Our Mothers of the Faith
“Well, we know women have been doing biblical interpretation and theology just as long as men have been.” I heard my seminary professor say.
One doesn’t expect to have their world shattered and put back together so quickly on such a plain weekday afternoon.
Could this be true? I thought. Why don’t I know about this?
In the same moment I found the history of my mothers and learned it had been lost to me. I was elated and furious.
I had learned about the Church Fathers. Those great men of history whose influence on the Christian Church was memorized and delighted in by my classmates (this was my signal to know them more than my actual lessons, of course). Why hadn’t I heard about our mothers, too?
A quick review of the index of any popular History of Christianity textbook might lead one to assume women have not made much of a contribution. The lack of women’s names is not representative of their presence. Women flocked to Christianity. Jesus liberated them, delighted in them, traveled and did life with them, and considered them among his disciples.
I was 30 years old before I gave this truth any real consideration. This means I made through three decades, halfway through a Masters degree in theology, and into full time employment as a (yes, female) pastor, without anyone asking me to direct my attention to the legacy women have in the history of Christianity.
I had honestly assumed the women were just not all that great in our history. Perhaps they were along for the ride but occupied with the sort of burdensome chores I had read about in Little House on the Prairie books as a child. Life sounded tough for women in history. I didn’t fault them for not writing anything down or having much written about them. It didn’t even grieve me. Until this moment. It was like instantly missing a sound I had never previously heard. It’s existence had always been but no one ever brought it to my ear.
I had so many questions. Who were they? What were they like?
Did they write, like me? Did they speak, like me?
Did they hesitate, like me? Get nervous? Think they might pass out because they opened their mouth to speak?
Did they question their calling, like me? Receive opposition, like I had?
Could I learn from them how to be more resilient in ministry?
……Did they pray to be relieved of their calling, as I had?
Did they love it, as much as I did? Even when it was hard?
I found resounding yeses. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. They were just like you, and me, and not at all.
Many of them were much smarter and braver than me. They were feisty, obedient, orthodox and sometimes not, gracious, patient, brave. They were real people. They were our history. Our Mothers. There were so many of them; more than I could have imagined.
The truth is women have been faithfully following Jesus since the beginning, even if the textbooks don’t accurately represent their contributions. Throughout history women have been preaching, teaching, leading in the church, translating and interpreting the bible, doing/studying/practicing theology, and making disciples. Just as Jesus liberated them to do.
Women have been called into these roles in their communities since Jesus walked among them calling them by name. I needed to know this. The church needs to know this. Maybe you need to know this, too.
This moment changed everything for me. My prayer is that you, too, will know the history, the examples of our Mothers. May we know them and their stories. May we celebrate them and their contribution to the history of our faith. May their examples, their legacies of love, faithfulness, and discipleship, echo through us and the generations that follow.