All posts by Mary Walker

No battle Between the Sexes

No Battle Between the Sexes

Before Jesus ascended to Heaven He gave the Church a task. He told the disciples, men and women, to take the gospel to the ends of the earth (Matthew 28:19-20). This is a huge undertaking and one that requires men and women serving side by side, using their Spirit-given gifts to bring the message of peace, forgiveness, love, and joy to everyone in the world.

Unfortunately, in our day there is a group of people who are putting a road block in front of the Church by denying women opportunities to serve as they are called. This group calls itself “complementarian”. They are really hierarchalists, but we will save that discussion for a future post. Because they have been called complementarians for several decades we will (under protest) call them that in the interests of clarity.

While complementarians would never say out loud that women are not equal to men, they nevertheless treat women as inferior to men. Complementarians believe that women were created right from the beginning just to serve human males. One of many proponents of hierarchy, Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr. for example says, “God created male and female in His image equally, but He also made the male the head and the female the helper.”[1]In others words, they say that men were meant to rule over women right from the beginning. Women’s only purpose in life is to serve human males. Dr. Ortlund maintains that the “man” that was created in Genesis was a male only. Dr. Ortlund misses the point that God created “man” (the Hebrew is Adam) male and female. 

Dr. Ortlund uses a sleight of hand here that has fooled many Christians. Substituting “male” for “man” is one of the main ways that the complementarians convince their followers that males must rule. In the Bible, complementarians interpret “man” as “male” when they want the term to mean “male”, but refer to “man” as “humans” only when it fits their theology.

The complementarians are using what theologians call “eisegesis” – interpreting the Bible according to their pre-conceived ideas.[2] Proper hermeneutical “exegesis” will show that God created “man” or “Adam” as “humankind” – male and female, even as He said in the first place (Gen. 1:27).

Let’s look at the whole picture in the Bible.

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (Genesis 1:27)

Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.(Genesis 2:7)

Let’s pause here and see what God had done so far. He has created “man” (Adam or humankind) male and female. He has formed “man” from the dust of the ground. We are not told that this “man” in Genesis 2 is different from the one that was created in Genesis 1. This “man” is male and female just as God said. How can that be? Well, the story gets even more interesting.

God decides that for a human to be all by him/herself is not good. Does He just create another human? No. He goes on to create the animals, also out of the dirt (Gen. 2:19). The “man” is wondering why he/she is still alone and why God did not produce a partner for her/him like he did for the animals. God has a better plan. He causes the “man” to fall asleep and He separates him/her into two persons. Notice the woman is not made out of the dirt. Why? She already exists as part of the “man”. 

If this seems too mysterious, just remember that we believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. We don’t know how, but God says so. It’s an exciting part of our faith that sets us apart from all other religions.

In His own wisdom and for His own good pleasure, God decided that He would give to mankind the ability to procreate. God could have just kept pulling “men” out of the dirt, but instead He gave this beautiful job to humans. “Man” was literally ONE flesh. God pulled “man” apart for HIs purposes. He pulled the male and female apart into two persons each with their own flesh. They would soon find out how they would equally rule over the earth as God’s vice-regents (Gen. 1:28).  Then God tells us:

For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)

What an amazing thing! The male and female become ONE flesh again. But, when you look at a husband and wife, you see two people, don’t you? How are they ONE flesh? It’s a beautiful mystery, but very important since both Jesus and Paul affirm it.

One day the Pharisees came to Jesus with a question about divorce to test Him. Jesus set them straight:

And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So they are no longer two, but one flesh?What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. (Matthew 19:4-6)

Please note that Jesus says that a man should leave his father and mother and join himself to his wife. Is that how we do it? No. For centuries in this sinful world women are told to leave their families. They take the husband’s name and the children they have also take the father’s name. We are doing it backwards according to Jesus. 

But wait. There’s more. Lest we make the mistake of thinking what God said originally only counts for the Garden of Eden or what Jesus said counts only for the Jews, let’s hear what the apostle Paul says to Christians:

He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.(Ephesians 5:28-32)

Note that Paul reminds us that there is ONE flesh. This is an eternal principle. Paul says it is a mystery and that it gives us a picture of Christ and the Church. As ONE flesh husbands and wives serve together; as one Church or Body of Christ all Christians, male and female serve together. This implies equality and mutuality.

It is tragic that so much ink is spilled, so many hours are wasted, and so many people are being hurt just so some men can keep their leadership positions. And worse yet, many people are dying every day without hearing the gospel because Christians are unable to fulfill the Great Commission with only half of the disciples of Christ allowed to serve. Satan is the only winner in the Battle of the Sexes.

Christians, let us love one another and let us love others enough to follow Christ as He has called us. All Christians, women and men have spiritual gifts to be used to build up the body (I Cor. 12:13). It’s not about who get to be the boss; it’s about who gets to serve.

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.(Matthew 20:28)

[1]Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr. “Male-Female Equality and Male Headship” in John Piper & Wayne Grudem, eds. Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism(Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2006) page 99.

[2]In future posts we will expose some of the other deceptions used by the complementarians. Their errors can be attributed to faulty exegesis.

Dr. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson

To me the real question is, as I suppose it constantly is to everyone, “What is God’s will in this case?”  Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, August 10, 1861

March is Women’s History Month. We have been reviewing stories of women who made a difference in the world. On this website, Renew Your Thinking, we have focused on pioneer women physicians. Women take adequate medical care for granted today but this was not always true in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Even in the United States and Europe women died from a lack of care. Some women died because they were too modest to go to a male doctor. Men did not always understand women’s issues and some women died due to ignorance. 

It seems like a no-brainer to us now that women are excellent doctors. But there was a time when men really thought that women were so inferior in intelligence and skill that females could not be in the medical field. It is truly tragic that so many women died due to male prejudice. 

Thank God for women pioneer doctors like the Blackwell sisters (see March 13 post) Fanny Jane Butler (see March 20 post) and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. these women faced opposition everywhere they went but they didn’t give up. Everyone owes these women a large debt of gratitude for persevering in spite of the ambivalence and often hatred against women for entering a supposedly “man’s field”. 

In this last post for Women’s History Month 2019, we turn to the amazing life of a woman who wanted to help others by opening up the medical profession to women. 

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917)

Elizabeth Garrett was born in east London as one of 12 children. Her father was a successful business man and sent all of his children to good schools. Elizabeth was expected to do the typical thing of her day and marry and have a family. However after meeting other successful women, Emily Davies and Elizabeth Blackwell she was encouraged to become a doctor.

Male prejudice against women in the medical field was very strong. Elizabeth tried to attend medical classes but was drummed out of a school after she gave a correct answer in class to a question that none of the male students were able to. They had her barred from any further classes.

When Elizabeth Garrett tried to obtain instruction in other medical classes, male teachers turned her down, often in very dismaying words. “I have so strong a conviction that the entrance of ladies into dissecting-rooms and anatomical theatres is undesirable in every respect, and highly unbecoming that I could not do anything to promote your end. … Ladies would make bad doctors at the best.”[1]

Elizabeth did not grow bitter or unhappy in spite of this adversity. She persevered until she had managed to work for one year in a teaching hospital in London. She received good training and fulfilled her desire to help in every way for the well-being of women. She said in a letter to a friend, “The passion of my life is to help women.”

After six years of hard work Elizabeth completed the courses necessary to sit for an examination for a medical diploma. No medical organizations would allow her to apply except for the Society of Apothecaries. The Society of Apothecaries was unable to exclude her because their charter forbade them to exclude women. When she first applied they wanted to ignore her, but she threatened legal action and at last she was able to sit for the exam, passing with credit. (Later the society changed the rules so no more women could sit for the exam.)

With the necessary financial help from her father, Elizabeth set up a house and began to help women, putting on her placard “Elizabeth Garrett, L.S.A”. She started St. Mary’s Dispensary which later became the New Hospital for Women. Elizabeth was determined to get a medical degree. In the next few years Elizabeth taught herself French and received a degree from Paris University, which had opened up its medical school to women in 1868. A foreign degree was not recognized by British hospitals, but it still gave her greater credibility. During this time, Elizabeth met her future husband James George Skelton Anderson. Together they reformed the Children’s Hospital in London. 

Along with many other women during this time, Elizabeth began to work for the reforming of laws concerning women. One way to accomplish this, since the men seemed unwilling to do anything about the unfair treatment of women, was to run for office and change the laws themselves. Elizabeth ran for the school board in 1870 and won handily. This was a huge victory for the cause of women.

On February 9, 1871 Elizabeth married James G. S. Anderson. They had agreed that their careers would be independent, but this lent to a happier marriage. Both had tremendous respect for the other. It was a marriage of mutuality and a happy change for Elizabeth after so many years of disapproval by men. Elizabeth proved that a married woman can succeed in a profession and not neglect her family. She had 3 children (one of whom died at an early age). The family was close. Her daughter, Louisa Garrett Anderson, herself a physician, wrote a biography of her mother in 1939.[2]

By 1869 there were only two women practicing medicine in England, Elizabeth Garrett and Elizabeth Blackwell. Thanks to the success of these female doctors, medical schools finally began to admit women. On October 12, 1874 the London School of Medicine for Women opened. One of the students was the medical missionary, Miss Fanny Butler (see post March 20, 2019). On August 12, 1876 a law was enacted giving all British medical examining boards the right to admit women to examinations. Hospitals began to open up their wards to women as medical students. Elizabeth became the Dean of the Medical School for Women in 1883 and held the post for twenty years. She became President in 1903 and remained at that task until her death in 1917. 

The New Hospital for Women was growing by leaps and bounds. This was in spite of the fact that women were asked to pay a fee for the opportunity of being treated by a woman. In the first few weeks 60 – 90 women and children consulted at the dispensary every afternoon. By 1871 more than 40,000 visits had been paid. There were 9,000 names in the dispensary books, and 250 midwifery cases had been attended in their own homes. It was now an undeniable fact that women wanted to be treated by women. The dispensary and hospital proved that women doctors were efficient and effective. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was recognized for her success in the founding of the hospital, but even as important she was recognized for establishing the position for medical women in England.

In 1902 Dr. Anderson and her husband entered retirement from regular work. They moved to Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast. James Anderson died in 1907. In 1908 Elizabeth ran for mayor and won! Elizabeth was the first female mayor in England. 

Elizabeth died on December 17, 1917 and was buried in Aldeburgh beside her parents. In her biography, her daughter Louisa said, “Few people work for one cause from youth until old age. Elizabeth Garrett did so. … She carried happiness within her and by her work brought happiness to other women. … In her girlhood Elizabeth heard the call to live and work, and before the evening star lit her to rest she had helped to tear down one after another the barriers which, since the beginning of history, hindered women from work and progress and light and service.”


[1]From a letter written to Elizabeth Garrett by a doctor in Aberdeen, July 29, 1863.

[2]Louisa Garrett Anderson. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson 1836-1917(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1939)

[1]From a letter written to Elizabeth Garrett by a doctor in Aberdeen, July 29, 1863.

[2]Louisa Garrett Anderson. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson 1836-1917(Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1939)

Doctor Fanny Jane Butler

These are they which follow the Lamb…..

March is Women’s History Month. We have been reviewing stories of women who made a difference in the world. In the twentieth-first century women can receive adequate medical care – at least in the United States and many western countries. This was not always true in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Even in the United States and Europe women died from a lack of care. Some women died because they were too modest to go to a male doctor. Men did not always understand women’s issues and some women died due to ignorance. Thank God for women pioneer doctors like the Blackwell sisters (see last post). We take it for granted now that women can be treated and it boggles the mind think that there was a time when women had to struggle to be given good care.

Even today there are women in other countries, such as Muslim countries, who are not receiving adequate medical care. In the Muslim religion a woman is not allowed to go to a doctor who is not a family member. If a Muslim woman does not have a relative who is a doctor, she can literally bleed to death. Thankfully, there have been many female doctors who have chosen to work among the Muslim women and in other countries such as India where women badly need treatment. 

One woman who answered the call of God in her life to minister to women in India was Fanny Jane Butler. Though she only lived to be 39 years old, Dr. Butler was able to assist in the treatment of thousands of women. She was also instrumental in founding a hospital that is still in existence today.

Fanny was born on October 5, 1850 to Thomas and Jane Isabella Butler. She was the eighth of ten children. Only her brothers received formal education. Fanny was an intelligent girl and had a thirst for knowledge, but she had to be content with teaching of her older sisters until she was nearly 15 years old. 

When Fanny was thirteen she gave her heart to Christ. At fourteen she became a Sunday school teacher. Her attention was directed to missions by her pastor who was very enthusiastic about taking the Gospel to those who had not heard about Christ. Fanny developed a deep missionary spirit. She asked her parents if she could be a missionary but they would not give her their approval at this time.

A little later on Dr. Elmslie, a Scottish medical missionary, was trying to get female medical missionaries to come to India. Fanny’s sister encouraged her to consider this. At first Fanny did not think she could do it. Later she decided to seek God’s will and when she was sure that medical missionary work was for her she again approached her parents. This time they enthusiastically gave their support.

Fanny became a member of the Indian Female Normal Society. She attended the London School of Medicine for Women for her medical training. This was a new school that only recently had accepted women. Fanny passed second out of one hundred and twenty-three candidates applying for the school; one hundred and nineteen of them were men.

She was a top student and received only flattering testimonials from her teachers. She took her final examination in Dublin where her professor said that her paper was the best he had ever had from any candidate. Fanny received the prize of pathology in 1879 and prize of anatomy in 1880. 

In 1880 Fanny went to India as the first fully equipped female medical missionary sent from England. Her first destination was Jabalpur in the central part of India. Owing to some complications she traveled to Bhagalpur. She spent four and a half years in Bhagalpur pouring her whole energy into working in the dispensaries and attending several thousand patients a year. 

In 1887 Fanny returned home to England for a short furlough. After this she accepted an appointment in Kashmir specifically in order to work with the women there. She rented a little house close to Srinagar, the chief city in that area, and opened a dispensary. She was immediately pressed from all sides for help. In the first year she treated five thousand patients. At least two thousand heard the Gospel. 

Fanny opened another small house for a hospital. This house was outside of the city because missionaries had been forbidden to live inside the city. Fanny traveled daily by pony or by boat the four miles into the city to see her patients. She dressed wounds, dispensed medicine, performed surgical operations, read, prayed, and talked to the suffering about the great Healer, the Lord Jesus. 

The government was finally persuaded that Fanny only meant good and they let her have some land for a dispensary, a hospital, and a mission house. Fanny had a longing to build a women’s hospital but no funds. God graciously provided the money.

About this time an English woman named Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop was traveling in India. Even while traveling in the East as a child, Isabella’s heart was saddened by the intense poverty of the women in India. She longed to be used of God to serve them. 

When she grew up Isabella married a Scottish doctor named Dr. John Bishop. After only a few years of married life she became a widow. She again traveled to the East. In 1888 she visited Srinagar and there she met Dr. Fanny Butler. She found out that Dr. Fanny Butler was a pioneer woman doctor serving many thousands of poor women, but she had no hospital. Isabella generously gave the money for the building of the hospital. It was named in memory of her husband – the John Bishop Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Fanny was just as concerned for the spiritual well being of her patients as their physical health. One by one she took many of them to an upper room to talk to them about Christ.

Thinking of how Dr. Fanny served the poor a helper later wrote, “I make my way with difficulty up stairs to receive my instructions from the brave presiding genius of the place, the doctor, Miss Sahib. Here she is, sitting at the table, with a little collection of poor sufferers at her feet. They will look up in her face, with clasped hands, and say, ‘We heard your fame, and have come far, far;’ and again the words come back, ‘I have compassion on the multitudes, … for divers of them came from far.’” Truly Fanny showed the love of Christ to the Indian people.

Constantly pressed from all sides for help the strain became too much. Fanny Butler burned herself out for the love of Christ and the Indian people. In the summer of 1889 she fell so ill that she was unable to do her work. When she recovered she went right back to work because she could not turn down the thousands of women and children begging for medicine. 

By the fall Fanny was suffering so much that she was unable to attend the ceremony where they laid the foundation stone for the new women’s hospital. She continued to grow worse. Her mind remained clear and her last thought was for the work that she loved. Her dying wish was that her post might be speedily filled.

Dr. Fanny finally succumbed to dysentery on October 26, 1889. She was buried in a cemetery in Srinagar. The natives insisted on bearing her coffin to her grave. “They had eaten her salt, and no other arms must bear her.” Many people came to show their respect for this woman who had given her all to help the poor and downtrodden.

Fanny Butler left a blessed legacy for both Indian and international women. She was the first to provide medical care for many women in India. She inspired many women to join the movement for education for women, especially medical education. Even though Fanny did not live to see the John Bishop Memorial hospital completed, she is credited with its creation. The John Bishop Memorial Hospital still exists today, although in a different location. A few years after it was built the hospital was destroyed in a disastrous flood and it was rebuilt in Anantnag.

Dr. Fanny Butler is remembered today for her care in treating Indian women both medically and spiritually. The London School of Medicine for Women established a scholarship in her honor after her death. 

She rests from her labors; and her works do follow her.

Drs. Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell

March is Women’s History Month. Last week we honored a brilliant woman from the eighteenth century, Maria Gaetana Agnesi who was the first person to publish a calculus textbook for students. Maria Gaetana became an example for women in the field of mathematics. This week we will honor two more outstanding women who helped to pave the way for recognition of women in the medical field – Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell.

If any college or medical school dared to refuse a female student her hard earned degree today just because of her gender, that school would be in big trouble. Not only could there be a lawsuit pending, but society would be outraged. We cannot imagine a woman not getting a degree or a good job or a position in an organization just because she is a woman. As women today we take it for granted that we should be treated with respect. We expect to be paid fairly and given our due for our hard work.

This has not always been the case. In the mid-nineteenth century women were seldom allowed to attend college and less seldom given the degrees that they earned. Society was wary of giving women the idea that they could do anything outside of the home. While we agree that marriage and family are high callings, society should not limit women from where God has called them.

Today, the reason women can go to medical school and go on to become doctors is thanks to pioneering women like Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell. 

As a girl Elizabeth Blackwell (1821-1910) was not interested in being a doctor. Years later in her book, Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women, published in 1895, Elizabeth said that she “hated everything connected with the body, and could not bear the sight of a medical book… The very thought of dwelling on the physical structure of the body and its various ailments filled me with disgust.”

Then one day a close friend who was dying explained to Elizabeth that she would have been spared her worst suffering if she had had a woman doctor. Things changed for Elizabeth. She now knew that she wanted to help women as a physician.

Emily Blackwell (1826-1910) on the other hand wanted to follow in her older sister’s footsteps and enter the medical field. Emily struggled as Elizabeth did to get medical training. After finally getting degrees in medicine the sisters sought experience in clinical medicine. When Elizabeth and Emily were rejected by many medical facilities that distrusted women doctors they built a hospital of their own to treat women with their unique female health problems.

The Blackwell family was an amazing group of people. Samuel and Hannah Blackwell emigrated from England in 1832 with their nine children eventually settling in Cincinnati, Ohio. Samuel Blackwell Sr. started a farm to convert beets into sugar because he wanted to reduce the dependence on slave-produced cane sugar. The Blackwell’s were ardent abolitionists.

Samuel and Hannah Blackwell were deeply religious and raised their children with a sense of social justice that was unusual for their time. This included the view that women should be educated to live in a growing and changing world. During an era when girls were expected to study only the subjects that prepared them to be good wives and mothers, the Blackwell’s saw to it that their daughters as well as their sons studied mathematics, science, literature, and foreign languages. Samuel and Hannah also encouraged their children to engage with the world of nature asking questions and expressing their thoughts freely. 

Elizabeth was born into this unusual family in Bristol, England in 1821. She was 11 years old when their family moved to America in 1832. Sadly, their father died in 1838 leaving the care of their family to her older brothers.

The girls in the Blackwell family were all intellectuals – both Elizabeth and her sister Emily became doctors. Their brothers were no doubt inspired by their amazing sisters to marry intellectual women as well. Henry Blackwell married Lucy Stone, a brilliant woman and advocate for reform. Samuel Blackwell Jr. married Antoinette Brown, first woman to be ordained as a minister in a Congregational church.

Though the Blackwell’s were advocates of education for women they still held somewhat to the traditional expectations for women in their day. The most acceptable career for women outside of the home was teaching. Elizabeth therefore began her early career in teaching. It was when a dying friend told Elizabeth that a woman physician would have spared her much agony that Elizabeth decided to become a doctor.

As a woman Elizabeth knew that it would be difficult to become a physician. Most of her family and friends were discouraging, but eventually two physician friends let her read medicine with them for a year. Elizabeth applied to many medical schools before she was finally accepted at Geneva Medical College in New York in 1847.

In 1849 Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to receive a medical degree from an American medical school. She then traveled to Europe to study for two more years under English and French doctors. While undergoing training in midwifery she contracted an eye disease from a patient. Elizabeth lost her sight in one eye and gave up on the idea of becoming a surgeon.

Returning to New York Elizabeth tried to gain a practice in a dispensary. She was refused. So she opened her own dispensary in a rented room treating up to three patients a day. In 1854 Elizabeth was able to buy a house and continue to enlarge her practice. In 1856 her sister Emily and another woman physician, Dr. Marie Zakrzewska joined her. In 1857 they founded the New York Infirmary for Women and Children. Here they provided medical care for the poor and offered opportunities for other women to receive training in the medical field.

Emily Blackwell was a sensitive and brilliant woman. Like her sister she tried teaching as a young woman. She hated it and talked to her sister Elizabeth about practicing medicine together. Emily began to look for medical training and received rejections by 12 medical schools before finally being accepted by Rush College in Chicago. They only let her study for one year. She was then accepted by Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where she graduated with highest honors in 1854. Like her sister, Emily went to Europe to study medicine.

Returning to New York, Emily and a young German-born woman of Polish ancestry, Dr. Marie Zakrzewska, joined Elizabeth in opening the hospital for women. Since Elizabeth’s eyesight was poor, Emily did the surgeries.

The women also pioneered in the medical industry by offering the first in-home care to poor patients. They not only saw to the medical needs of the women and children but also offered them training in better health care practices and sanitation.

Elizabeth and Emily continued to campaign for medical training for women. When it became clear that no one was willing to help they started their own training program in 1868. They offered a full three years of study at their infirmary that included clinical experience.

In 1869 Elizabeth moved back to England to continue her medical work. Emily became the full-time administrator of the hospital. Under her direction the hospital and medical school did so well that she needed to move it to larger quarters. In the 1870’s the training program was expanded from three years to four and a comprehensive training course for nurses was added.

Finally in 1899 Cornell University Medical College began accepting female students on an equal basis with men. Emily could rejoice that all of their hard work paid off. Now that women could study medicine freely she transferred her students to Cornell and retired. Her very capable staff continued to run the infirmary, still in existence today as NYU Downtown Hospital.

Emily Blackwell spent her retirement years between her homes in New Jersey and Maine. Elizabeth continued to live in England. The sisters saw each other one last time in 1906 when Elizabeth came to visit Emily in the United States.

A year later Elizabeth suffered from a severe fall while traveling in Scotland. She never fully recovered from it. In May 1910 Elizabeth suffered a stroke and died in England. A few months later at her home in Maine, September 2010, Emily died from an inflammation of the intestines.

Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell paved the way for women to become physicians. 360 women graduated from the school that they established. Today due to their courageous pioneering efforts many thousands of women are working in the field of medicine. We can all be thankful that they were willing to give their lives to the cause of helping others.

Maria Gaetana Agnesi: Mathematician and Social Worker

Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799)

Even though Maria Gaetana Agnesi is remembered for her contribution to mathematics, we should also remember her for her acts of piety and charity. Though growing up in a wealthy home, she herself lived simply. As soon as she had the opportunity to pursue her dream of working with the poor, she gave up mathematics and all of the notoriety that went with it. We can admire her for her humility and courage as well as her amazing intellect. She gave all for God’s glory.

Maria Gaetana Agnesi was born in Milan on May 16, 1718 to wealthy parents. She was the oldest of the 21 children that her father had by three wives. Her father, Pietro Agnesi, recognized that his daughter was a child prodigy and engaged the best tutors available for her. By the age of five Maria mastered French and by the age of nine she had mastered Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. During her teens she mastered Mathematics.

By the time she was nineteen, Maria could carry on conversations with renowned philosophers, mathematicians, and theologians. Her father enjoyed showing her off and invited Count Carlo Belloni, a famous philosopher, to host  conversazionesat the Palazzo Agnesi where renowned intellectuals would gather to impress each other with their wit and wisdom.

It was fashionable for the wealthy in Europe to host gatherings in their salonsin the 18th century. Pietro Agnesi began inviting people to his salons when Maria Gaetana was only five years old. She entertained her father’s guests by speaking in fluent French and responding to their questions with a quick wit that amazed them all. 

Maria’s reputation for her genius had spread and people came to see and hear her for themselves. For the next fifteen years people came to appreciate the wit and wisdom of this remarkable young woman during the conversations. In 1738 Maria published a set of complex essays on natural science and philosophy called Propositiones Philosophicae, that summarized some of the intellectual discussions that were held in the salons. In these essays she made sure to express her opinion that women should be educated.

By the time Maria Gaetana was twenty she had begun the work for which she was the most famous, Analytical Institutions, which dealt with differential and integral calculus. Calculus was being discussed by high level mathematical thinkers and was difficult for the average student to understand. It was no problem for Maria. She loved mathematics very much and wanted to make it accessible for the beginning student, so she wrote her own textbook. The two volume work was finished around 1748 or 1749. 

In her textbooks Maria Gaetana used language and illustrations that would enable her to make calculus understandable in a clear and concise way. Her books were so successful that she was elected to the Bologna Academy of Sciences. In the first place, Maria departed from other authors by writing her books in the vernacular. The secretary of the Academy of Sciences of Bologna exclaimed, “What neatness! What concision! What order ! What clarity!”[1]High praise indeed! Her two volume work was used as the standard text in mathematics for students for many decades. 

A very deep and personal reason that Maria Gaetana wanted to make mathematics more accessible for all students, including females, was that she believed that science is a divine gift from God that should be nurtured, and all people should praise Him for this gift. Mathematics as a philosophy and science lends itself to studying about the universe which God created. She taught that women as children of God had as much capacity as men for the sciences and should be able to realize the joy of understanding God’s creation better through mathematics.

Maria’s deep faith in God and love for the poor and destitute led her to lay aside her mathematics in her later years. After her father died, Maria signed off on the property she would have inherited giving it to her older brothers in exchange for a monthly stipend. She then was free to fulfill her longing to work among the poor.

For the rest of her life, about 47 years, Maria Gaetana used her wealth to work among the disadvantaged. She established homes for the poor. She lived among the destitute elderly in a home that she founded. By the time she died in 1799 at age eighty-one, she had given away everything she had ever owned. She was buried in a pauper’s grave in a cemetery outside the city walls of Milan. There is no physical monument at the gravesite, but praise God her writings and her work among the poor will ever be remembered.

Maria Gaetana was recognized as a champion for women. She held firmly to the belief that there were no significant cognitive barriers preventing women from performing similarly to men in intellectual activities. She opposed three main kinds of objections to educating women – tradition, the alleged inability of the female mind, and the social disruption that would supposedly follow from allowing women to be educated. 

Maria proved all of these arguments false with her own life. She was intellectually gifted above most of the men in her day. Far from social disruption, Maria brought social justice to many. She used her tremendous ability for organization to aid the poor even though it cost her everything. 

Now, over 200 years later, we can point to Maria Gaetana herself along with scores of other brilliant women who put a lie to the view that women are not as capable as men. I can’t wait to have conversaziones with Maria Gaetana in Heaven!

[1]Massimo Mazzotti. The World of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Mathematician of God(Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 2007) p 120.

Black Women in History – Maria W. Stewart

February is Black History Month. In our first post this month (February 1, 2019) we reviewed the book, Sisters of the Spirit: Three Black Women’s Autobiographies of the Nineteenth Century. The book contains the writings of three black women who have been forgotten but were well-known in their day – Jarena Lee (1783-1864), Zilpha Elaw (1790- ??), and Julia A. J. Foote (1823-1900). Thousands of people came to Christ thanks to their faithfulness to their calling in preaching and teaching the gospel.

I think you would enjoy reading the whole book, Sisters of the Spirit because it demonstrates that women are called and gifted by the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel. You will see from all of the women’s very frank accounts of their lives that they struggled with accepting their call. Women, especially black women, were not considered fit for this kind of kingdom work for God. The true stories of Jarena Lee, Zilpha Elaw, and Julia Foote will show that God does indeed call and gift women for service.

This week we will continue with another story about an early nineteenth century black female preacher – Maria W. Stewart. Her story can be found in Black Women in Nineteenth Century American Life, edited by Bert J. Loewenberg and Ruth Begin (The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1976).

I highly recommendBlack Women in Nineteenth Century American Life; it contains twenty-four stories of other black women who made contributions to society including Amanda Berry Smith, Nancy Prince, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Ida Wells-Barnett, Lucy Craft Laney and Anna Julia Cooper.

Maria W. Stewart

“Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”   Jeremiah 23:29

Not until many years after her death was Maria W. Stewart recognized as an underappreciated black female theologian and speaker of the early nineteenth century.

She is believed to be the first American woman to have given a speech before a mixed audience of men and women. It is possible that there were other women speakers before her, but we don’t have copies of their speeches as we do for Maria.

Maria Miller was born in 1803 in Hartford, Connecticut. Other than their last name, we don’t really know anything about Maria’s parents. She was orphaned at the age of five and became a servant girl in the home of a minister. While there she learned to read and became very familiar with the Bible. She understood it so well in fact that she would later incorporate it into her speeches in very intelligent and appropriate ways. 

At about age fifteen, Maria left this family and took a job as a domestic servant in order to support herself. She further educated herself by attending Sabbath schools.

When she was twenty-three, Maria Miller married James W. Stewart at the African Baptist Church in Boston. Maria took not only James’ last name but also his middle initial and thereafter she called herself Maria W. Stewart. James was forty-four years old. He was a veteran of the War of 1812. When he and Maria married he was a successful businessman earning a good income by outfitting whaling ships and fishing vessels. At this time, blacks or colored persons (as they were called then) made up only three percent of the Boston population. The Stewarts were also members of an even smaller society – the black middle class. They had no children and James died only three years later in 1829.

Heartbreak helped to fuel Maria’s zeal for God and His Word and freedom for women and blacks. But first, before she started her remarkable foray into politics, Maria had to try and get her inheritance. James Stewart had left her substantial property, but she was defrauded by the legal machinations of the unscrupulous white businessmen who were the executors of the estate. After a long court battle they took everything from her.

In 1830 Maria underwent a religious conversion that led her to begin to proclaim the Gospel along with social justice. She made a public profession of her faith in Christ and dedicated herself to God’s service. Being black and female did not stop this remarkable woman. She believed that the Scriptures were the authority of God and she could proclaim them as a servant of God no matter what her gender was. She also believed that it was an act of obedience to God to work for freedom for oppressed people. 

Throughout her life she would be criticized for speaking out, but Maria would point to the authority of God and say that she was simply following God’s will. This was an incredibly bold stance for a black woman to take in 1830. It would be a few years before other women would follow in her footsteps and now there is a great “roll call” of black and white women who boldly proclaimed the Word of God.

Maria’s first published work was entitled, “Religion and the Pure Principles of Morality, the Sure Foundation on Which We Must Build”. This appeared as a twelve-page pamphlet, priced at six cents, published in 1831. Soon after this, Maria began her public speaking. 

The main thrust of Maria’s speeches was to encourage black women to turn to God. She also urged them to stand up for their rights and not remain silent. She showed that free black women were little better off than the slaves. The only employment they could get was as servants to white people and many were as mistreated as she was. After all, she should know because she was cheated out of her inheritance. Being black and female was at the very bottom of the hierarchy in society. 

While speaking out against the unfairness of the white man’s world, Maria also boldly lectured the blacks themselves for doing little to better their own plight. “It is useless for us any longer to sit with our hands folded, reproaching the whites; for that will never elevate us,” she said. 

Maria continued to write articles for publication. In 1832, the famous publisher William Lloyd Garrison published another article entitled, “Meditations from the Pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart.” He also printed transcripts from all of her speeches, but going along with the social requirements of those days he put them in the “Ladies” Department” of the paper.

Maria Stewart continued to speak and write for only two more years. She had encountered so much opposition that she decided to leave Boston. She delivered her last speech on September 21, 1833 announcing her decision. She was truly sorry that even people who agreed with her did not like her speaking in public.

She did not just fade away. Maria refused to go quietly, asserting that women activists had divine sanction: “What if I am woman; is not the God of ancient times the God of these modern days? Did he not raise up Deborah, to be a mother, and a judge in Israel? Did not Queen Esther save the lives of the Jews? And Mary Magdalene first declare the resurrection of Christ from the dead?” 

Maria moved to New York where she became a teacher and taught in Manhattan public schools. She continued her political activities, joining many women’s organizations. She did deliver lectures occasionally, but none of these have survived. 

In 1852, Maria moved to Baltimore. Here she earned a living as a teacher. In 1861, she moved to Washington D. C. where she operated a school. By the 1870’s she had been appointed a matron at the Freedman’s Hospital and Asylum in Washington. Maria continued to teach even as she worked at the hospital caring for patients.

Finally, in 1878, a year before her death, congress passed a law granting pensions to widows of veterans of the War of 1812. (Big of them, wasn’t it? How many widows could there be sixty-six years after the end of the war?) Anyway, this money enabled Maria to publish a second edition of “Meditations from the Pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart”. It also included new sections, an autobiographical essay and an introduction calling for an end to tyranny and oppression of underprivileged peoples.

You can go to “Digital Archives” and read the book for yourself. Here is the link:

https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/stewart-maria/meditations/meditations.html

Maria died in 1879 at the Freedman’s Hospital at the age of 76. There was an obituary in The People’s Advocate, giving this recognition to Maria Stewart: “Few, very few know of the remarkable career of this woman whose life has just drawn to a close. For half a century she was engaged in the work of elevating her race by lectures, teaching, and various missionary and benevolent labors.”Maria was buried in Graceland Cemetery in Washington on December 17, 1879—50 years to the day after her husband’s death.

Black Women in History – Julia A. J. Foote

February is Black History Month. In our first post this month (February 1, 2019) we reviewed the book, Sisters of the Spirit: Three Black Women’s Autobiographies of the Nineteenth Century. The book contains the writings of three black women who have been forgotten but were well-known in their day. Thousands of people came to Christ thanks to their preaching and teaching.

For several weeks this month we are looking more closely at each of the three women’s stories and their writings. We began with Jarena Lee (1783 – 1864), who was born to free but poor black parents. She was the first African American woman to give us an account of her religious experiences. Last week we looked at the remarkable life of Zilpha Elaw (1790-??) who traveled to many states preaching the gospel. 

In this post we will look at the life of Julia A. J. Foote (1823-1900) including excerpts from her biography. I think you would enjoy reading the whole book, Sisters of the Spirit because it demonstrates that women are called and gifted by the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel. You will see from all of the women’s very frank accounts of their lives that they struggled with accepting their call. Women, especially black women, were not considered fit for this kind of kingdom work for God. The true stories of Jarena Lee, Zilpha Elaw, and Julia Foote will show that God does indeed call and gift women for service.

Julia A. J. Foote

Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?(Zechariah 3:2).

In the past few weeks we have told the stories of remarkable black women of the nineteenth century. Some were born slaves and some were born free. All of these women were courageous examples of what can be done by a woman who does not let her circumstances dictate to her. These women rose above many hardships including poverty, illness, prejudice, internal conflicts, and the limitations of their times to follow their call from God and affect the lives of many other people for good.

During the nineteenth century many black and white women published their autobiographies. There are also many fine diaries from that century when women wrote about their thoughts, dreams, and ideas that they could not express publicly because of their gender. It was acceptable for women to write and so many availed themselves of the opportunity to express themselves using this medium.

An outstanding example of such a woman was Julia A. J. Foote (1823-1900). Julia Foote intended to leave her story so that she could “testify more extensively to the sufficiency of the blood of Jesus Christ to save from all sin.” Her autobiography was published in 1879.

She was born in 1823 in Schenectady, N.Y., a child of former slaves. Her mother had been born a slave; her father was born free but was kidnapped and enslaved as a child. Julia’s father endured many hardships but worked hard and purchased his freedom along with that of his wife and their only child at that time. 

A nearly fatal accident for Julia’s mother caused her parents to turn to God and they became committed Methodists. Julia’s parents wanted their children to be educated, but the schools were segregated, so they sent Julia to work as a servant and the white family she lived with used their influence to put her in a country school. Julia wanted to read the Bible and so she studied hard in school and learned to read. 

Julia attended many church meetings and was converted at age fifteen. Her experience was very profound and left her with a strong desire to serve Christ for the rest of her life. It also left her with a desire to be holy. She eventually embraced the Methodist idea of “sanctification”. This doctrine has been debated for centuries, but some Methodists believed in “total sanctification” where one is freed from sin completely and empowered to lead a life of spiritual perfection. Most Christians believe that sanctification is a gradual process, the Christian becoming more Christ-like as the years go on, and only becoming “perfect” when they die and go to heaven. Julia believed that absolute perfection belonged to God alone. However, Christian “perfection” was moving toward a life of love and peace with God. This Julia strove to do.

In 1841, Julia married George Foote, who was a sailor, and moved to Boston with him.  There she joined the African Methodist Episcopal Zion church. She made friends and studied the Bible. Convinced that she was fully sanctified by the Holy Spirit, she also believed that she was called to preach. When she tried to tell others, including her husband, she met with disapproval. It was all right for her to work with the neighborhood wives and children, but as a woman she was not supposed to speak in public. 

Julia had always been opposed to women preaching and had spoken out against it, but she began to have strong feelings toward preaching the Gospel and seeing many people come to Christ. God seemed to be calling her, but she felt unworthy of the task and said, “No, Lord, not me.”  The impression that God was calling her increased daily, yet she tried to shrink from it. One day she received a visitation from an angel who told her that she was to go and preach the Gospel. She tried to shirk this call for two months and became very sick. Her friends advised her to obey God. When she got well, Julia realized that God had been gracious to her. God sent another angel and this time, Julia bowed her head and said, “I will go, Lord.”

Julia met with opposition from her minister when she explained her divine calling to him. She and other like-minded brothers and sisters began to meet in her home. She was told to quit these meetings or else face discipline. She responded that she had to obey God, and she was turned out of her church. 

There were other heartaches for Julia. Her husband did not agree with her and drifted away from her, literally, as he spent most of his time at sea, eventually dying there. Her parents did not approve of her activity, but her father gave her his blessing on his death bed saying to her, “My dear daughter, be faithful to your heavenly calling, and fear not to preach full salvation.”

Of course, there were the “indignities” that were shown to her as a “nigger”. All of these things Julia endured as she went about the work of her Master. 

A Christian sister joined her as her traveling companion and they went throughout New England, the Mid-Atlantic States, Michigan, Ohio, and Canada. Julia was welcomed in Churches, homes, and revival camps. She was part of the holiness revivals that swept through the Midwest in the 1870’s. Julia served as a missionary for the A.M.E. Zion Church.

We are not sure what she was doing during the 1880’s and early 1890’s, but by the end of the last decade of the nineteenth century, Julia became the first woman to be ordained a deacon in her church. Later she became only the second woman to hold the office of elder. Julia died around 1900 after sixty years of ministry.

Julia protested against racism and other social abuses during her lifetime. Her special cause however was to encourage her Christian sisters to serve God in spite of their gender or color. Though slavery was long ended by the time she died, there was still much prejudice against blacks. Julia encouraged all believers to remember that God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth ” (Acts 17:26). There is no room for prejudice among Christians.
All Christians have the responsibility to tell others about the love of Christ. Julia believed that women could be anointed to preach publicly because “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). God’s praise should be on everyone’s lips!

Those who heard Julia preach believed that she had the gift and the anointing of the Holy Spirit as she spoke with such power. At one meeting there were over five thousand people listening intently as she explained the way of salvation. Other ministers attested to the soundness of her doctrine and exhortation and commended her for it.

Julia was faithful to her calling. She was grateful for her redemption, “a brand plucked out of the fire” and her life has been an inspiration for Christian women since then.

Julia’s story is one of three stories of remarkable black women preachers from the nineteenth century. God called and gifted these women for service in His kingdom. Many, many more women have served in the last few centuries in the United States. It is tragic that their stories have been all but forgotten. 

Next week we will continue with another story about an early nineteenth century black female preacher – Maria W. Stewart. (Her story is found in Black Women in Nineteenth Century American Life. To be reviewed next week).

Black Women in History – Zilpha Elaw

Those who trust in the Lord are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.(Psalm 125:1).

Zilpha Elaw was born in 1790 to free black Christian parents near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Zilpha was one of the only three surviving children of the twenty-two babies her mother gave birth to. She was twelve years old when she lost her mother who died in her twenty-second childbirth.  Her father then put Zilpha with a Quaker family where she lived until she was eighteen years old. Her father died eighteen months after placing her with the Mitchel family.[1]

In her father’s house devotions had been held morning and evening often with hymn singing. Though Zilpha appreciated her new Quaker foster parents she was surprised at how little outward devotion they paid to the Lord. Because of this her own earnest desire to follow God waned. She followed the childish pleasures that were all around her, but occasionally had feelings of guilt.

During this time the Methodists were evangelizing strongly in their area. Zilpha was allowed to attend their services once a fortnight on Sabbath afternoons. She loved the preaching and the message of God’s love and began to deal with her feelings of shame and guilt for her sin. She gradually came to accept Christ’s forgiveness and assurance of her salvation. She studied the Word and increased in knowledge daily, but she lacked full assurance. She prayed that God would send her such assurance and in her memoirs she tells how God answered her prayer.

One day while milking a cow, Zilpha saw the figure of Jesus coming toward her. He opened his arms and he smiled at her. She knew it was not her imagination because even the cow turned her head and bowed her knees and cowered to the ground. After this wonderful manifestation, the peace of God which passes understanding was communicated to her heart with the joy of the Holy Spirit. She said that from that day on she “never entertained a doubt of the manifestation of his love to my soul.” 

In 1810, Zilpha married Joseph Elaw. Joseph was only a nominal Christian and did not appreciate Zilpha’s zeal for Christ. In fact, he often chided her and tried to keep her from going to religious meetings. Zilpha regretted having become unequally yoked with a non-believer, but she did her best to be submissive to her husband. She warned girls that because they must be in subjection to their husbands it was of utmost importance to marry a Christian. Otherwise the believing wife must either sin by obeying her husband or cause discord in the family when she won’t follow him into sin. 

Zilpha gave an example of the trials of being married to an unbeliever with the story of a time when her husband insisted that they go dancing. In those days ballroom dancing was seen as worldly. Zilpha attended the “vaporous bubble of worldly gaiety and pleasure” but sat on the side weeping. Her husband found that it wasn’t as pleasurable as he thought and he never made her go again. Zilpha gave the praise to God for protecting her.

Joseph’s trade caused him to move to Burlington, New Jersey in 1811. Zilpha went along with him and bore him a daughter the following year. She was happy there because the Meeting House was only a short distance from their home. She studied and grew spiritually throughout the next few years.

In 1817, Zilpha attended her first American camp meeting. She described camp meetings as heaven on earth, with the singing of praises to God in the midst of HIs beautiful creation. Meetings went on day and night with thousands in attendance. Hundreds of souls came to Christ daily.

At one of the camp meetings, Zilpha received her call to preach. She did not think herself a likely preacher since she was black and a woman. She did not seek to lead meetings or preach formally, but she did begin to share the Gospel by going into people’s homes and telling them of forgiveness and salvation in Christ. In this manner she led whole households to Christ.

Zilpha was comfortable sharing the Gospel this way until the time that she visited her only sister, Hannah, who was dying. Hannah had a vision of Heaven and angels and insisted that they told her that Zilpha must preach the Gospel. Zilpha had a hard time believing this prophecy and she kept it to herself for a long time. 

Finally, God used other means to convince Zilpha. He allowed her to be very sick, almost to death, for nearly two years, and then the He marvelously healed her and after many more months she was able to go to Meetings again. 

Zilpha could not imagine that God could use her but eventually she humbly accepted the fact that “God hath chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and the weak things of the world to confound the mighty” (I Corinthians 1:27). She began her public ministry.

When her husband found out, he was troubled in his mind about it. Zilpha was pleasantly surprised that he did not completely object; his concern was that they would become a laughing stock to their neighbors because his wife was preaching. He asked her to stop preaching publicly, but Zilpha felt that the call from God was so strong that she needed to obey it.

About this time her husband became ill with consumption. He grew worse and so Zilpha’s ministry duties lessened as she cared for him and her daughter. Her biggest concern however was that he was not yet saved. A short time before his death he seemed to change his mind and soften toward religious things and asked for Zilpha’s forgiveness. He finally went to be with the Lord on January 27, 1823.

At this time Zilpha needed to support herself and her daughter and pay all of their debts including funeral expenses. Zilpha went to work as a servant and put her daughter out to servitude as well. This nearly ruined Zilpha’s health, so she eventually started a school, which was greatly appreciated by the black people in their neighborhood. 

Zilpha was able to care for herself and her daughter in this way, but she wasn’t getting ahead with the debts. Here “Satan bound me down for two years” and then she remembered her call to the ministry. She sought the Lord with prayer and decided to trust Him completely and step out in faith and pursue her calling. She put her daughter under the care of some relatives and set out to follow where the Lord led her. She believed that God would bless her and help her do what was right.

Zilpha continued to work to support herself after both her husband and her sister died. She had long ago received her call from God to go out and preach the Gospel. She had kept putting it off because she did not feel worthy to do so. She was uneducated compared to other ministers who had been to seminary. Zilpha was also worried about the fact that she was black. She prayed to God, “Lord! Send by whom thou wilt send, only send not by me; for thou knowest that I am ignorant; how can I be a mouth for God! — a poor, coloured female; and thou knowest we have many things to endure which others do not.”

Zilpha had not yet learned the lesson from 2Corinthians 3:5 (“Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.”). God answered her objection, “What is that to thee? Follow thou me.”
Placing her child with some relatives, Zilpha began her journey of preaching salvation to lost souls. She would travel to many states including the slaveholding states in the South. Here she ran the risk of being kidnapped and sold into slavery. The Lord protected her; she preached to both black and white folks. Some wealthy white people put her under their wings, caring for her even when she got ill. 

Many people came to the Lord because of her preaching and at least one person was healed. Though Zilpha was worried that being black and a female would be detrimental, those factors are actually what attracted people to come and hear her. Some came out of curiosity; a few even came to mock her, but most were genuinely convicted and came back to hear her preach again. More than a few women would weep and beg her to pray for them at the meetings. Some of these women would become life-long friends.

Zilpha encountered many obstacles throughout her ministry. Besides young men who would come to the meetings specifically to hassle her, there were other church members and church leaders who opposed her because of her gender or color. Often these turned out to be people who were jealous of the reception that she got wherever she went. Sometimes after they heard her preach, they would repent of their attitude, ask her forgiveness and encourage her to continue on. 

One example of this was a Presbyterian minister, Rev. Mr. House, who declared that he would have her stopped when she came to his city of Hartford. While in that city, Zilpha visited a very sick man and prayed for him. He immediately got so much better that his attending physician declared that he would like to go and hear Zilpha preach. After hearing her, the physician visited Rev. House and told him all that he had witnessed. Rev. House changed his mind about stopping Zilpha exclaiming, “Well, if God has sent her, I bid her God’s speed.” A revival broke out in Hartford among the people of every denomination.

Zilpha also encountered those who were skeptical of traditional, Evangelical Christian beliefs. Universalism was taking hold in the Northeastern United States at this time. The Universalists not only believed that everyone would be saved, thereby denigrating the cross of Christ, but they behaved as Deists, denigrating the immanent power of our Sovereign God. Many of these people came to hear her preach and she was able to exhort them in the whole Gospel including repentance for sin and genuine faith in a crucified Redeemer. She preached that mankind was lost and in need of a Savior. She warned them to flee from the wrath to come. Some did turn and believe.

By the nineteenth century the different denominations had separated themselves from each other. There was a group of women however who held monthly unionprayer meetings together. This brought them into closer contact with each other as well as allowed them to share Christian love free from bigotry. Zilpha loved these meetings and was delighted to hear Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Methodists sharing the Gospel truth as one. She said, “The Christian church should manifest one fold and one shepherd; one body and spirit; one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism; and one God and father of all who is above all, and through all, and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). 

Of course, Zilpha missed her daughter. Eventually her daughter married and had two sons. Zilpha was very close to her daughter and grandsons.

Zilpha had received a vision some years before this promising her that she would travel to London. Zilpha was never sure how this could come about, and she argued the matter with the Lord in prayer, pleading her ignorance, her sex, her color, and her inability to minister the Gospel in a country “so polished and enlightened, so furnished with Bibles, so blessed with ministers, so studded with temples; but the Lord said, ‘say not, I cannot speak; for thou shalt go to all to whom I send thee, and what I command thee, thou shalt speak’.” (Jeremiah 1:7).

The Lord opened the way for her in 1840. She went home for a short time and spent some time with her daughter and two grandsons. The parting was tearful when it was time for her to leave for New York. From there she traveled to Philadelphia, then went by ship to London. Zilpha preached over one thousand sermons over a five-year period in England. She lived on the edge of poverty and endured “a thousand privations, hardships, targetfires, vexatious anxieties and deep afflictions, to which my previous life was an utter stranger.” She was occasionally ill, even near death, but the Lord sustained her. 

While in England, Zilpha published her memoirs. Nearing the end of her life, she exhorted all her readers to stand fast in their faith. “Dear brethren, the time is short, it is ominous, and it is perilous; be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” Truly, Zilpha Elaw practiced what she preached. She is a model for us of a courageous woman who put aside all of her own feelings and wants and made herself totally available to God. Please get the book “Sisters of the Spirit” to read all of the memoirs. You will be blessed.

There is a hint near the end of her memoirs that she wants to return to the United States, but we don’t know whether or not she did. There is up to now no further information about her life after 1845. We can be sure that she is in Heaven rejoicing with all of the other saints including many that she had the privilege to lead to Christ.

[1]This story is from “Sisters of the Spirit: Three Black Women’s Autobiographies of the Nineteenth Century. Edited with an Introduction by William L. Andrews(Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1986.)

Black Women in History – Jarena Lee

February is Black History Month. In our last post (February 1, 2019) we reviewed the book, Sisters of the Spirit: Three Black Women’s Autobiographies of the Nineteenth Century. The book contains the writings of three black women who have been forgotten but were well-known in their day. Thousands of people are now in Heaven thanks to their preaching and teaching. 

For the next 3 weeks this month we will look more closely at each of the three women’s stories and their writings. This week we will begin with Jarena Lee (1783 – 1864), who was born to free but poor black parents. She was the first African American woman to give us an account of her religious experiences. It was first published as The Life and Religious Experience of Jarena Lee in 1836. (It was later revised and expanded in 1849, but the account in this book is the 1836 account.)

In this post we will look at Jarena’s life including excerpts from the book. I think you would enjoy reading the whole account. This book is important because it demonstrates that women are called and gifted by the Holy Spirit to preach the gospel. You will see from Jarena’s very frank account of her life that she struggled with accepting her call. Women, especially black women, were not considered fit for this kind of kingdom work for God. The true stories of Jarena Lee, Zilpha Elaw, and Julia Foote will show that God does indeed call and gift women for service.

And it shall come to pass. . . that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons, and your daughters shall prophecy.(Joel 2:28)

Jarena Lee was born on February 11, 1783, in Cape May, New Jersey. Her parents were free blacks but were so poor that they hired Jarena out at the age of seven to be a servant girl. We don’t know much else about her childhood.

At the age of twenty-one Jarena was converted to Christianity. She had undergone a long process of wretchedness and guilt, convinced that she was such a horrible sinner that God had forsaken her.

In 1804 she went to hear a Presbyterian missionary speak. Jarena tells in her autobiography what happened next.

“At the reading of the Psalms, a ray of renewed conviction darted into my soul. These were the words, composing the first verse of the Psalms for the service:

Lord, I am vile, conceived in sin,
Born unholy and unclean.
Sprung from man, whose guilty fall
Corrupts the race, and taints us all.

This description of my condition struck me to the heart, and made me to feel in some measure, the weight of my sins, and sinful nature.” 

But Jarena had no one to tell her what she should do. Months went by. After undergoing temptations by Satan to destroy herself and a prolonged illness, Jarena had the opportunity to hear Rev. Richard Allen, a bishop of the African Episcopal Methodist Church. Up to this time she felt that she knew the wretchedness of her sinful condition but had not heard what to do about it. She decided to continue to worship with the Methodists and after about three weeks she was “gloriously converted to God.” 

Jarena was enjoying the wonderful feeling of being right with God for some months when she began to realize that there was still much pride, anger, and self-will in her nature. She had not yet learned how to deal with this. God graciously sent “a certain colored man, by name William Scott” to visit her. William explained the way of sanctification to Jarena which she embraced. Now Jarena felt that she was able to resist Satan and lead a godly life.

About four or five years after this Jarena received her call to preach the Gospel. At first she thought that it was either her own imagination or the devil speaking to her. She decided to go and tell Rev. Richard Allen that she felt it was her duty to preach the Gospel. He replied, “But as to women preaching… our Discipline knew nothing at all about it — that it did not call for women preachers.” 

Jarena was actually glad to hear this because it removed what she felt was a burden from her. However, 

later she wrote in her memoirs, “I found that a love of souls had in a measure departed from me; that holy energy which burned within me, as a fire, began to be smothered.” Jarena had let the “by-laws of church government and discipline” prevent her from following her calling. It would be eight years before she would again apply to become an official preacher.

In 1811, Jarena married Mr. Joseph Lee, Pastor of a Colored Society at Snow Hill. This town was about six miles from Philadelphia. As a wife, Jarena conformed to the marital mores of nineteenth-century American society. Therefore, though she was sad to leave her friends, Jarena moved with her husband who had charge of the congregation in Snow Hill. They had two children. Sadness filled Jarena’s life during this time. In the space of six years she lost five family members to death including her husband. 

Now Jarena was left with two small children, aged two years and six months. She depended on God’s promise, “I will be the widow’s God and a Father to the fatherless” (Psalm 68:5). Friends came to her aid and she and the children were taken care of.

By 1818 eight years had gone by since Jarena had first received her impression that she was called to preach. Returning to Philadelphia, she approached Bishop Richard Allen again and asked for permission to hold prayer meetings in her house. Bishop Allen granted her the permission and her house was filled when she began her meetings. 

At this time it was allowable for women to exhort if they were invited to by the licensed preacher. This was to be done after the preacher completed his sermon and the preacher was to give the exhorter the text to be used.

Jarena got her chance to exhort a few months later. There came a time in 1819 when she attended a service at Bethel Church. The Rev. Richard Williams was to preach. Here in her own words is how Jarena began her preaching ministry:

“He (Rev. Williams) entered the pulpit, gave out the hymn, which was sung, and then addressed the throne of grace; took his text, passed through the exordium, and commenced to expound it. The text he took is in Jonah, 2d chap. 9th verse, — ‘Salvation is of the Lord.’ But as he proceeded to explain, he seemed to have lost the spirit; when in the same instant, I sprang, as by an altogether supernatural impulse, to my feet, when I was aided from above to give an exhortation on the very text which my brother Williams had taken.

I told them that I was like Jonah; for it had been then nearly eight years since the Lord had called me to preach his gospel to the fallen sons and daughters of Adam’s race, but that I lingered like him and delayed to go at the bidding of the Lord, and warn those who are as deeply guilty as were the people of Nineveh. 

During the exhortation, God made manifest his power in a manner sufficient to show the world that I was called to labour according to my ability and the grace given unto me, in the vineyard of the good husbandman.”

Jarena sat down, frightened at what she had done. She was sure she would be expelled from the church. But instead, the Bishop rose up in the assembly and told how Jarena had called on him eight years before asking to be permitted to preach and that he had put her off. Now, he said, he believed that she was called to the work of preaching as much as any of the ministers present. 

Now realizing the sureness of her call, Jarena began to exhort in public places though not in a church at first. She began in the home of a sister in her society with five congregants. Eventually Jarena would preach throughout New England, using Philadelphia as her home base. Her travels took her to Canada and out west to Ohio. 

In 1836, Jarena wrote her first autobiography out of the conviction that others might benefit from hearing how the Lord had worked in her life to help her to lead others to Christ. She spent her own money to have a thousand copies printed, which she distributed at camp meetings, church meetings, and on the street. Later a second autobiographical work was completed in 1849, Religious Experience and Journal, which recounted events up to her fiftieth birthday. Unfortunately, after this nothing is known of her activities.

Jarena saw herself as an evangelist. Jarena knew that she was called to a purpose that involved more than just her own personal comfort. “Go preach the Gospel!” She was concerned with the souls of lost human beings. She did not let her gender or her color keep her from preaching the gospel. It was her sense of purpose, strength of will, and integrity that led Jarena to be a part of the social reformation that was begun in the nineteenth century.

Nearly two centuries later Christians still question whether or not women should preach or speak in public places. That is why reading and studying about women in history who have followed their call is so important. As Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples” (John 15:7-8). Women like Jarena Lee proved that they were disciples of Christ by bearing much fruit; thousands came to Jesus for salvation through their preaching. 


It was important to Jarena that her call was truly of God. She did not want it to be of her own desire or to be a temptation from Satan. She recognized the devil could “transform himself into an angel of light for the purpose of deception.” The first time Jarena heard her call she was very careful to make sure it was from the Lord. She immediately “went into a secret place, and called upon the Lord to know if he had called me to preach, and whether I was deceived or not; when there appeared to my view the form and figure of a pulpit, with a Bible lying thereon, the back of which was presented to me as plainly as if it had been a literal fact.” In other words, Jarena had a vision. That night she had a vivid dream. She took a text and preached in her sleep. This convinced her of her call and she approached Rev. Allen for that first time.

When she began her public ministry, Jarena defended her right to preach on three grounds. First was God’s direct call to her (recounted above). Secondly, she could point to the results. There was no doubt about the support she received from men and women. And third, there were the Scriptures. 

Along with other black and white women who wanted to serve by using their call to preach, Jarena pointed to many Scriptures in support of her ministry. Here in her own words is her defense:

“If a man may preach, because the Saviour died for him, why not the woman? seeing he died for her also.”

“Did not Mary first preach the risen Saviour, and is not the doctrine of the resurrection the very climax of Christianity — hangs not all our hope on this, as argued by St. Paul? Then did not Mary, a woman, preach the gospel? for she preached the resurrection of the crucified Son of God.

But some will say, that Mary did not expound the Scripture, therefore, she did not preach, in the proper sense of the term. To this I reply, it may be that the term preach, in those primitive times, did not mean exactly what it is now madeto mean; perhaps it was a great deal more simple then, than it is now: — if it were not, the unlearned fishermen could not have preached the gospel at all, as they had no learning.”

Some might reply that only men are inspired to preach the gospel. Jarena replied, “If then, to preach the gospel, by the gift of heaven, comes by inspiration solely, is God straitened; must he take the man exclusively? May he not, did he not, and can he not inspire a female to preach the simple story of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Lord, and accompany it too, with power to the sinners’ heart. As for me, I am fully persuaded that the Lord called me to labour according to what I have received, in his vineyard. If he has not, how could he consistently bear testimony in favour of my poor labours, in awakening and converting sinners?”

How indeed?

Jarena’s story is one of a series of three women from the book Sisters of the Spirit: Three Black Women’s Autobiographies of the Nineteenth Century that I want to explore over the coming weeks. Was Jarena’s call real, or only the product of a vivid imagination? If a woman’s call to preach is real, how should we deal with it? Are men and women not both called to share the Gospel with others for all Christians? 

Next week we will continue the series with Zilpha Elaw, another early nineteenth black female preacher.