Glimpses #183: Great Women in Christian History

hristian history is filled with stories about remarkable women. From biblical times to modern, women have been influential in the growth and spread of Christianity. In addition to those we know of, the names and deeds of countless Christian women have vanished unrecorded into the mists of history. However, the essential role of women in advancing the cause of Christianity is both noble and indisputable.

order back issues of this Glimpses.

Horrors of History
Throughout history, the so-called "weaker sex" has often suffered abuse. Examples of codified cruelty, both within and outside Christendom, are many. Women have been sold as sex slaves, beaten, treated as plunder, burned as witches, and burdened with the bulk of physical labor. The Chinese practiced foot binding, a process that completely distorted the bones in the feet and made walking excruciatingly painful. In Africa, Masai tribes still practice merciless female circumcision. From Islam, some Europeans in the late Middle Ages learned to encase women in chastity belts. This drove some wearers to suicide, if only to obtain sanitary relief. Hindus practiced suttee, the burning of widows on funeral pyres. In many Muslim lands, women exist under restrictions of the veil and prohibitions against inheritance. In parts of India and China, selective abortion targeting females has resulted in significant male/female imbalances. At the time of Christ's birth, women were regarded as inferior and treated as such. However, both women and men needed the freedom and righteousness that Christ offered, and these needs have not diminished through the centuries. Although Christ actually said very little about women, he did more to ennoble them than any other in history.

Women as Martyrs
Given the example of Christ, it is no surprise that women have had a tremendous influence on the spread of Christianity. From the first, they suffered as martyrs, winning converts with their fervent testimony. The courage of an ordinary girl, Blandina, inspired her fellow martyrs in the arena at Lyons, France in A.D. 177. Suspended on a stake and exposed to the wild animals in the arena, she embraced an agonizing death with joy. In North Africa around A.D. 200, Perpetua and Felicitas were fed to wild beasts after they resisted every attempt to persuade them to recant. They rallied and encouraged the other martyrs by willingly giving their lives for the cause of Christ. In A.D. 523, the Himyarite martyrs of the Arabian regions were predominantly women. One thousand years later, Anabaptist women such as Elizabeth Hubmaier were martyred alongside men. Waldensian and Huguenot women suffered torture and death for their faith, and women such as Mary Dyer and Anne Askew are remembered for the deaths they suffered. The Massachusetts authorities hanged Mary as a heretic and Anne burned in the fires at Smithfield, England, because she refused to deny her faith. The willingness of these women to stand for their faith in the face of fierce persecution has empowered others to stand steadfast in their faith.

Women as Wives
Especially in the Middle Ages, royal marriages were often made to solidify political unions and seal treaties. Many Christian women in these alliances civilized and converted the men they married. Some of the most famous cases include Queen Clothilde, who converted her husband Clovis and brought the Salic Franks into the Christian fold. Queen Giselle, wife of St. Stephen of Hungary, did likewise for her Balkan nation. Margaret of Scotland persuaded her husband, Malcolm, to engage in charitable works. More recently, the influence of Mai-Ling Soong led her husband, Chiang Kai Shek of China, to his conversion as a Methodist Christian.

Women as Writers
In the Dark Ages, many women rose to prominence as writers and abbesses. In the tenth century, Hrotsvit von Gandersheim became Christianity's first known playwright. Julian of Norwich saw visions of the suffering Christ and wrote about her visions in the first English book written by a woman. Hildegard of Bingen produced an encyclopedia of natural science and clinical medicine. The church in our own era has also benefited from the influence of women writers. Hannah Smith helped thousands with her Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life. Corrie ten Boom’s life story, The Hiding Place, has touched and inspired millions. Hannah More achieved fame as a playwright in the 18th century. She and her sisters were also driving forces in the early Sunday School movement. Many of the church’s best-loved hymns, including "Blessed Assurance" and "He Hideth My Soul," were penned by Fanny Crosby.

Women as Charitable Workers
One reason Christianity spread so quickly was the compassion of Christians. We read in Acts that Dorcas sewed clothes for the poor. (Acts 9:36-43) The early church established a Christian welfare system that cared for widows and the elderly. It produced hospitals, orphanages, leper houses, soup lines and more. At this time, charity on the Christian scale was unknown among the pagans of Europe. Illustrious organizers from the earliest centuries include Fabiola, Melania, and Paula. In the Middle Ages, Elizabeth of Hungary was well known for her care of and concern for lepers. In modern times, Caroline Chisolm worked tirelessly to reform a cruel immigration system and Quaker Elizabeth Fry spearheaded prison reform. And who can forget the images of Mother Teresa ministering to India’s poor and dying? Her selfless sacrifice is an inspiration for our self-centered age.

Women as Missionaries
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw many female missionaries leave for foreign fields. Ann Judson, the first American female missionary, served with her husband, Adoniram, in Burma. Ida Scudder cared for many Indian women whose husbands would not allow them to be treated by a male doctor. When her mission was attacked, Gladys Aylward led 100 Chinese children to safety in a perilous 100-mile trek over the mountains. Amy Carmichael served in Japan and India despite the debilitating effects of neuralgia, and Mary Slessor shared the gospel and cared for the sick in Calabar, Nigeria.

America's Notable Christian Women
Christian women have actively contributed to the American story as well. Anne Hutchinson is much more than just a footnote in colonial American history--in many ways she was the prototype for later women’s concerns. Abigail Adams, wife of one president and mother to another, was a woman of faith. Hannah Adams, the first American woman to make a living from her pen, chose Christian themes. Anne Bradstreet of Massachusetts was the first American woman to have a volume of verse published in the English language, and prize winning novelist Frances Parkinson Keyes was very vocal about her Christian faith.

The contributions of America's Christian women extended well beyond the field of literature. The first practical techniques for preserving food in transport were developed by the Quaker Mary Engle Pennington. Prominent educators included Mary McLeod Bethune, who also did Sunday School work. A quarter century before Vassar opened its doors, Mary Lyon founded Mount Holyoke College.

The pages of our nation's history teem with other names. Women such as Mary Ashton Livermore and Frances Willard led the temperance movement at a time when male drunkenness had made the lives of many families a private hell. Harriet Beecher Stowe was the most visible Christian woman in the war for the abolition of slavery, but there were many less well-known women who labored beside her. Harriet Tubman battled in the trenches while Stowe battled from her desk.

Women and the Gospel
The Christian Church has never claimed to be perfect. It has always been made up of redeemed sinners. Its worship has always given prominent place to repentance for sins and receiving forgiveness. It does not attempt to deny its flaws, its times of regression and aberration from the Gospel, and its inhumane treatment of men and women, both within and without its fellowship. At the same time, history reveals a significant growth in understanding of women and profound appreciation for their role in the church and society. The good the Church has brought to this earth cannot be understood apart from the essential role Christian women have played. At the same time, the Gospel has given true liberty and fulfillment to women who have embraced it throughout the ages.

This issue is from the introduction to Great Women in Christian History: 37 Women Who Changed the World, a new book collection of the best stories on women from Glimpses over the past 15 years in addition to several original entries. Paperback, 224 pages, $16.99. To order, call us at 1-800-468-0458 or click on the book cover.

©2005 by Christian History Institute, Box 540, Worcester, PA 19490.
Tel.: 610-584-3500, Fax: 610-584-6643, E-mail: glimpses@chinstitute.org,
Web: http://www.chinstitute.org. Prepared by Ken Curtis, Ph.D., Dan Graves, MSL, and Tracey L. Craig, with Dawn Moore, Ann T. Snyder and Beth Jacobson. Photo credits: p. 2A - Baker Books/F.H. Revell; p. 4B - North Wind Picture Archives; p. 4C - Vellore Christian Medical College Board, Inc.; others - CHI Archives.