Religious Studies
ESSAYS
1. The Emergence of Evangelicalism in the Mid-Eighteenth Century
2. Commentary on 'Woman's mission' by J.A. James (1852)
The emergence and growth of
Evangelicalism, cannot be divorced from its cultural context. The power of this
phenomenon was its ability to challenge, change and modify religious, social and
cultural norms of the day whilst being rooted in those structures. As David
Hempton points out there was a 'symbiotic relationship' between Evangelicalism
and the surrounding culture. (1)
However, there was a striking
contrast between the gradual emergence of Evangelicalism in the mid-eighteenth
century and its rapid growth throughout all Protestant denominations from the
1790s.
Whilst acknowledging that there can be no single explanation for this complex
phenomenon which emerged at the same time in various geographical areas and
against a background of different social and cultural contexts, this essay will
examine the message and methods of John Wesley in particular. The ways in which
he engaged with religious norms of the day allowing new individual, religious
and community identities to be forged will provide a partial explanation as to
the popularity and gradualism of early Evangelicalism. Like the Bible which
underpinned it, the movement contained within itself the potential to legitimate
a radical challenge to existing structures or a means by which those structures
could be defended. It was this potential to be both radical and conservative
which allowed Evangelicalism to take hold and grow into a powerful national
force beginning in the 1790s when the nation felt the external threat of the
French Revolution followed by a war with France, whilst at the same time
experiencing the internal social and economic upheavals of the Industrial
Revolution.
John Wesley was only one of several men who, in the 1730s, experienced
intense spiritual conversions compelling them to lives of religious activism. He
was a man both prepared and searching for such a conversion. The Puritan legacy
inherited from his mother had exposed him to the literature of the Dissenting
tradition his mentor being the seventeenth century dissenting Divine, Richard
Baxter. He understood the doubt and soul-searching which was part of this
Calvinist tradition. Being an ordained member of the Anglican Church who
belonged to the intellectual community at Oxford University in the 1730s, he had
also been exposed to the ideas of the Enlightenment including the empiricism of
John Locke whereby knowledge was believed to be derived from experience rather
than deduced from elaborate systems of thought. In the Preface to his
Forty-Four Sermons John Wesley wrote that he had 'endeavoured to describe
the true, the scriptural, experimental religion...'(2)
The emergence of Methodism which was
crucial in the development of Evangelicalism in the mid-eighteenth century,
resulted from an interaction between men nurtured in the 'Holy Clubs' of the
High Church tradition, internal developments within the existing religious
framework and outside factors. The assurance of salvation and piety of the
Moravians, expelled Protestant refugees from Europe, influenced men like Wesley
who were the product of both older and more recent intellectual and religious
traditions. As Bebbington points out, the assurance that one was saved following
the conversion experience was a major departure from the more gloomy doubt of
Dissent and allowed Wesley and others to preach a confident message.
(3)
This Arminian message of
salvation for all even began to temper the Calvinism of the Dissenting
tradition.
The emergence of Evangelicalism owed much of its success to Wesley's
functional methods in targeted communities. Between 1749 and 1788 he visited
Devon and Cornwall twenty-six times. He recognised the difficulties of
establishing Methodism in rural areas where the local squire and parson
powerfully influenced the tenant farming communities. He therefore targeted open
parishes and towns where workmen were self-supporting. The dock-workers at
Devonport grew to be the largest Wesleyan Society in Devon. By 1778
cloth-workers of the Cullompton Society boasted one hundred and one members.
North Molton with its copper mines and woollen mill became a base for later
developments in North Devon. (4)
Lay men and women played a crucial
role in the functional organisations implemented by Wesley. By 1740 Methodism
had an organised connection, leaders, preachers and annual conference. Yet this
was a movement not a church. Wesley's intention was to deepen the spirituality
of existing Anglican and dissenting church members. 'Their public preaching and
private meetings are at such times on Sundays as do not interfere with the
regular hours of worship in other congregations, professedly with the design of
being useful to persons of all denominations'. (5).
This method of public or
field-preaching and private house and class meeting had the result of producing
Methodist societies which were seed-beds of the later Methodist Church plus many
'hearers' who were thus prepared to give a greater commitment at a later stage
when other factors came into play. As stressed by both Luker (6)and Hempton (7)attention should always be given
to the specifically regional character of Evangelicalism. The role of local lay
preachers and active members at a local level meant that societies reflected a
specific regional identity.
Walsh points out that Wesley acted as a cultural broker between elite and
popular culture. (8)
Outdoor preaching in simple
language and the singing of hymns presented 'plain truth for plain
people...abstaining from all philosophical speculation'. (9)John's brother Charles had
experienced his conversion shortly before John and in 1737 began his prolific
output of hymns. From the very beginning the collection of hymns used by
Methodists included those from earlier traditions of the Established Church and
Dissent. The movement that was 'born in song' communicated a Methodist creed in
a form which was both entertainment and popular expression of religious zeal.
Although Methodism had taken root in particular communities it had made
little impact on either Old Dissent or Anglicanism in terms of increased
membership. It was during the 1790s that several important elements came
together disseminating the influence of Evangelicalism throughout society. By
1790 the Methodist Church was a separate denomination in its own right. In the
decade following the death of Wesley, Methodism grew rapidly becoming both more
conservative and centralised whilst at the same time experiencing schism and
thereby continuing to accommodate a more popular and challenging membership. The
Old Dissent had by this time 'downgraded' its more rigid Calvinism and was
therefore more theologically prepared for Evangelical revival. Also certain
members of the Church of England brought to bear the experience of
Evangelicalism on the moral, social and political circumstances of the day
giving it a legitimacy which allowed it to develop from its popular roots to
include the respectable classes. In a decade when the internal effects of the
Industrial Revolution were rapidly changing the demographic and social make-up
of the population and the French Revolution followed by war with France
presented an external threat to the existing order, Evangelicalism was able to
encompass the hopes and aspiration of society by giving a sense of solidarity
whilst at the same time challenging moral laxness of all classes within a
legitimate framework.
In the 1780s William Wilberforce, and the group which gathered around him,
later to become known as the 'Clapham Sect', did much to bring together the
moral, social and political ideals of active Evangelicalism. Like Wesley, he too
experienced a spiritual conversion which set him off on a moral and political
crusade in an attempt to make Britain a Christian nation better able to
withstand both internal and external threatening influences. The Doctrine of
Original Sin applied to all people whether rich or poor and Wilberforce, through
the political arena, was able to publicly claim the high moral ground for
Evangelicalism: '...all attempts will be fruitless to sustain, much less revive,
our waning moral standard unless we can also restore the prevalence of
evangelical Christianity'. (10)
The 'Clapham Sect' demonstrated the
pragmatic activism of an Evangelical faith, being a small energetic and dynamic
group living and working in close proximity who became involved in the moral,
political and religious issues of the day. Charles Simeon, Vicar of Holy
Trinity, Cambridge, from 1783 - 1846, the intellectual mentor of generations of
Evangelicals, had close ties with the 'Clapham Sect', John Venn, an ardent
Evangelical, becoming rector of Clapham in 1792. Later in 1817 Simeon created a
trust to 'purchase the rights of patronage' (11) which would secure a succession
of Evangelical clergy. Hannah More in the 1790s was given financial support by
the Government to publish and circulate Evangelical tracts in which the rich
were reminded of their obligations to the poor who in turn were reminded of
their duties within society. Zachary Macaulay acted as secretary for numerous
groups which the 'Clapham Sect' instituted publicising their work in journals.
Common ground was found between Evangelicals of all denominations based on
principles derived from a deeper study and dissemination of Biblical knowledge.
By 1800 the Evangelicals within the Church of England were an organised and
influential group. Wilberforce and his group had synthesised the moral, social,
political and religious elements of the day.
Although men like Wilberforce made Evangelicalism respectable it would appear
that within Anglican strongholds of developing rural areas it was still creating
social and religious divisions in the 1830s. Both Fanny Trollope in The Vicar
of Wrexhill and George Eliot in Janet's Repentance depict families
and communities torn apart by the introduction of Evangelical teachings within
the Anglican Church.
The rapid growth of Evangelicalism in the 1790s was most noticeable in
branches of the Old Dissent and Methodism. At the same time as Methodism lost
its powerful leader, social changes resulting from the accelerating pace of the
Industrial Revolution, and political tensions due to fears of events in France
spreading to Britain, produced a reaction in Britain. Demographic changes along
with the increasing respectability of a growing middle class impinged on
religious sensibilities.
The rapid growth of non-conformist Evangelicalism must take into account both
national and local considerations. At the same time as it was recognised by the
political and religious Establishment that political regeneration could only be
effected by a moral and religious regenerations it was also apparent to those
both inside and outside the Anglican Church that alone it was in no position to
effect that change. On the other hand the growing respectability of a
middle-class Methodism with its increasingly centralised and bureaucratic
structures along with the Old Dissent reluctant to lose their privileges,
resisted challenges to the existing order by expelling radicals, thus becoming a
valuable stabilising force in society.
The expulsion of radicals produced schism which varied between regions,
highlighting the diverse influences which social and political contexts had on
Evangelicalism. In Ireland the radical challenge came from Roman Catholicism,
not from an Evangelicalism bound up with Established Protestantism. Those
challenging Methodist structures were expelled and were in no position to set up
an Evangelical radical alternative whereas in mainland Britain the first schism
of 1797 resulted in the Methodist New Connexion which allowed a popular branch
of Evangelicalism to flourish particularly amongst the growing lower/middle
classes. So at the same time as centralised Weslyan Methodism grew in the 1790s
amongst the emerging middle classes so did the more popular schismatics offer an
alternative area for religious growth.
Various Evangelical religious denominations offered a sense of identity,
self-discipline and solidarity amongst members. Two examples will show how this
differed at a local level. Belper in Derbyshire, a town which had developed from
an insignificant village as a result of the Industrial Revolution, saw a rapid
growth of Wesleyan and Primitive Methodism between 1790 and 1825. Although the
entrepreneurial Strutts, who had been responsible for industrial developments in
the town, were liberal Unitarians, they recognised the self-discipline,
self-respect in the dignity of labour and sobriety of the Methodists. Whilst not
wanting to discourage a life-style beneficial to industrial production they
still financed the building of an expensive Anglican Church which 'dwarfed its
Dissenting rivals' (12)
demonstrating the bounds in
which dissent could legitimately exist.
Cornwall, being geographically isolated, had developed a syncretic Methodism
which had built on local folkloric traditions. It was a truly popular religion
through which local communities could express religious and social sentiments.
Being isolated the leadership was drawn mainly from the local area as few
itinerant ministers were prepared to live in this outlandish county. The local
chapels served as both social and religious centres. Jabez Bunting called the
Cornish Methodists 'the mob of Methodism'. (13)
In 1799 after five years of gradual consolidation membership rapidly increased and 'a number of revivals
burst from the confines of Methodist chapels to become eminently popular and
public'. (14)
It was this membership who at the same time were experiencing economic uncertainties regarding the future of the copper mines. Following recovery during the 1790s the House of Commons
threatened to control the price of copper by regulating duty on imported ore. In
Evangelical Methodism the Cornish mining communities found a legitimate forum
through which to challenge external threats to their traditional culture and
social and economic livelihoods whilst at the same time affirming their own
distinctive Evangelical identity.
The emergence of Evangelicalism and its gradual consolidation during the
second half of the eighteenth century owed much to the energetic pragmatism of
men like John Wesley. The spiritual message of hope and confidence whereby all
men and women could experience salvation through faith in God's saving grace
shown in the atoning death of Christ on the Cross, deepened the spirituality of
some within both the Old Dissent and Established Church. Taking the message
outside the confines of church buildings and empowering lay participation
ensured that the Evangelical movement would be culturally rooted at a local and
popular level.
From the 1790s Evangelicalism was given a respectability through the efforts
of men and women from the upper echelons of society who saw in the Evangelical
message a morality which could bind all sections of society together during a
time of rapid social and economic change and external threats from France, an
example of a country experiencing social upheaval as a result of rejecting
Christian teachings. Alongside the respectable and conservative element,
Evangelicalism continued to offer an outlet for popular religious zeal. Schism
allowed religious communities to develop and grow whereby radical religious and
social comment could be made. These popular movements, grounded in specific
cultural contexts with local and lay influence continued to offer an outlet for
a genuinely popular Evangelicalism.
NOTES
| 1. David Hempton |
Evangelicalism in English
and Irish Society, 1780 - 1840 Evangelicals, Women and Community - Offprints Collection. The Open University 1994 reprint 1995. p.25. |
| 2. John
Wesley |
Forty-Four Sermons, The Epworth Press 1944 edition, p. vi. |
| 3. David
Bebbington |
Evangelicalism in Modern
Britain, Routledge 1993, Ch. 2 Knowledge of the Lord. |
| 4. Michael
Wickes ed. |
John Wesley in Devon 1739
- 1789, Michael Wickes 1985. pp.11/13/14 |
| 5. ibid., p.2f. | |
| 6. David
Luker |
Revivalism in theory and
practice: the case of Cornish Methodism - Offprints Collection, O.U. 1995 p. 32. |
| 7. David
Hempton |
Evangelicalism in English
and Irish Society, 1780 - 1840 Offprints Collection, O.U. 1995 p. 25. |
| 8. John
Walsh |
Cassette Interview with
John Walsh/John Wolffe Cassette 1 Side 2, The Open University 1995 |
| 9. John Wesley | Forty-Four Sermons, Epworth Press 1944, p.v. |
| 10. William
Wilberforce |
"Practical View" in John
Wolffe (ed) Evangelicals, Women and Community in Nineteenth-century
Britain, The Open University 1994 p. 31. |
| 11. David Bebbington | Evangelicals in Modern Britain, Routledge 1993 p. 32. |
| 12. David
Hempton |
Evangelicalism in English
and Irish Society, 1780 - 1840 Offprints Collection, O.U. 1995 p. 20. |
| 13. David
Luker |
Revivalism in theory and
practice: the case of Cornish Methodism - Offprints Collection, O.U. 1995 p. 32. |
| 14. ibid., p. 34. |
BIBLIOGRAPHY
| David Bebbington |
Evangelicalism in Modern
Britain - A history from the 1730s to the 1980s. Routledge. 1993.
Available from Amazon ISBN 0415104645 Price £20.99 |
| George Elliot |
Scenes of Clerical Life.
Penquin. 1985. Available from Amazon: Ed. Jennifer Gribble Penguin 1999 - ISBN 0140436383 - £7.99 Ed. Thomas A. Noble - Oxford Paperbacks 1988 - ISBN 0192817868 - £3.99. Everyman Paperbacks 1994 - ISBN 0460874632 - £3.99. |
| E. M. Howse |
Saints in politics - the
'Clapham Sect' and the growth of freedom.George Allen & Unwin.
1953 Reprint 1973. |
| Fanny Trollope | The Vicar of Wrexhill. Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd. 1996. |
| John Wesley | Forty - Four Sermons. The Epworth Press. 1944 |
| M. Wickes (ed) |
John Wesley in Devon 1739 - 1789. Michael Wickes. 1985. |
| J. Wolffe (selected)
|
Evangelicals, Women and Community in Nineteenth - Century Britain Offprint Collection. The Open University. 1994. |
| J. Wolffe (prepared)
|
Evangelicals, Women and
Community in Nineteenth - Century Britain Study Guide. The Open University. 1994. The Modernist Hymn Book. London Methodist Conference Office. 1933. |
COMMENTARY ON 'WOMEN'S MISSION'
IN
FEMALE PIETY OR THE YOUNG WOMEN'S FRIEND AND GUIDE THROUGH
LIFE TO IMMORTALITY
by J.A. James (1852)
John Angell James, the minister of Carrs Lane Independent Church since 1804,
was a powerful preacher who, during the first half of the nineteenth century,
influenced and inspired his growing lower-middle class congregation, defining
roles and relationships of both male and female members of the church. As an
Evangelical minister he takes the Bible as his supreme authority and through it
legitimises the subordination of women. Whilst acknowledging the spiritual
equality of women he also stresses their social subordination to men, and in his
sermon on Female Piety, of 1852, he takes great pains to define 'their
place' in the home. It would appear that James at this time felt the need to
reinforce this prescription for women through the persuasive vehicle of
religious preaching. He briefly passes over unmarried women and those of the
working classes, concentrating on the ideal state of marriage and domestic bliss
for middle-class women, as represented in his own congregation. Whether these
exhortations to Evangelical women in the mid-nineteenth century reflected the
reality of the lives of Evangelical women in the earlier part of the century can
only be ascertained by setting James's sermon in a wider social context, at the
same time drawing on evidence beyond the stereotypical middle-class picture
drawn by James.
The early part of the nineteenth century saw male and female identities being
redefined against a background of industrial change. For many, the workplace was
relocated outside the home which ceased to provide accommodation for family and
workers involved in the home-based industry. At the same time as women were
marginalised from production the Evangelical message dignified the labour of men
reflecting the growing gap between job opportunities for men and women. For an
expanding middle-class the home was to become a sanctuary where the 'provider'
could return after a hard day's work, to find peace and companionship within his
family circle. Thus separation of workplace and home created the public and
private spheres, the former considered to be the domain of men and the latter
being the sphere occupied by women. 'Consulting the infallible oracle of
Scripture', (1)
James finds that in Genesis God
created woman '...to be a suitable help-mate for that one man' and consequently
the ideal state for woman is marriage and the 'home is the proper scene of
woman's action and influence...the sphere of wedded woman's mission'.
(2)
Eve being designed exclusively for
Adam's comfort demonstrates God's divine law for all women. James stresses the
many female attributes which make women eminently suitable for their role as
companion and helpmeet to their husbands. Although he speaks highly of woman in
the domestic sphere depriving her of no 'a single honour that belongs to her
sex' as 'instructress of her children, the companion of her husband, and queen
consort of the domestic state'(3)
he nevertheless remains 'head of
woman in the domestic economy'. (4)
James does allow though that the
woman should be respected. However, there is an ambiguity in his analysis of
woman. At the same time as she continues to carry the responsibility for the
fall of man, she also acts as the guardian of morality. Through her influence
within the home and role as educator and nurturer her female children will
become future guardians of the sacred sphere whilst the male offspring will
diffuse morality, learned from their mothers, throughout the public world.
James's depiction of domesticated bliss created by middle-class women for
their husbands was reflected in many novels written of the early nineteenth
century. George Eliot in Amos Barton portrays Milly Barton as a woman
tied to the home, ensuring that Amos has every comfort provided for him when
returning from both work and pleasure. He is not to be disturbed by children,
household concerns, personal worries or mundane domestic tasks. Elizabeth
Gaskell had to fit her writing around domestic duties whereas her husband
William could shut himself in his study in order to have private space in which
to work. This suggests that Evangelical cultural ideals went beyond
Evangelicalism. William Gaskell was the minister at the Cross Street Unitarian
Chapel in Manchester.
Middle-class Evangelical women were likely to welcome a mission which
enhanced the quality of life for themselves and their family whilst being
underpinned by Scriptural injunction. Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna, an Anglican
Evangelical, writing in The Wrongs of Women in 1843 criticises the
"oppression that actually FORBIDS the woman of a Christian land to be 'a keeper
at home', to 'rule the house', to adorn herself with 'shamefacedness and
sobriety', or to fulfil even the most sacred duties of a mother to her own baby
offspring". (5)
She points out the differing
circumstances of those middle-class women who have the benefits of living the
ideal respectable life as prescribed by James and those forced to work for
factory owners who benefit from employing women at cheap rates.
In the early nineteenth century the home remained the work-base for many men
and women particularly in the rural communities. In Domesticity and survival
Deborah Valenze depicts the home as a sacred sphere but unlike James this
was in no way separate from the larger community. The portrayal of women as
strong and dynamic with a 'Cottage Religion' and the community is vastly
different from that drawn by James.
'That woman was intended to occupy a position of subordination and
dependence, is clear enough from every part of the Word of God'. (6)
James then goes on to quote from
Genesis in the Old Testament and Corinthians in the New. 'Thy desire shall be to
thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.' 'I would have you know, that the head
of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man.' God through
nature has given woman the instinct for subordination without which subjection
would intolerable. Elizabeth Tonna too based her ideas of subordination on the
'Adam and Eve' story claiming the 'we had better refrain from speculating on the
subject of her supposed equality with man'. (7)
As a child playing alongside her
brother she had recognised the superiority of the male sex. '...it was to give
me a high sense of that superiority, with a habit of deference to man's judgment
and submission to man's authority, which I am quite sure God intended the woman
to yield.' (8)
In contrast Evangelical women of sectarian Methodism, as depicted by Valenze
in the 'Cottage Religion' of rural England, often occupied a central and dynamic
role within both community and home. Modelling themselves on women from the Old
Testament, who laboured for God alongside their husbands, they were often the
'mainstay of the family'. (9)
Hannah Yeomans the dominant
marriage partner opened her home to visiting preachers who she would introduce
to the community. Elizabeth Gorse Gaunt of Derbyshire, labourer, mother and
wife, became 'a maternal pastor so special to cottage religion.' (10)
The social, economic and family
context for these women was quite different from the congregation to which James
preached. Valenze makes a good point in noting that women occupied a less
subordinate role prior to the separation of the public and private spheres.
The lives of some lower-class Evangelical women in growing industrial cities
also gives us a different picture of woman's mission to that described by James.
Ann Carr, along with female assistants, separated from the Primitive Methodists
to become 'Female Revivalists'. They felt called to minister to their sisters
working in the textile industries. In 1825 and 1826 two chapels were built in
the Leylands and in Brewery Field, Holbeck and a Friendly Society established.
(11).
Yet James's exhortation that: 'Neither reason nor Christianity invites woman
to the professor's chair, nor conducts her to the bar, nor makes her welcome to
the pulpit...', would seem to reflect the increasing withdrawal by Evangelical
women from public positions within the religious communities. This withdrawal
would seem to coincide with the growing respectability of most Evangelical
denominations. Not only was the workplace removed from the home but also
religious worship became more formalised and institutionalised within purpose
built places for public worship. Within this context men were set aside for
ministry. As early as 1802 the Methodist Conference stated that it was 'contrary
both to scripture and to prudence that women should preach or should exhort in
public'.(12)
The Methodist sects of the lower
classes, the Primitive Methodists and Bible Christians saw a decline of women
preachers as religious communities moved from house to chapel. In 1814 the Bible
Christians of Devon and Cornwall had 14 women preachers. That figure grew to 27
in 1825 after which it declined until 1863 when it was very unusual for
Evangelical women in this denomination to be seen in a pulpit. (13)
That the exhortations of James
increasingly reflected the lives of the growing number of Evangelical women
would seem to be supported by the evidence which is available. It is also
interesting to note that he was not the only minister to be preaching on the
inferiority of women suggesting that the voice of women had not been entirely
driven from the public sphere. In 1853, only one year after James's sermon,
Catherine Mumford, later to become Catherine Booth, wrote a letter to her pastor
after hearing him preach on the inferiority of women. She called for an
impartial rendering of Biblical texts pointing to Biblical models of women
publicly speaking. 'Then when the true light shines, and God's words take the
place of man's traditions, the Doctor of Divinity who shall teach that Paul
commands woman to be silent when God's Spirit urges her to speak, will be
regarded much the same as we should regard an astronomer who should teach that
the sun is the earth's satellite'. (14)
Whilst it may be true that public preaching was no longer regarded by the
Evangelical ministers to be the mission of women it would be wrong to ignore the
influence which women could have in their mission as defined by James. Catherine
Hall highlights the contradictory elements whereby the Evangelical message which
subordinated women could also be enabling. (15)
Although in the sermon Woman's
Mission James stresses the fundamental place of woman as being rooted in the
home he does allow that woman's mission was social happiness. 'Here then beyond
the circle of wedded life, as well as that which is found within it, is no doubt
a part of woman's mission.' (16)
The autonomous family unit with the
male as its head was to be the foundation stone of a healthy community, nation
and empire. The woman's duty was to spread her moral influence and good works to
'the relief of suffering humanity, the instruction of ignorance, and the spread
of religion,' for which 'we give her all the room and liberty for those things
which are compatible with her duties to her own household'.(17)
Yet her role was to act as
help-meet rather than manage or decide on policy. Nevertheless the skills which
middle-class women learned within the household were taken outside the home and
through activism and pragmatism, key traits of Evangelicalism, philanthropic
organisations were developed becoming the focus for the energies of many women.
James's exhortations were mostly affirmed by middle-class women themselves even
those who weren't married agreed on the duties of married women and the
importance of the family unit. Hannah More, the celebrated Evangelical who
achieved so much in the field of education, affirms that 'women's profession
was...to be wives and mothers, but once this work was properly done they could
consider doing some religious and philanthropic work outside. Family, however,
must always come first...'.(18)
Prochaska in Women in
Philanthropy in Nineteenth-century England, confirms that the expectations
of middle-class Evangelical women to be the work-horses of philanthropy was in
reality true although their motives might well stem from an unhealthy fear of
damnation rather than from altruism. Nevertheless, like Catherine Hall,
Prochaska recognises the enabling power and self-esteem which women gained
through their charity work and how, as the century wore on, they became more
professional and confident.
By the time that James delivered his sermon, middle-class Evangelical women
were extending their involvement in the public sphere through their charitable
works. In rural communities, where work and worship took place in the home,
women often held a more dominant position. The reality for lower-class women,
where Evangelicalism was numerically weaker, differed dramatically from James's
ideal. The luxury of being able to afford to stay at home was not an option,
besides which the living conditions for these women were not conducive to
providing a haven of domestic bliss set apart from the world's problems. Unlike
their middle-class counterparts there were no servants on hand to release time
for leisured or philanthropic activities. The activism of some Evangelical women
within this area of work prompted them to develop schemes designed by women for
women and not as an adjunct to the activities of men.
However, James's prescriptive rather than descriptive piece of evidence does
seem to reflect closely the reality of the lives of middle-class Evangelical
women in the early nineteenth century, demonstrating the power which
Evangelicalism had, both to influence and reflect the actual lives of men and
women within the middle-classes. As Leonore Davidoff and Catherine Hall point
out in Family Fortunes: Men and Women in the English Middle Classes,
1780-1850, men and women of the growing middle-classes were redefining their
identities and Evangelicals underpinned that redefinition through Biblical
interpretaion. 'Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in
the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them. Children
obey your parents in all things.' (19)
The powerful influence of a middle-class Evangelical paradigm for the
ordering of society with the family at the centre was very strong in the early
nineteenth century. The paradigm depended on both man and woman knowing their
place and working together to promote a morally and spiritually healthy society.
James's exhortations reflected that reality for middle-class Evangelical women
to whom he preached, but failed to suggest how this ideal might be a reality for
women at the lower end of the social scale.
NOTES
| 1. J.A. James |
'Woman's mission' in Female Piety or the Young Women's friend
and Guide through Life to immortality. 1852. Offprints collection.
The Open University 1994 reprint 1995 - p.89. |
| 2. ibid.,p.93-94 | |
| 3. ibid., p.95. | |
| 4. ibid., p.91. | |
| 5. C.E. Tonna |
The Wrongs of Women. 1843/4. Evangelicals, Women and Community - Study Guide. The O.U. 1994 - p.53 |
| 6. J.A. James |
Woman's mission. 1852. Offprints Collection. the O.U.1994 Reprint 1995 - p.91. |
| 7. C.E. Tonna |
The Wrongs of Women. 1843 Offprints Collection. The O.U. 1994 Reprint 1995 -.106. |
| 8. John Wolffe et al. | Evangelical faith and public Zeal. SPCK 1995 - p.100
|
| 9. D.M. Valenze |
'Domesticity and survival' in Prophetic Sons and daughters: female preaching and popular religion in industrial England. Offprints Collection. The O.U. 1994 - p.59. |
| 10. ibid. p.57. | |
| 11. John Wolffe et al. | Evangelical Faith and Public Zeal. SPCK 1995 - p.103. |
| 12. D. Hempton M. Hill. |
'"orn to serve": women and evangelical religion' in Evangelical Protestantism in Ulster Society, 1740-1890. Offprints collection. The O.U. 1994 - p.44. |
| 13. John Wolffe et al. | Evangelical Faith and Public Zeal. SPCK 1995 - p.101. |
| 14. Lavinia Byrne |
The Hidden Tradition - women's spiritual writings rediscovered. SPCK 1991 - p.41. |
| 15. Catherine Hall |
Evangelicals, Women and Community in nineteenth-century Britain - Cassette 2 - Interview with Catherine Hall. |
| 16. J.A. James | 'Woman's mission' Offprints collection. The O.U. 1994 - p.93 |
| 17. ibid., p.95. | |
| 18. L. Davidoff Catherine Hall |
'"e are all one in Christ Jesus": men, women and religion' in Family Fortunes: men and women of the English, middle class, 1780-1850. Offprints Collection. The O.U. 1994 - p.68. |
| 19. The Bible | Colossians 3: v18-22. King James Authorised Version. |