Varieties of Evangelical womanhood: Southern Baptists, gender, and American culture

The Southern Baptist controversies, or battles, between conservatives and moderates began in 1979 and continued through the 1990s. In interpreting these years, scholars have focused on historic male-oriented theological and cultural contests. They have subsumed debates concerning gender, particularly women's roles, within conversations on biblical interpretation and church polity. Few have acknowledged women as key players.;In addressing this gap, I drew on textual and field-based research. First, I visited the Woman's Missionary Union's archives, where I explored women's activities within the denomination from its 1845 founding onwards. Next, I combed the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, concentrating on events after 1979. I perused denominational state newspapers, national publications, organizational newsletters and magazines, accounts of the annual convention, select correspondence, and women-related conferences and programs. I also consulted Baylor University's Institute for Oral History, listening to its interviews with conservative male leaders and ordained women.;As for field-based research, I attended nine conferences and retreats held by Southern Baptist-related women's organizations. Several groups had developed in response to the controversies. When possible, I participated in their local branches, and I surveyed members. Finally, I conducted interviews with 23 women. Most had held leadership positions in these organizations during the battles.;My thesis is three-fold. First, Southern Baptist history involved an ongoing tension between a traditionalist understanding and prophetic understanding of evangelical womanhood. While the traditionalist understanding prevailed, at certain transitional moments, the prophetic understanding gained strength. Second, the period after World War II defined one such moment. Namely, a confluence of outside forces penetrated and transformed the South. The introduction of modern scholarship, civil rights, and feminism unleashed historic Southern Baptist tensions. These tensions invoked both ideological debates like inerrancy and cultural ones over race, ethnicity, and gender. Together, they triggered the Southern Baptist battles. But third, as anti-segregationists won the day and inerrancy became increasingly nebulous, gender relations became the final and most tempestuous battleground. Contestations over womanhood trumped other issues in dividing Southern Baptists.;In sum, I argue that amidst sweeping regional change, Southern Baptist men and women searched for order and gender became the decisive weapon in their internal battles.