Saving Women: Retrieving Evangelistic Theology and Practice

Conclusion

Conclusion The church is mighty orthodox in notions, but very heretical in practice, but the time must come when the church will be just as vigilant in guarding orthodoxy in practice as orthodoxy in doctrine, and just as prompt to turn out heretics in practice as heretics that corrupt the doctrines of the gospel. In fact, it is vastly more important.1 Evangelism, largely construed as preaching throughout Christian tradition , has generally excluded women from its study and practice. The evangelistic ministries of these women contribute important insights to contemporary understandings and practices of evangelism, expanding traditional notions often still captive to connotations of merely verbal proclamation.2 Although the evangelistic ministries of the women in this study included public speaking—and often preaching —their practices moved beyond merely verbal proclamation to a rich synthesis. As mentioned in the introduction, William Abraham clarifies the problem: “at issue is the appropriation of what evangelism has actually meant in the early church and in history, not judged by 1 C. G. Finney, Lectures on Revivals of Religion, ed. William G. McLoughlin (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 1960), 401. As mentioned in the introduction, William Abraham argues that Finney marks a shift away from serious theological reflection among practitioners of evangelism. He summarizes, “In other words, we not only need to attend to the experiential, communal, and moral dimensions of initiation ; we also need to deal with its intellectual, operational, and disciplinary aspects” (The Logic of Evangelism [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989], 9, 142). 2 See Abraham for a discussion of evangelism as proclamation and the limitations of such a connotation; The Logic of Evangelism, 40–69, particularly 44, 47, 50–59. 263 264 Saving Women the etymology of the word evangelism and its rather occasional use in Scripture, but by what evangelists have actually done in both proclaiming the gospel and establishing new converts in the kingdom of God.”3 The women in this study provide examples of “what evangelists have actually done. . . .” The women preached and published, advocated and served, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in their words and lives to a variety of constituencies in numerous contexts: from Ripley’s evangelistic political action among enslaved Africans, Native Americans, and those sentenced to death; to Bethune’s evangelistic education, which, while offering African American youth Christian formation and leadership skills, called the church to take seriously a comprehensive eschatological witness. As Abraham argues, these women seem to embody an evangelism that “is not just simply a matter of getting the word out. . . . It is a matter of the power of the living God, unveiling himself to the minds and hearts of the listener as the gospel is taught and made known.”4 For these women, evangelism consisted of sharing the gospel message and participating in God’s transformation of individuals and communities as well as themselves. The women in this study faced two main obstacles challenging faithful and effective evangelism in their times and contexts that persist today: (1) antiintellectualism, including a lack of theological reflection,5 and (2) an objectification of the “other” related to class, race, and/or gender discrimination.6 Not only was elementary and higher education generally less accessible to persons outside the more affluent classes, it was significantly less accessible to women.7 This 3 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, 69; italics in the original. 4 Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, 60. 5 As mentioned in the introduction, Abraham argues that John Wesley (1703–1791) and Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) are among the last serious theologians associated with the practice of evangelism. With Finney’s influence, a pragmatic and even antiintellectual shift followed. Abraham, The Logic of Evangelism, 9. 6 While Abraham is not opposed to social action and argues that evangelism does not preclude such “laudable and urgent tasks” as medical, educational or social, there remains room to build upon Abraham and others for further theological and critical reflection of evangelistic practices beyond proclamation that overcome such an objectification of the “other”: related to class, race, and gender discrimination (The Logic of Evangelism, 45). A central reason for this remaining room for study was the prevalence of the church growth movement and need for critical responses. Although remnants of church growth methodologies linger, momentum related to its study has largely passed and/or shifted into new directions opening possibilities for other conversation partners and trajectories. 7 According to Nancy Cott, “The improvement of women’s higher education in the half-century after the Revolution was an...