From the Pew to the Pulpit - African American Women's Struggle to Gain and Maintain Leadership Positions within the Church

Authors

Charlotte B. Chinn, Wright State University - Main CampusFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Date

2014

Abstract

This thesis will explore how African-American women adopt a negotiated reading of the Bible and the church in order for reconciliation of their contradictory experiences as ministers. The personal stories of Black women preachers, who were interviewed for this project, will reveal how a negotiated reading allows them to reconcile the sexism within the structure and practices of the Black church with the significance of the church as a site of personal fulfillment and spiritual liberation. In order to explore how African American women adopted this negotiated reading of the Bible and the Church, this essay will examine the significance of the black church in the African-American community, the background of the Baptist denomination, the role of women in the church as well as the theoretical framework of womanist theology. The key to womanist theology is their emphasis and commitment to the survival and wholeness of the entire community.

Repository Citation

Chinn, C. (2014). From the Pew to the Pulpit - African American Women's Struggle to Gain and Maintain Leadership Positions within the Church (Master's thesis). Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.