Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry

Baylor University history professor Barr (The Making of Biblical Womanhood) provides a blistering critique of the narrowing options for female leadership in the evangelical church. Barr describes how the second half of the 20th century saw the role of the pastor’s wife morph into an unpaid “extension of the husband’s ministry,” as wives became responsible for unpaid duties ranging from the official and religious (teaching Bible studies) to the unofficial (looking presentable in church to reflect well on their husbands). She attributes these developments partly to backlash over rising rates of female ordination in the 1970s, which culminated in the Southern Baptist Convention’s 1984 denunciation of female pastorship. As a result, Barr explains, “pastoral wifeship” became the only viable leadership option for evangelical women. Barr highlights prominent female Christians of the past (Benedictine nuns Milburga and Hildegard of Bingen wielded power “surpass[ing] that of queens”) to argue that women’s pastorship is historically grounded, and calls on the SBC to legitimize female pastorship and allow more flexible expectations for pastor’s wives. Barr draws on extensive research to perceptively track the evolution of women’s leadership roles and explore how a rigidly hierarchal system where “male power is privileged at the cost of women” incites broader destructive effects, including the brushing aside of sexual abuse scandals under the guise of maintaining a “redemptive community.” The result is a powerful indictment of an unequal system. (Mar.)