Fundamentalists and Women in Ministry

As the question of women's suffrage was settled so long ago – and apparently for henceforth and forever more – the truism that fundamentalism is opposed to women in ministry is the one that is more prominent today. A standard source to cite in order to substantiate that view is John R. Rice's Bobbed Hair, Bossy Wives, and Women Preachers (1941). Rice, a separatistic Baptist, was a leading fundamentalist voice through the power of his popular journal, the Sword of the Lord. One reason why this book is so often referred to by scholars is because its evocative title neatly attacked allegedly wayward women on three different fronts in three curt phrases (the social/societal, the domestic/familial, and the ministerial/ecclesiastical). ‘Women preachers’ are the relevant target for this chapter. Rice offered a synopsis of each theme in the table of contents, and his summary on women in ministry begins:

This is often considered the unanimous opinion of the fundamentalist world, an impression that led Bruce B. Lawrence to declare confidently that fundamentalism never recognized ‘an individual woman as authoritative teacher’.