Nevertheless: American Methodists and Women's Rights

Abstract

Written while Ashley Boggan Dreff (PhD, Drew University) was still High Point University's Director of Women and Gender Studies and Assistant Professor of Religion, Nevertheless: American Methodists and Women's Rights recounts ‘American Methodist women's efforts to fight for women's rights, from the Women's Christian Temperance Union to the #MeToo movement’ (back cover). The title of Dreff's introductory chapter, ‘Introduction to a Movement’, hints that this slim volume is not intended for the standard academic audience, but rather ‘to help Methodists—women and men, as well as non-Methodists—reflect on their own roles in political engagement and how their faith informs their social engagement in this world’ (14). Its hortatory tone and second-person discussion questions at the end of each chapter further indicate that this book's ideal readership seems to be a combination of United Methodist laypeople and perhaps the denomination's top executives, among whom Dreff now ranks, having been elected General Secretary of the General Commission on Archives and History (GCAH) not six months after the publication of Nevertheless.Unlike more straightforwardly academic historical and theological prior texts by Priscilla Pope-Levison (an endorser) and Laceye Warner, among others, this book is aimed primarily at an audience seeking guidance from the past for present and future progressive action. A key to Dreff's argument is that it is precisely their faith that has propelled women of various Methodist traditions out of their homes and into the public arena as activists.After the introduction's brief treatment of John Wesley and women, as well as the concept of and commitment to social holiness, five chapters address women's involvement in the struggles for suffrage, racial equity, the Equal Rights Amendment, reproductive rights (including but not limited to abortion access), and sexual harassment. The conclusion, ‘She Continues to Preach’, summarizes all and highlights United Methodism's 2016–19 struggle to ratify equality-related amendments to its constitution.In presenting these problems, Dreff demystifies jargon—both of the denomination and of the field of religious studies—quite effectively. Historians of polity may bristle at her repeated reference to the approval of women's ordination in 1956 (10, 60, 109), when in fact the Revd Maud K. Jensen, the first woman to benefit in 1956 from the approval to which Dreff actually refers (that of women's full clergy rights as voting members of Annual Conferences), already was ordained in 1952, as the Revd Dr Georgia Harkness and others had been before her. Theologians might wish that mentions of ‘enthusiasm’ included attention to its negative connotations in the eighteenth century (17–18). Yet such technicalities do not seriously diminish Dreff's argument.Dreff takes an unflinching look at the difficulties women have faced (so unflinching that the reader may wish the publisher had required content warnings to precede each chapter) and does not sugar-coat the legacies of often celebrated but really complicated figures, such as Frances Willard. In doing so, she names and lifts up so many works by women throughout centuries that the reader wishes for attention to the published works of black laywoman and first Women's Division executive Theressa Hoover (curiously misspelled with only one s throughout the book), rather than only her congressional testimony. The use of the Revd James M. Lawson Jr's case of expulsion from Vanderbilt Divinity School over the lunch counter sit-ins would benefit from facts available in GCAH's Methodist History journal to clarify the magnitude and timeline of Lawson's contributions to the Civil Rights Movement, underscoring the value of advocacy for him by the Woman's Division.Before her rousing conclusion, Dreff draws attention to the often overlooked issue of laymen's sexual harassment of clergywomen. This chapter's framing and approach are an admitted departure from the rest of the book, presenting survey evidence regarding the ‘stained glass ceiling’ (100–16). The willingness to attend to this vital matter is laudable. While some readers may feel lost in a sea of data and others may desire more consistent presentation of studies’ methodological approaches, the analysis leaves room for the reader to pursue further understanding. Even if one argues that, for example, the reason ‘harassment of clergywomen … rarely makes news’ is not so much political (Dreff's suggestion) as it is a matter of policy to protect victims and witnesses from further harassment and retaliation, her presentation requires the reader to reflect on the impact of such policy (112).As Dreff calls for improved theology in the pews that dismantles patriarchal assumptions and inspires church members to take action, this book invites partnership between history and theology scholars and between church and academy in ways that she is uniquely positioned to help make a reality.