Deviating Voices: Women and Orthodox Religious TraditionJames Clarke & Co., 2003 - 176 pages The strongest voices in Christian history regarding the place of women in religious and secular society gave them only a very limited role, but there have always been those who disagreed with that view and with much other church orthodoxy. Often reviled by the Church, many of these women nevertheless had significant influence in their times. Some of them were considered to be heretics - unsurprisingly since they made great claims for themselves and their written and spoken words: Maximilla, a Montanist, announced that 'After me there will be no further prophets', while Joanna Southcott later claimed to be 'The Greatest Prophet that ever came into the world'. As this demonstrates, they did not speak with a single voice, but included Montanists, Jansenists, Pelagians, Antinomians, Spiritualists and Theosophists as well as Saints. This book describes the lives of twelve such women, outlining their beliefs, their attempts to make themselves heard, their clashes with the spiritual authorities, the influence they achieved and the legacies they left behind: Elizabeth Barton, Teresa Sanchez de Cepeda y Ahumad, Jeanne Marie Guyon, Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, Ann Lee, Joanna Southcott, Barbara Juliana, Baroness De Krudener, Lydia Sellon, Mary Baker Eddy, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Ethel Cecilia Dodd, Aimee Semple Macpherson. Some of these women saw themselves as reformers, others as revolutionaries; some saw their mission as lying within the Church, others broke with established religion completely. What they had in common was that each of them had a vision, some literally, others in a more figurative sense. None of them had any doubts as to the rightness of the mission to which they were called. While some of the opprobrium that they attracted from the ecclesiastical authorities related to their heterodox opinions, it is clear that had they been men their ideas might well have found more support and their activities greater approbation. Everyone who has an interest in Christian history and in women in the church - as well as in menis reaction to them - will want to read this book. |
Contents
Introduction | 7 |
Helena Petrvna Blavatsky | 125 |
Ethel Cecilia Dodd | 143 |
Aimée Semple Macpherson | 159 |
Bibliography | 171 |
Common terms and phrases
accepted activities Aimée Semple Macpherson Angelus Temple Anglican Ann Lee appears Archbishop asserted authority Avila became become believed Carmelites Catherine chapels Christ Christian Science Church convent convinced Court-at-Street daughter death decided despite Devonport divine Dodd due course Elizabeth Barton England ensued ensure established fashion father formal friends Glover Guyon Hahn Helena Petrovna Blavatsky Henry Olcott Holy Huntingdon husband ideas individual Initially Jeanne Marie Joanna Southcott John Juliana de Krudener King Koot Hoomi Lady later lived London Lydia Sellon Madame Madame Blavatsky marriage married Mary Baker Eddy Minnie Kennedy mission Mother Cecilia mystic namely occasion organised orphanage parish prayer preaching Princess protégé regarded rejected religious residence returned role Roman Catholic Russian salvation seems Selina sense Sergius Witte sermons sisterhood Sisters of Mercy society sort soul Spirit success Teresa theosophy took Tsar Tsar Alexander visions woman women writings wrote