During the Progessive Era, a period of unprecedented ingenuity, women evangelists built the old time religion with brick and mortar, uniforms and automobiles, fresh converts and devoted proteges. Across America, entrepreneurial women founded churches, denominations, religious training schools, rescue homes, rescue missions, and evangelistic organizations. Until now, these intrepid women have gone largely unnoticed, though their collective yet unchoreographed decision to build institutions in the service of evangelism marked a seismic shift in American Christianity. In this ground-breaking study, Priscilla Pope-Levison dusts off the unpublished letters, diaries, sermons, and yearbooks of these pioneers to share their personal tribulations and public achievements. The effect is staggering. With an uncanny eye for essential details and a knack for historical nuance, Pope-Levison breathes life into not just one or two of these women--but two dozen. The evangelistic empire of Aimee Semple McPherson represents the pinnacle of this shift from itinerancy to institution building. Her name remains legendary. Yet she built her institutions on the foundation of the work of women evangelists who preceded her. Their stories--untold until now--reveal the cunning and strength of women who forged a path for every generation, including our own, to follow. Priscilla Pope-Levison is Professor of Theology and Assistant Director of Women's Studies at Seattle Pacific University. Her previous books include Sex, Gender, and Christianity; Turn the Pulpit Loose: Two Centuries of American Women Evangelists; Return to Babel: Global Perspectives on the Bible; Jesus in Global Contexts; and Evangelization in a Liberation Perspective.

Outreach 2021 Resource of the Year (Theology and Biblical Studies) Many sincere Christians dismiss evangelism due to enduring evangelistic caricatures. This book helps readers move beyond those caricatures to consider thoughtfully and practically how they can engage in evangelism, whether it's through one-on-one conversations, social media, social justice, or the liturgy of worship services. At once biblical, theological, historical, and practical, this book by a seasoned scholar offers an engaging, well-researched, and well-organized presentation and analysis of eight models of evangelism. Covering a breadth of approaches--from personal evangelism to media evangelism and everything in between--Priscilla Pope-Levison encourages readers to take a deeper look at evangelism and discover a model that captures their attention. Each chapter introduces and assesses a model biblically, theologically, historically, and practically, allowing for easy comparison across the board. The book also includes end-of-chapter study questions to further help readers interact with each model.

2015 Smith/Wynkoop Book Award presented by the Wesleyan Theological Society 2014 Choice Outstanding Academic Title During the Progessive Era, a period of unprecedented ingenuity, women evangelists built the old time religion with brick and mortar, uniforms and automobiles, fresh converts and devoted proteges. Across America, entrepreneurial women founded churches, denominations, religious training schools, rescue homes, rescue missions, and evangelistic organizations. Until now, these intrepid women have gone largely unnoticed, though their collective yet unchoreographed decision to build institutions in the service of evangelism marked a seismic shift in American Christianity. In this ground-breaking study, Priscilla Pope-Levison dusts off the unpublished letters, diaries, sermons, and yearbooks of these pioneers to share their personal tribulations and public achievements. The effect is staggering. With an uncanny eye for essential details and a knack for historical nuance, Pope-Levison breathes life into not just one or two of these women-but two dozen.

Synopsis: Should women be priests? Should women submit to their husbands? Is premarital sex okay? Inflammatory questions such as these have splintered Christianity and polarized the church. In Sex, Gender, and Christianity, a cadre of seasoned college professors offers the modest proposal that honest, fruitful conversations about these questions will take place only if we develop the ability to deal with sex, gender, and the Christian faith with the academic rigor and perspectives of our various disciplines. This volume contributes an unprecedented collection of first-rate articles from a variety of disciplines--from the social sciences to history, from literary criticism to theology--that will challenge college administrators, professors, and students to address fractious questions in an atmosphere of scholarly inquiry. Contributors: David G. Allen, Karen Trimble Alliaume, Brian Bantum, Mikee C. Delony, James G. Dixon III, Antonios Finitsis Theresa J. FitzPatrick, Allyson Jule, Patricia O'Connell Killen, Caryn D. Riswold, and Tina Schermer Sellers Endorsements: "This is a courageous book. At a time when clouds of fear and confusion hover over college classrooms when it comes to talking about sex and gender, here we have a responsible and creative treatment of these thorny topics. It would be a mistake to bypass this book as yet another treatment of sex and gender, because you will not find anything else like it." --Willie James Jennings, Associate Professor of Theology and Black Church Studies, Duke Divinity School "Sex, Gender, and Christianity is a much-needed corrective to polarizing arguments about women's roles and their expectations for equality. Probing historical exemplars from Eve to Carrie Bradshaw, the book's authors exchange heat for light on a topic that sorely needs the latter. This will be an invaluable resource for undergraduate courses in both religious and gender studies." --Diane Winston, Knight Chair in Media and Religion, USC Annenberg School for Communication Author Biography: Priscilla Pope-Levison is Professor of Theology and Assistant Director of Women's Studies at Seattle Pacific University, and Affiliate Faculty in Women Studies at the University of Washington. She is the author of Turn the Pulpit Loose: Two Centuries of American Women Evangelists (2004). John (Jack) R. Levison is Professor of New Testament at Seattle Pacific University. He is the author of Fresh Air: The Holy Spirit for an Inspired Life (2012); Filled with the Spirit (2009); and Texts in Transition: the Greek Life of Adam and Eve (2000). Together they are the authors of Jesus in Global Contexts (1992) and editors of Return to Babel: Global Perspectives on the Bible (1999).

In "Return to Babel," each of ten historically significant biblical texts is interpreted by three scholars: one Latin American, one African, and one Asian. Geographic locales range from a tiny village in the Philippines to the city of Nairobi, Kenya; from Gwangju, South Korea, with its one million inhabitants, to the frontier city of Wiwili in the northern mountains of Nicaragua. The result is a collection of essays that shed new light on familiar texts and make the reader aware of the ways in which culture can shape our understanding of Scripture.

Liberator, ancestor, cosmic Christ, and Black Messiah. These are just some of the ways that Jesus is viewed in the world. This rare book provides a global tour of the Christologies emerging in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, and those of North American feminist and African-American theologies. Bibliography. Indexes.