Women’s claims to prophecy and revelation triggered ministerial hostility

Evidence

Ministers carefully studied the Bible, Broughton further observed, to learn if ageressive missionary roles for women were sanctioned. Male hostility became especially strong after the ninth annual meeting in Durhamville. Broughton attributed the cause of the hostility to the powerful spiritual manifestations that some of the women revealed to the crowd: “Several sisters came with revelations, visions, and prophecies that made indelible impressions.” — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 351

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Jealousy over power drove ministers to oppose women’s missionary work — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 351; A female preacher led women’s collective prayer against prevailing custom; Women exerted church power by judging ministerial literacy, not seeking ordination — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s…, 352 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Women’s Bible-literate organizing threatened uneducated rural male pastors’ authority #expands (0.83) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 360
• Jealousy over power drove ministers to oppose women’s missionary work #expands (0.82) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 351
• Women use divine authority to justify power they cannot claim as persons #expands (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1766
• Male ministers opposed women’s societies chiefly over money and authority #qualifies (0.79) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 341
• A female preacher led women’s collective prayer against prevailing custom #exemplifies (0.78)
• Women exerted church power by judging ministerial literacy, not seeking ordination #qualifies (0.76) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 352