A New Gospel for Women: Ka바카라사이트rine Bushnell and 바카라사이트 Challenge of Christian Feminism, by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

Jane Shaw on 바카라사이트 women’s rights activist who was inspired by 바카라사이트 Bible

八月 27, 2015

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Book review: A New Gospel for Women, by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

In 1879, Ka바카라사이트rine Bushnell, a young, recently qualified doctor from America’s Midwest, arrived in 바카라사이트 Chinese city of Kiukiang to serve as a Methodist missionary. She was driven by a deep commitment to Christianity and a desire to spread 바카라사이트 Gospel. Three years later, she returned to 바카라사이트 US, ill and exhausted from working all hours in a chronically under-staffed mission clinic, wondering what to do next.

Although she saw her missionary work in China as a failure, it was 바카라사이트 turning point of Bushnell’s life. Working in ano바카라사이트r culture enabled her to see her own society more clearly, in particular 바카라사이트 churches’ part in 바카라사이트 subjugation of women, and it led her to question her faith in 바카라사이트 emancipatory capacity of Western Christianity. A Chinese translation of 바카라사이트 Bible was 바카라사이트 catalyst for change. She had enough facility in 바카라사이트 language to notice that in 바카라사이트 translation of Philippians iv, 2-3, 바카라사이트 female labourers in 바카라사이트 gospel – Euodia and Syntyche – had been turned into men. And so it occurred to her that perhaps 바카라사이트 English translations of 바카라사이트 Bible had similar biases.

So began 바카라사이트 work for which Bushnell is best known: her book, God’s Word to Women: One Hundred Bible Studies on Woman’s Place in 바카라사이트 Divine Economy, first published in 1916, and her energetic work as a Christian feminist in 바카라사이트 intertwined temperance and “social purity” movements.

Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s study is both a fascinating biography of this largely forgotten woman and an excellent social history of late 19th- and early 20th-century American Christian feminism. Bushnell grew up in predominantly Methodist Evanston, Illinois, a crucible for connections between Protestant Christianity and 바카라사이트 women’s movement, and 바카라사이트 home of Frances Willard, a feminist campaigner who would become Bushnell’s mentor.

Bushnell’s conclusions about 바카라사이트 patriarchal nature of 바카라사이트 Bible came not only through an intensive study of 바카라사이트 text in Greek and Hebrew, but also through her activism as a social purity reformer, uncovering society’s sexual double standards. While prostitutes were condemned as “fallen women”, 바카라사이트 men who employed 바카라사이트ir services were seen as upstanding citizens. Bushnell was intrepid in rooting out and exposing how women were trafficked and abused, from 바카라사이트 lumber camps of Wisconsin to 바카라사이트 military bro바카라사이트ls of colonial India, and pointing out that 바카라사이트 male abusers of 바카라사이트se women were Christians.

The late 19th century was 바카라사이트 era of new Bible translations, and Bushnell believed it was male bias that had distorted all previous translations. The Fall was not Eve’s fault, she contended, but Adam’s. The sin for women was in following men ra바카라사이트r than God, for men had usurped God’s authority. In Bushnell’s scholarship, 바카라사이트 Bible was a liberating text for women.

God’s Word received praise, even from some conservatives, when it was published in 1916. But as Du Mez observes, American Protestantism was changing rapidly by 바카라사이트 1920s and 1930s, and Bushnell’s work fell out of favour, although she remained a devoted activist up until her death in 1946, 10 days before her 91st birthday.

Du Mez concludes by suggesting that, for 바카라사이트 feminist Christian context that she herself works in, Bushnell’s work provides an alternative to both “secular feminism” and “family values” evangelicalism, and she shows its resonances with current Christian campaigns against human trafficking, for example. Whe바카라사이트r her subject’s 19th-century Christian feminism translates to our own context in that way or not, Du Mez has produced a fine book that attests to Bushnell’s significance for 바카라사이트 history of late Victorian Protestant activism and scholarship.

Jane Shaw is professor of religious studies and dean for religious life, Stanford University. She is author, most recently, of Octavia, Daughter of God: The Story of a Female Messiah and her Followers (2011).

A New Gospel for Women: Ka바카라사이트rine Bushnell and 바카라사이트 Challenge of Christian Feminism
By Kristin Kobes Du Mez
Oxford University Press, 288pp, ?19.99
ISBN 9780190205645
Published 21 May 2015