Jealousy over power drove ministers to oppose women’s missionary work

Evidence

Ministers and laymen, who looked with disdain upon a criticism that came from a woman, and all those who were jealous of the growing popularity of the woman’s work, as if there was some cause of alarm for the safety of their own positions of power and honor, all rose up in their churches, with all the influence and power of speech they could summon to oppose the woman’s work and break it up if possible.” — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 351

Categorization

• XREF: The claim that challenge to interpretive authority — not just administrative power — drove male backlash reaches the question of whether black Baptist women exemplified an internal ‘politics of respectability’ policing. — connects to: Male ministers opposed women’s societies chiefly over money and authority — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 341; A female preacher led women’s collective prayer against prevailing custom; Women justify religious leadership through juristic disagreement, not gender equality — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival…, 619 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Women justify religious leadership through juristic disagreement, not gender equality #corroborates (0.78) — Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety, 619
• A woman preacher legitimized prayer leadership through juristic disagreement, not gender equality #corroborates (0.78)
• A female preacher led women’s collective prayer against prevailing custom #exemplifies (0.72)