Two significant contributions of the holiness revivalist Phoebe Palmer (1804-1874), often
cited by scholars, include her holiness theology and as Donald Dayton has noted, her “incipient
feminism.” In the decades following her death, Palmer failed to receive much attention from
scholars. Nevertheless, as Dale Simmons states, “the explosion of literature on Palmer in the
1970s and 1980s parallels the rise of the feminist movement itself.” With the rise of women’s
studies in scholarship, several scholars took notice of Palmer’s formidable ministry in the
nineteenth-century by correlating the attention she provided to the role of women in ministry with
the emergence of women’s rights. For example, Donald Dayton traces the emergence of feminism
as “a central principle of church life” to Palmer. This renewed attention has sparked ongoing
debate regarding the nature and extent of Palmer’s advocacy for women in ministry and whether
her work can be accurately classified as proto feminist. Specifically, this paper critiques Donald
Dayton’s Discovering an Evangelical Heritage and Nancy Hardesty’s Women Called to Witness,
both of which characterize Palmer’s ministry as fundamentally feminist in nature. While accurate
historiography has shown that future generations utilized Palmer’s voice to push for women’s
rights in society, this conclusion must be accompanied by allowing Palmer to speak on her terms.
Drawing from Palmer’s primary works—especially her notable defense of women in public
ministry, Promise of the Father—this paper argues that Palmer’s advocacy for women’s
participation in ministry was driven primarily by the pneumatic urgency of revivalism without an
agenda to deconstruct gendered hierarchies. Her approach, while empowering for women in the
context of gospel ministry, remained tethered to traditional structures of ecclesial and domestic
authority. Moreover, though Palmer’s work provided rhetorical space for later feminist
developments, this paper contends that her own theological framework. While feminist
interpretations highlight Palmer’s advocacy for women in ministry, they often overlook her
theological deference to ecclesial authority and her emphasis on submission in the domestic
sphere. By offering a historically grounded reassessment of Palmer’s views on gender, this paper
contributes to a more nuanced understanding of her place in the development of American
evangelicalism.