Holy Mischief: In Honor and Celebration of Women in Ministry
Ebook
Overview
The ELCA has been ordaining women for fifty years. Mindy Makant interviews eighty-five female pastors across the Southeast about their lives as women in ministry in a culture that has been slow to embrace them. This book is their story.
“Mindy Makant tells a powerful story that invites the whole
church to listen to the difficult experiences of women in ministry,
and critically examine the sexism that continues to prevent the
full flourishing of women—both professional and lay—in the church,
and compromises the proclamation of the gospel. The personal
accounts are compelling and disheartening, but in the end there is
hope in the power of the Spirit, who continues to do a new thing
and blow winds of change through the church and society.”
—Kristin Johnston Largen, Editor, Dialog: A Journal of
Theology
“Holy Mischief captures the hardship and joy of being
an ordained woman in the ELCA. The accounts of ministry here and
each chapter’s questions for discussion will inspire fruitful
reflection among book group members, candidacy committees, call
committees, and individual readers. The stories within these
pages—and the storytelling they in turn call forth—will help all of
us to hear and answer God’s persistent call to be the body of
Christ together for the sake of the world.”
—Mary Hinkle Shore, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary,
Lenoir-Rhyne University
“Makant’s research points to the deep hermeneutical and pragmatic
work ahead of Christian churches, whether or not they already
ordain women into ministry. The courageous women’s voices we hear
gird other women who are pastors to speak and call church members
and all forms of leaders to listen, learn, and act—to be
allies.”
—Mary J. Streufert, Director for Justice for Women, Office of the
Presiding Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
“Honest, disturbing, convicting and hopeful reflections gleaned not
in statistics and theory but from the actual experiences of women
in ministry and the judicatory structures they serve in this
Church. As a bishop in this church, I will suggest this compelling
account to all of our parishioners, especially adult faith
formation groups, councils, and call committees.”
—Bishop Tim Smith, NC Synod, ELCA
“Holy Mischief tells truths both difficult and painful
even as it celebrates the persistent strength of ministry and
leadership of women as pastors. This book highlights the voices of
ordained Lutheran women in the American south, whose ministry
powerfully and poignantly grounds the daily work of the church, but
whose ability to carry such power and poignancy is undermined and
questioned at every turn—even by well-meaning allies. Yet Makant
does not leave the reader to despair. Rather she shines a
hope-filled light on the story—a light that she challenges the
church to make more effulgent over the next fifty years.”
—Rev. Dr. Katherine A. Shaner, Lutheran Pastor (ELCA) and Associate
Professor of New Testament, Wake Forest University School of
Divinity
Product Details
- Title : Holy Mischief: In Honor and Celebration of Women in Ministry
- Author: Makant, Mindy
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Publication Date: 2019
- ISBN: 9781532649240
Mindy Makant is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at
Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina, where she also
directs the university’s Living Well Center for Vocation and
Purpose. Makant is the author of The Practice of Story
(2015).