On May 11, 1789, less than twenty-four hours before William Wilberforce’s first and most famous speech against the slave trade, a woman stood before hundreds of Londoners, presenting a powerful argument against enslavement. Despite her frequent speeches and immense contribution to the campaign against the slave trade, historians have forgotten her name and impact. By contrast, the Bible records and preserves women’s voices, contributions, and impact, an aspect often overlooked in evangelical theology, history, and practice.
This paper traces how the Bible centres and celebrates women’s voices, advocating for an evangelical perspective that values women and men equally. Following Mimi Haddad’s approach outlined in ‘Discovering Biblical Equality,’ this paper employs concrete examples and accessible language to present the Bible’s clear call to recognize and affirm women’s voices and leadership.
The paper has three parts. Firstly, it examines the Bible’s preservation of names and stories of individuals who might otherwise be forgotten, highlighting the historical backgrounds of women specific issues from biblical times and throughout church history. Secondly, it explores how the Bible integrates women’s voices without minimizing men’s value, thereby avoiding the dichotomy often seen in power struggles and gender wars, and reflecting on the ontological significance of male-female relations within the Christian community. Thirdly, this paper marvels at how the Bible centres its project of inclusion in the person and work of Jesus Christ on the cross and in his resurrected body, emphasizing the relevance of Scripture’s teachings on women when addressing today’s issues in church, home, and society.
Throughout the paper, the history of the campaign to end the slave trade is contrasted with the Bible, revealing how the Bible is magnificently written in an inclusive way. This is contrasted with instances where men have taken credit for contributions rightfully attributable to women in the fight against the slave trade. This is compared to how the Bible records women who name God, defeat Israel’s enemies, and proclaim the gospel. Notably, the Bible enables many of these individuals to tell their own stories in their own words. This representation emerges as a paradigmatic approach of diligently seeking to include voices otherwise excluded from our churches and institutions with direct implications for Christian scholars and church leaders.
The paper concludes with a focus on the beauty of Jesus. While historical archives often lack documentation of women, erasing their contributions from history, Jesus highlights the establishment’s indifference towards himself by drawing attention to the woman washing his feet. The Bible indicates that those in power refused to even look at the woman until Jesus compelled them to do so with the question, ‘Do you see this woman?’ (Luke 7:44). Jesus went out of his way to ensure that this woman’s actions and impact would be seen and heard throughout history and across the globe. In order to embody the Bible’s approach to women and men, evangelicals need to follow Jesus, and prioritize the many voices that are sometimes sidelined, minimized, or unheard.