Hot Meetings and Hard Kraals
African Biblewomen in Transvaal Methodism, 1924-601
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7860812 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Deborah Gaitskell (1(Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2000 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 277-309 |
| Publication date | 2000-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Religion in Africa (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-4200 • E-ISSN: 1570-0666 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1163/157006600x00546 |
| OpenAlex | W2032318018 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
Whereas women's prayer groups are a well-known strength of African Christianity in Southern Africa, the evangelistic and pastoral contribution of individual women who were not clergy wives has been under-appreciated. Echoing models from Victorian London and Indian missions, Methodism in South Africa evolved an authorised, paid form of female lay ministry via middle-aged black Biblewomen sponsored and overseen by white Women's Auxiliary groups. The first appointee in the Transvaal and Swaziland District wrote comparatively full reports of emotionally 'hot' revival meetings. In 'hard' kraals she encountered hostility in the form of patriarchal control of women and an unusual proliferation of rival indigenous spirits. Her successors found male drinking an even greater obstacle to a sympathetic hearing. In urban townships along the Witwatersrand, Biblewomen work was less pioneering and more routinised, providing pastoral support to local churches via sick-visiting and following up lapsed members. From 1945-59, some Biblewomen were trained at Lovedale Bible School. The period after 1960 deserves separate exploration. In 1997, a new start was made with a national, autonomous Biblcwomen ministry, though many women, black and white, regretted severing their personal and organisational links of mutual dependence
Archaeology · Art · Ceremony · Christian ministry · Christianity · History of religions · Indigenous · Methodism · Period (music) · Political science · Prayer · Sociology · White (mutation) · Christian Theology and Mission · Gender Studies · History · Law · Religion, Society, and Development · Religious studies · South African History and Culture
Dialogical subjectivities for hard times
Gender, Mission and Work
Transplanting institutional innovation
Ironies of Subordination
Religion, relief and humanitarian work among Armenian women refugees in Mandatory Syria, 1927–1934
Writing the History of African Christianity
A Light-Hearted Bunch of Ladies
Patriarchies, Prophets, and Procreation
Converting Racism
| Citations per year | 0.39 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2003 - 2020 (18) |
| Highly cited | No |