John Calvin and the Daughters of Sarah: Women in Regular and Exceptional Roles in the Exegesis of Calvin, his Predecessors, and his Contemporaries

Abstract

The past decade has witnessed a new debate arising in the field of Calvin studies and the entire area of early modern women's historywas John Calvin a proto-feminist, especially regarding the role of women in the church?While such a question might seem absurd to those familiar with the rabidly misogynist rhetoric of Calvin's disciple, John Knox, in The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women (1558)researchers have been puzzled by ambiguities in Calvin's copious writings which sometimes suggest a more equitable role for women in the governance and activities of the church, yet at other times seem to dismiss entirely women's contributions.The groundwork for rethinking Calvin's position on women originated with André Biéler's L'homme et la femme dans la morale calviniste (Geneva, 1963).His readings tried to refute the traditional charges of misogyny and argued that Calvin viewed women as "fundamentally equal" to men, while "functionally subordinate," essentially to satisfy the demands of society (Biéler, 36-38).But others have since gone further, trying to incorporate Calvin into the context of sixteenth-century proto-