Piety and Motherhood: Reproductive Images and Maternal Strategies of the Woman Preacher

Abstract

GIVEN THE SCRIPTURAL FOUNDATION for the muted subjection of women in Christian religions, how is it that women in the strictly conservative Pentecostal religion come to be selected for the chief post of church pastor, and via what strategies and images are they able to authenticate both their religious power and their church authority? Oddly, even in the face of their obvious heresy, it is the strong connection these women maintain with conservative fundamentalism that enables them to acquire the position of power and authority in a church as pastor and provides the means for them to maintain that position. By firmly basing their role as preacher and pastor within the very frameworks that support a traditional, fundamentalist religiosity, these women pastors are able to employ the system to their advantage. The maternal and reproductive images they employ as religious strategies serve to strip their presence behind the pulpit of its most threatening aspects. Most important to the congregation members who have a woman pastor is the perception of that woman as Mother to the congregation. When group members are asked to say why they think a particular woman is a good pastor, they will answer: She takes good care of us, or She's just like a mother; she cares for everybody. Women pastors themselves recognize the importance of acting out the role of symbolic mother to their congregations: