Women preached and itinerated in different Methodist traditions in the first half of the nineteenth century in Canada. By the middle of the century, many of them had relinquished the pulpit and they soon disappeared. In the United States of America, women preachers also met with resistance, but well before the twentieth century some Methodist women had been ordained. Although many aspects of the Canadian and American contexts were similar, women preachers experienced a somewhat different reception in each country because of the contrasting political climate. Whereas the American Methodist churches reflected the more liberal atmosphere of their country, the Canadian Methodist Episcopal church intentionally adopted the more reactionary stance of the British Wesleyans in order to gain respectability and political advantage. The other Canadian Methodist churches gradually imbibed this conservative atmosphere, and as a result, Canadian women were eventually discouraged from a preaching role. This dissertation recovers the history of a number of nineteenth century Methodist women preaching in Canada, examines their British heritage and the experiences of their American sisters, and suggests reasons for the Canadian devolution.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.39216 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Creators | Muir, Elizabeth Gillan, 1934- |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Faculty of Religious Studies.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001071923, proquestno: NN63605, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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