The history of fundamentalism is primarily the story of men debating, men starting organizations, and men founding colleges and seminaries. But that is only part (albeit the largest part) of the story.

Women certainly played key roles behind the fundamentalist scenes. Ninety percent of Sunday school teachers were women; women raised millions for foreign missions; thousands served on the mission field; women led the fights for the poor, for women's suffrage, and for Prohibition.

Frances Willard founded the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), which grew to two million members by 1897. She called it the "largest army of women inside the realm of conservative theology."

Fundamentalist women also played up-front roles in the rising movement. A few fundamentalist institutions, especially in the late 1800s, supported women's preaching and ordination. In 1888 Christian & Missionary Alliance's (C&MA) Nyack College awarded its annual preaching prize to a woman. In those days, ...

FREE E-Newsletter Sign up for the ChristianHistory.net e-mail newsletter. Discover more about your Christian heritage with this weekly e-newsletter that features key people, topics, and events from the history of Christianity.      RSS Feed   RSS Help