Oxford University Press Claiming the Call to Preach: Four Female Pioneers of Preaching in Nineteenth-Century America

Product Description Few debates divide the contemporary church more than the issue of call. The question of who can be called to preach segregates denominations, divides people within churches, and undermines its public witness. Yet, curiously little homiletic attention has been paid to the issue of call. Because the practice of call has not been subjected to critical inquiry, it has taken on power. Power lies hidden in the crevices of the question of who can be called to preach; power lies in the institutional narrative and approved stories of call; power lies in the discordant debates, equally in the stifling silence. Claiming the Call to Preach critically examines the dominant historical narrative that overtly or covertly has exercised its power to keep women from preaching. Donna Giver-Johnston here recovers the histories of four notable female preaching pioneers who affected change in the religious landscape of nineteenth-century America: Jarena Lee, Frances Willard, Louisa Woosley, and Florence Spearing Randolph. These women, diverse in religion, race, class, and culture each told their story of call in distinctive ways that articulated strong and effective rhetorical arguments for ecclesiastical sanction to give them a place in the pulpit. Recovering their rhetorical witness helps to fill in the gaps in the history of preaching in America, contribute to research and pedagogies in the field of homiletics, and provide today's women―and all candidates for ministry―with different theological models and narrative strategies by which to effectively interpret and claim their calls to preach. These women who spoke truth to power help us reimagine a church today that no longer questions the legitimacy of one's call to preach, but endorses previously silenced voices, and is therefore strengthened by women's voices from the pulpit. Review Kudos for this excellent addition to the study of women and preaching! Donna Giver-Johnston not only provides us with a deeply nuanced historical study of how four diverse nineteenth-century preaching women claimed their own calls to preach. She also invites us to wrestle more deeply with the whole notion of call, how it is mediated in human life, and how those who have been marginalized from the pulpit can creatively reclaim their callings today. ― Leonora Tubbs Tisdale, author of How Women Transform Preaching In Claiming the Call to Preach, Giver-Johnston examines the rhetorical strategies whereby nineteenth-century women claimed their calling to preach. She shows how their rhetoric set into motion a historical trajectory that did much to move women's preaching from spaces marginal to the organized church (revivals, movements, educational gatherings, etc.) into the center of the church's ecclesial and public life. This is an important book for both feminist rhetoric, and the history of preaching. ― John S. McClure, Charles G. Finney Professor of Preaching and Worship, Vanderbilt Divinity School Claiming the Call to Preach seeks to restore a 'narrative of neglect' with regard to the call and contributions of women preachers, both in history and today. Donna Giver-Johnston skillfully interweaves her own reflection on her call, that of women clergy and students with whom she has worked and the historical women from whom both can draw inspiration and strategic wisdom. This book makes a significant contribution to the field of homiletical history which has not traditionally focused on in-depth treatments of women preachers from the past. ― Alyce M. McKenzie, Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship, Southern Methodist University About the Author Donna Giver-Johnston is an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament, currently serving as Pastor of Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon. She has a PhD and MA from Vanderbilt University and an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary.