Encyclopedia of American Women and Religion: [2 Volumes]

by June Melby Benowitz

Publisher:

ABC-CLIO

, 2017

This two-volume set examines women's contributions to religious and moral development in America, covering individual women, their faith-related organizations, and women's roles and experiences in the broader social and cultural contexts of their times.

This second edition of Encyclopedia of American Women and Religion provides updated and expanded information from historians and other scholars of religion, covering new issues in religion to better describe and document women's roles within religious groups. For instance, the term "evangelical feminism" is one newly defined aspect of women's involvement in religious activism. Changes are constantly occurring within the many religious faiths and denominations in America, particularly as women strive to gain positions within religious hierarchies that previously were exclusive to men and rise within their denominations to become theologians, church leaders, and bishops.

The entries examine the roles that American women have played in mainstream religious denominations, small religious sects, and non-traditional practices such as witchcraft, as well as in groups that question religious beliefs, including agnostics and atheists. A section containing primary documents gives readers a firsthand look at matters of concern to religious women and their organizations. Many of these documents are the writings of women who merit entries within the encyclopedia. Readers will gain an awareness of women's contributions to religious culture in America, from the colonial era to the present day, and better understand the many challenges that women have faced to achieve success in their religion-related endeavors.

Features

Introduces readers to hundreds of women who became leaders within various religious faiths and denominations, including many who founded religious sects and organizations
Provides an understanding of women's developing roles in American religious culture, which continue to the present day
Enables readers to gain an understanding of the broad range of religions, approaches to religion, and attitudes toward religion in the United States
Documents how life's experiences can shape one's spiritual life and future development
Includes a timeline of the issues facing women that marks changing societal attitudes and individual women's accomplishments across history

Contents

Preface
Chronology
Entries

Abolitionists
Abortion
Ackerman, Paula (1893–1989)
Adler, Margot Susanna (1946–2014)
African Americans
Primary Document: American Anti-Slavery Society: Manifesto (1833)
Aglow International
Aitken, Jane (1764–1832)
American Missionary Association
Amish
Andrews, Barbara (1935–1978)
Andrews, Lynn V. (1945–)
Anti-Semitism
Arendt, Hannah (1906–1975)
Armstrong, Annie Walker (1850–1938)
Ashbridge, Elizabeth Sampson Sullivan (1713–1755)
Asian Americans
Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching
Atheists and Agnostics
Avery, Martha Gallison Moore (1851–1929)
Ayres, Anne (1816–1896)

Bagby, Anne Luther (1859–1942)
Bailey, Alice La Trobe-Bateman (1880–1949)
Baptists
Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston (1831–1919)
Barrett, Kate Harwood Waller (1857–1925)
Bat Mitzvah
Bennett, Belle Harris (1852–1922)
Bennett, Mary Katharine Jones (1864–1950)
Besant, Annie Wood (1847–1933)
Bethune, Mary McLeod (1875–1955)
Biblical Authority and Women's Rights
Primary Document: Sarah Grimké, Letter in Response to the Pastoral Letter of the General Association of Congregational Ministers of Massachusetts (1837)
Birth Control
Blackwell, Annie Walker (1862–1922)
Blackwell, Antoinette Brown (1825–1921)
Black Women in Church and Society
Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna (1831–1891)
Bonney, Mary Lucinda (1816–1900)
Booth, Evangeline Cory (1865–1950)
Booth, Maud Elizabeth Ballington (1865–1948)
Bowles, Eva del Vakia (1875–1943)
Brooks, Nona Lovell (1861–1945)
Brown, Olympia (1835–1926)
Buddhists
Buffalo Bird Woman (1839–1932)
Burleigh, Celia C. (1826–1875)
Burroughs, Nannie Helen (1879–1961)
Butler, Mother Marie Joseph (1860–1940)
Bynum, Juanita (1959–)

Cabot, Laurie (1933–)
Cabrini, Frances Xavier (1850–1917)
Cady, Harriet Emilie (1848–1941)
Caesar, Shirley (1938–)
Calvinism
Cannon, Harriet Starr (1823–1896)
Captivity Sermons
Censorship
Charismatic Movement
Charitable Work
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons)
Church of Scientology
Church of the Nazarene
Church Women United
Clarke, James Freeman (1810–1888)
Clergy
Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion
Comstock, Elizabeth Leslie Rous (1815–1891)
Comstock Law
Concerned Women for America
Congregationalists
Cramer, Malinda Elliott (1844–1906)
Crawford, Florence Louise (1872–1936)
Crosby, Frances Jane (Van Alstyne) (1820–1915)
Cullom Bill
Cully, Iris Virginia Arnold (1914–2010)
Cults
Curtiss, Harriette Augusta (1856–1932)
Cushman, Vera Charlotte Scott (1876–1946)

Daly, Mary (1928–2010)
Day, Dorothy (1897–1980)
Deaconesses
Declaration of Sentiments (1848)
Primary Document: Declaration of Sentiments (1848)
Dickinson, Frances (1755–1830)
Dilling, Elizabeth Kirkpatrick (Stokes) (1894–1966)
Divorce
Dix, Dorothea Lynde (1802–1887)
Drexel, Mary Katharine (1858–1955)
Dunne, Sarah Theresa (1846–1919)
Dyer, Mary Barrett (ca. 1611–1660)

Eaton, Elizabeth A. (1955–)
Ecofeminism
Eddy, Mary Baker (1821–1910)
Edmunds-Tucker Act
Primary Document: Edmunds-Tucker Act (1887)
Eilberg, Amy (1954–)
Eisenstadt v. Baird (1972)
Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803–1882)
Episcopal Church
Equal in Faith
Equal Rights Amendment
Primary Document: Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)
Evangelical Feminism
Evangelicals

Falwell, Jerry Lamon (1933–2007)
Farmer, Sarah Jane (1847–1916)
Fedde, Elizabeth (1850–1921)
Female Hebrew Benevolent Society
Female Moral Reform Society
Feminist Theology
Feminization of American Religion
Fillmore, Myrtle Page (1845–1931)
Finney, Charles Grandison (1792–1875)
Flappers
Flower, Amanda Cameron (1863–1940)
Foote, Julia A. J. (1823–1901)
Forbes, Lilian Stevenson (1869–1945)
Fox, Leah (ca. 1831–1890), Margaret (ca. 1833–1893), and Kate (ca. 1837–1892)
Fox, Selena (1949–)
Frost, Yvonne (1931–)
Fuller, Margaret (1810–1850)
Fundamentalism

Gage, Matilda Joslyn (1826–1898)
Gardener, Helen Hamilton (1853–1925)
Garrison, William Lloyd (1805–1879)
Gates, Susa Amelia Young (1856–1933)
Gaylor, Anne Nicol (1926–2015)
Girl Evangelists
Gratz, Rebecca (1781–1869)
Great Awakening
Primary Document: Jonathan Edwards: "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741)
Grimké, Angelina Emily (1805–1879)
Grimké, Sarah Moore (1792–1873)
Primary Document: Sarah Grimké: Letters on the Equality of the Sexes (1838)
Gross, Rita (1943–2015)

Hadassah
Hanaford, Phebe Ann Coffin (1829–1921)
Handfasting
Harkness, Georgia Elma (1891–1974)
Harris, Barbara Clementine (1930–)
Hassan, Riffat (1943–)
Healy, Eliza (1846–1918)
Heck, Barbara Ruckle (1734–1804)
Henderlite, Rachel (1905–1991)
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth (1823–1911)
Hirsi Ali, Ayaan (1969–)
Hispanics/Latinas
Holiness Movement
Hopkins, Emma Curtis (1849–1925)
Howe, Julia Ward (1819–1910)
Primary Document: Julia Ward Howe, "Battle Hymn of the Republic" (1861)
Hutchinson, Anne Marbury (1591–1643)

International Association of Women Ministers

Jackson, Mahalia (1911–1972)
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance
Jewish Women International
Jews
Johnson, Sonia Harris (1936–)
Judson, Ann Hasseltine (1789–1826)
Judson, Emily Chubbuck (1817–1854)
Judson, Sarah Hall Boardman (1803–1845)

Ka'ahumanu (1768–1832)
Kapi'olani (ca. 1781–1841)
Kelly, Leontine Turpeau Current (1920–2012)
King, Coretta Scott (1927–2006)
Kohler, Rose (1873–1947)
Kohut, Rebekah Bettelheim (1864–1951)
Kugler, Anna Sarah (1856–1930)
Kuhlman, Kathryn (1907–1976)

LaHaye, Beverly Jean (1929–)
Lathrop, Rose Hawthorne (1851–1926)
Lazarus, Emma (1849–1887)
Lee, Ann (1736–1784)
Lee, Gloria (Byrd) (1926–1962)
Lee, Jarena (1783–?)
Lincoln (Mowry), Salome (1807–1841)
Livermore, Harriet (1788–1868)
Livermore, Mary Ashton Rice (1820–1905)
Lowry, Edith Elizabeth (1897–1970)
Lutheran Church
Lyman, Mary Redington Ely (1887–1975)
Lyon, Mary (1797–1849)

MacLaine, Shirley (1934–)
Mallory, Kathleen Moore (1879–1954)
Marshall (LeSourd), Sarah Catherine Wood (1914–1983)
Matthews, Ann Teresa (1732–1800)
Matthews, Marjorie Swank (1916–1986)
McBeth, Sue (1830–1893)
McFague, Sallie (TeSelle) (1933–)
McIntosh, Martha E. (Bell) (1848–1922)
McPherson, Aimee Semple (1890–1944)
Mears, Henrietta Cornelia (1890–1963)
Mennonites
Messner, Tammy Faye (1942–2007)
Methodists
Meyer, Joyce (1943–)
Meyer, Lucy Jane Rider (1849–1922)
Militz, Annie Rix (1856–1924)
Ministers' Wives
Missionaries
Missionary Societies
Modesto, Ruby E. (1913–1980)
Moise, Mary (1850–1930)
Montgomery, Carrie Judd (1858–ca. 1946)
Montgomery, Helen Barrett (1861–1934)
Moon, Lottie (1840–1912)
Moore, Joanna Patterson (1832–1916)
Mott, Lucretia Coffin (1793–1880)
Mountain Wolf Woman (1884–1960)
Mount Holyoke College
Muslims

Nathan, Maud (1862–1946)
Nation, Carry Amelia Moore (1846–1911)
National Black Sisters' Conference
National Council of Catholic Women
National Council of Jewish Women
Native Americans
Primary Document: Tenkswataya: System of Religion Speech (1808)
Nerinckx, Charles (1761–1824)
New Thought Movement
Nichols, Mary Sargeant Neal Gove (1810–1884)
Noyes, John Humphrey (1811–1886)

Oblate Sisters of Providence
O'Connor, Flannery (1925–1964)
O'Hair, Madalyn Mays Murray (1919–1995)
Oneida Community (1848–1881)
Orthodox Churches
Osborn, Sarah Haggar Wheaten (1714–1796)
Owen, Robert Dale (1801–1877)

Packard, Sophia Betsey (1824–1891)
Palmer, Phoebe Worrall (1807–1874)
Parker, Theodore (1810–1860)
Pastoral Letter of 1837
Primary Document: Pastoral Letter of the General Association of Massachusetts, June 28 (1837)
Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities
Peabody, Lucy Whitehead McGill Waterbury (1861–1949)
Peace Movements
Penrose, Romania Pratt (1839–1932)
Pentecostals
Perfectionist Movement
Philadelphia 11
Piccard, Jeannette Ridlon (1895–1981)
Platz, Elizabeth Alvina (1941–)
Presbyterian Church
Priesand, Sally Jane (1946–)
Promise Keepers/Praise Keepers
Prophet, Elizabeth Clare (1939–2009)
Pugh, Sarah (1800–1884)
Puritans

Qoyawayma, Polingaysi (1892–1990)

Reform Movements
Regan, Agnes Gertrude (1869–1943)
Richmond, Cora Lodencia Veronica Scott (1840–1923)
Roberson, Lizzie Woods (1860–1945)
Robertson, Ann Eliza Worcester (1826–1905)
Robinson, Ida Bell (1891–1946)
Rogers, Aurelia Spencer (1834–1922)
Rogers, Mary Josephine (1882–1955)
Roman Catholics
Roman Catholic Women Priests
Roman Catholic Women's Orders (Nuns)
Rose, Ernestine Louise Sismondi Potowski (1810–1892)
Ruether, Rosemary Radford (1936–)

Salem Witch Trials
Primary Document: Gloria Steinem: Scholars, Witches, and Other Freedom Fighters Speech (1993)
Salvation Army
Sampson, Deborah (1760–1827)
Sanapia (1895–1984?)
Sasaki, Ruth Fuller Everett (1892–1967)
Sasso, Sandy Eisenberg (1947–)
Schechter, Mathilde Roth (1859–1924)
Schlafly, Phyllis Stewart (1924–2016)
School Prayer
Primary Document: Engel v. Vitale (1962)
Primary Document: Lee v. Weisman (1992)
Scudder, Vida Dutton (1861–1954)
Second Great Awakening
Second Vatican Council
Segale, Rosa Maria (1850–1941)
Seton, Elizabeth Ann Bayley (1774–1821)
Settlement House Movement
Primary Document: Jane Addams: "Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements" (Excerpt) (1892)
Shakers (United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Coming)
Shaw, Anna Howard (1847–1919)
Siddiqui, Aafia (1972–)
Sisters of Loretto at the Foot of the Cross
Smith, Amanda Berry (1837–1915)
Smith, Emma Hale (1804–1879)
Smith, Hannah Whitall (1832–1911)
Snow, Eliza Roxey (Smith) (1804–1887)
Social Gospel Movement
Society of Friends (Quakers)
Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross
Solares, Maria (1842–1923)
Solomon, Hannah Greenebaum (1858–1942)
Southard, Mabel Madeline (1877–1967)
Spalding, Eliza Hart (1807–1851)
Spiritualism
Stanton, Elizabeth Cady (1815–1902)
Starbuck, Mary Coffin (1645–1717)
Starhawk (Miriam Simos) (1951–)
Starr, Eliza Allen (1824–1901)
Stetson, Augusta Emma Simmons (1842–1928)
Stewart, Maria W. (1803–1879)
Sunday School Movement
Szold, Henrietta (1860–1945)

Tate, Mary Magdalena Lewis (1871–1930)
Tekakwitha, Kateri (ca. 1656–1680)
Temperance Movement
ten Boom, Corrie (1892–1983)
Theologians
Theosophy
Towne, Elizabeth Lois Jones (1865–1961)
Transcendentalism
Truth, Sojourner (ca. 1797–1883)
Primary Document: Akron Convention: Resolutions (1851)
Tubman, Harriet Ross (ca. 1820–1913)

Unitarians/Universalists
Ursulines
Utley, Uldine Mabelle (1912–1995)
Utopian Communities

Van Cott, Margaret Newton (1830–1914)

Wadud, Amina (1952–)
Warde, Frances Teresa (1810–1884)
Weakland, Betty (1916–2007)
Wedel, Cynthia Clark (1908–1986)
White, Alma Bridwell (1862–1946)
White, Anna (1831–1910)
White, Ellen Gould Harmon (1827–1915)
Whitman, Narcissa Prentiss (1808–1847)
Wicca
Wilcox, Ella Wheeler (1850–1919)
Wilkinson, Jemima (1752–1819)
Willard, Frances Elizabeth Caroline (1839–1898)
Witchcraft
Wittenmyer, Annie Turner (1827–1900)
Woman, Church and State (1893)
The Woman's Bible (1895, 1898)
Primary Document: Elizabeth Cady Stanton: The Woman's Bible (1898)
Woman's Christian Temperance Union
Woman's Missionary Union
Woman Suffrage
Women's Home and Foreign Mission Society
Women's League for Conservative Judaism
Women's Missionary and Service Commission of the Mennonite Church
Women's Missionary Society of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
Women's Sphere
Women's Studies
Woodhull, Victoria Claflin (1838–1927)
Primary Document: Victoria Woodhull: "And the Truth Shall Make You Free" Speech (Excerpts) (1871)
Woodworth-Etter, Maria Beulah Underwood (1844–1924)
Wright, Frances (1795–1852)
Wynkoop, Mildred Olive Bangs (1905–1997)

Young Women's Christian Association
Young Women's Hebrew Association

Zell-Ravenheart, Morning Glory (1948–2014)

Bibliography
About the Author
Index

Praise for Encyclopedia of American Women and Religion

This two-volume work is useful, as there are so few references that cover American women and religion for nonspecialist readers.

For academic researchers, especially graduates and undergraduates in women's or religious studies, these clearly written and impressively wide-ranging volumes are of particular interest.

[T]he easy-to-read prose and wealth of sources documented makes this a worthy expenditure for colleges, universities, and seminaries with courses on American history, women, and religious studies.

Public, academic, and seminary libraries supporting study of American religion are advised to update their holdings with this second edition. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels of students through researchers/faculty; general readers.

This second edition includes new information from more recent sources and contains about three dozen new essays based on research into a significantly larger number of original materials than those in the first edition. . . . Recommended.

Product Details

• Title: Encyclopedia of American Women and Religion: [2 Volumes]
• Author: June Melby Benowitz
• Publisher: ABC-CLIO
• Print Publication Date: 2017
• Logos Release Date: 2024
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBN: 9798216047568
• Resource ID: LLS:9798216047568
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-11T17:07:35Z

About the Author

June Melby Benowitz, PhD, is associate professor of history at University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee.