal training over emotional preaching — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 356; Female missionary memberships powered religious education societies into national organizations — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 428 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Black women leaders contested the equation of church authority with ordination #corroborates (0.85) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 367
• Women exerted church power by judging ministerial literacy, not seeking ordination #expands (0.82) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 352
• Jealousy over power drove ministers to oppose women’s missionary work #corroborates (0.80) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 351
• Women use divine authority to justify power they cannot claim as persons #qualifies (0.78) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1766