The Woman in the Pulpit

Carol M. Noren
Noren, Carol M. The Woman in the Pulpit. Nashville: Abingdon, 1992.

Noren’s book is unique in that it speaks specifically to female preachers. While the issue of female ordination continues to be debated among evangelicals, Noren does not largely address the issue. Her concern is to help those women who are already convinced of their calling and who have been given opportunity. While opportunity may exist for some, however, does not mean that preaching by women is simply a matter of replicating the approaches favored by men.

“The Sunday morning service is different when a woman preaches,” she says (9). There are cultural filters through which people listen to women speak. Rather than be frustrated by these filters, Noren is trying to help women preachers “anticipate those filters, and choose to work with them, work around them, or challenge them head on,” as necessary (10).

Specifically, Noren addresses issues surrounding authority, self-disclosure, intepretation, liturgy, and more. No matter what one’s position might be on the question of a woman’s right to preach, there will be value in hearing one woman’s perspective.

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