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Institute for Faith and Learning
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Baylor BU Institute for Faith and Learning Media and Resources The Christian Reflection Project Women and the Church
  • Faith Animating Online Education
  • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
  • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture Video Archive
  • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
  • Recommended Reading
  • External Resources
  • The Christian Reflection Project
    • Acedia
    • Advent Ethics
    • Aging
    • Anger
    • Apocalyptic Vision
    • Attentive Patience
    • The Book of Acts
    • Caring for Creation
    • Catechism
    • Chastity
    • Children
    • Christianity and Islam
    • Christmas and Epiphany
    • Cities and Towns
    • Cloning
    • Consumerism
    • Death
    • Disability
    • Easter
    • Food and Hunger
    • Forgiveness
    • Freedom
    • Friendship
    • Gambling Culture
    • Generosity
    • Global Wealth
    • Health
    • Heaven and Hell
    • Hospitality
    • Immigration
    • Inklings of Glory
    • Lent
    • The Letter of James
    • Marriage
    • Membership
    • Monasticism Old and New
    • Moral Landscape of Creation
    • Mysticism
    • Parables
    • Patterns of Violence
    • Peace and War
    • Pentecost
    • Pornographic Culture
    • Prayer
    • Prison
    • Prophetic Ethics
    • Racism
    • Sabbath
    • Schools in a Pluralist Culture
    • Scripture
    • Sermon on the Mount
    • Singing Our Lives
    • Sports
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Women and the Church

Despite their Church's ambivalent attitude toward them over the centuries, women continue to be essential to the spiritual backbone and transformed mind of faithful communities, even those in which their leadership roles are circumscribed by their gender.

If we are to properly value women as well as men as capable of bearing the image of God in this world, Kristina LaCelle-Peterson suggests, we must allow the rich feminine metaphors for God in Scripture to inform our prayer and worship.

Catherine Brekus recalls the itinerant women preachers who led Second Great Awakening revivals across America. These biblical feminists, she explains, "were caught between two worlds. They were too radical to be accepted by evangelicals, but too conservative to be accepted by women's rights activists." Michael Sciretti commends the insights of Anne Dutton, the eighteenth-century British Baptist whose writings were enthusiastically read for spiritual direction.

Heidi Hornik describes Giotto's remarkable program of frescoes in Padua's Arena Chapel that explore the role of the Virgin Mary in the life of Christ. And in the Orthodox icons that are unafraid to depict Mary with "signs of her suffering," Ralph Wood discovers a spiritual vision of feminine beauty. "Creased with the care of both love and sorrow," he observes, "it is a beauty that can finally behold even God face to face."

The study guides and lesson plans integrate Bible study, prayer, and worship to explore women's discipleship. The study guides can be used in a series or individually. You may download and reproduce them for personal or group use.

Download the entire Women and the Church issue and the set of five Study Guides. Or, download individual pieces by clicking the titles below.

Articles

  • "Recovering Discarded Images," by Kristina LaCelle-Peterson
  • "Female Preaching in Early Nineteenth-Century America," by Catherine A. Brekus
  • "Anne Dutton as a Spiritual Director," by Michael Sciretti
  • "The Triumph of the Eye," by Ralph C. Wood

Art

  • "Mary and the Women from Galilee," by Heidi J. Hornik, on Giotto's Lamentation and Flight into Egypt in the Arena Chapel, Padua, Italy

Hymn and Worship Service

  • "The Sacred Now," by Julie Merritt Lee
  • Worship Service, by Julie Merritt Lee

Inspirational Pieces

  • "Serving God, Not Men or Women," by Emily Row Prevost
  • "All Are One in Christ Jesus," by Robbie Fox Castleman
  • Other Voices, Quotations on Christian Wisdom

Book Reviews

  • "Women in Ministry: Beyond the Impasse," by Gretchen Ziegenhals
    • James R. Beck, ed., Two Views on Women in Ministry
    • Mark Husbands and Timothy Larson, eds., Women, Ministry and the Gospel: Exploring New Paradigms
    • Sarah Sumner, Men and Women in the Church: Building Consensus on Christian Leadership
  • "What Should We Say about Mary?" by Carole L. Baker
    • Scot McKnight, The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus
    • Beverly Roberts Gaventa and Cynthia L. Rigby, eds., Blessed One: Protestant Perspectives on Mary
    • Tim Perry, Mary for Evangelicals: Toward an Understanding of the Mother of Our Lord

Study Guides and Lesson Plans

 (Download the set of five Study Guides)

  • "Recovering Discarded Images"
  • "Female Preaching in Early Nineteenth-Century America"
  • "Anne Dutton as a Spiritual Director"
  • "The Triumph of the Eye"
  • "What Should We Say about Mary?"

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  • About
    Back
    • Staff
    • Campus Impact
      Back
      • Dr. Bill Sterrett, Hale Endowed Chair of School Leadership
      • Dr. Holly Oxhandler, Professor, Associate Dean for Research, Diana R. Garland School of Social Work
        Back
        • Faith and Learning at Baylor
      • Dr. Larry Lyon, Vice Provost, Dean of the Graduate School
      • Dr. Min Y. Pack, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering
      • Dr. Tom Hibbs, J. Newton Rayzor Sr. Professor of Philosophy and Dean Emeritus
    • Connect with us
  • Conferences and Symposiums
    Back
    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture
      Back
      • 2026 Technology and the Human Person in the Age of AI
        Back
        • Call for Proposals
        • Invited Speakers
      • 2024 Renewing and Reimagining Institutions for the Common Good
        Back
        • Conference Schedule
        • Invited Speakers
        • Photos and Video
        • Conference Volume
      • 2023 Called Together in an Age of Discord
        Back
        • Travel Information
        • Conference Schedule
        • Featured Speakers
      • 2022 Art Seeking Understanding
        Back
        • Conference Schedule
        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
      • 2021 Living Accountably
        Back
        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2019 The Character of the University
        Back
        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2018 Stewardship of Creation
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2017 The Bible and the Reformation
        Back
        • Co-Sponsors
        • Featured Speakers and Panels
        • Video Archive
      • 2016 Higher Learning
        Back
        • Featured Speakers and Panels
        • Video Archive
      • 2015 The Spirit of Sports
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2014 Faith and Film
        Back
        • Video Archive
      • 2013 Kierkegaard: A Christian Thinker for Our Time?
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2012 Technology and Human Flourishing
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2011 Educating for Wisdom in the 21st Century University
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2010 Human Dignity and the Future of Health Care
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2009 Secularization and Revival
        Back
        • Video Archive
      • 2008 Bottom-Up Approaches to Global Poverty
      • 2007 Friendship
    • Baylor Symposium on Nicaea: Creed, Culture, and Christendom
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
      Back
      • Bailey Lecture Video Archive
    • Other Conferences and Events
      Back
      • IFL@25
        Back
        • Select Pictures from IFL@25
      • 2019 LFP National Conference
        Back
        • Presenters
      • Art & Soul
      • Pruit Memorial Symposium
        Back
        • 2001 Celebrating Augustine's Confessions
        • 2002 Christianity and Economics
        • 2003 The Schooled Heart
        • 2004 Slavery, Oppression, and Prejudice
        • 2005 Global Christianity
      • Baylor University Medical Ethics Seminar
        Back
        • 2016 Medical Ethics Seminar
        • 2017 Medical Ethics Seminar
        • 2018 Medical Ethics Seminar
      • One-Time Conferences
  • Programs
    Back
    • Missio
    • Communio: A Retreat for Baylor Educators
    • Crane Scholars Program
      Back
      • Application Requirements
      • Program Activities
      • Program Leaders
      • Media
    • Conyers Scholars
    • Vocare
    • Reading Groups and Guest Speakers
    • Soundings Project
    • Forming Character in the Classroom
      Back
      • About the Program: Called to Character
      • Past Workshops
  • Events
  • Media and Resources
    Back
    • Faith Animating Online Education
      Back
      • Starting Points
      • A Christian Imagination about Online Education?
      • Cultivating Character and Online Learning
      • Additional Resources
    • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture Video Archive
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
    • Recommended Reading
    • External Resources
    • The Christian Reflection Project
      Back
      • Acedia
      • Advent Ethics
      • Aging
      • Anger
      • Apocalyptic Vision
      • Attentive Patience
      • The Book of Acts
      • Caring for Creation
      • Catechism
      • Chastity
      • Children
      • Christianity and Islam
      • Christmas and Epiphany
      • Cities and Towns
      • Cloning
      • Consumerism
      • Death
      • Disability
      • Easter
      • Food and Hunger
      • Forgiveness
      • Freedom
      • Friendship
      • Gambling Culture
      • Generosity
      • Global Wealth
      • Health
      • Heaven and Hell
      • Hospitality
      • Immigration
      • Inklings of Glory
      • Lent
      • The Letter of James
      • Marriage
      • Membership
      • Monasticism Old and New
      • Moral Landscape of Creation
      • Mysticism
      • Parables
      • Patterns of Violence
      • Peace and War
      • Pentecost
      • Pornographic Culture
      • Prayer
      • Prison
      • Prophetic Ethics
      • Racism
      • Sabbath
      • Schools in a Pluralist Culture
      • Scripture
      • Sermon on the Mount
      • Singing Our Lives
      • Sports
      • Suffering
      • Traveling Well
      • Virtual Lives
      • Vocation
      • Where Wisdom Is Found
      • Women and the Church
      • Women in the Bible
      • Work
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