On Saturday November 9, eighty women along with two host churches gathered online to hear Dr Marion Taylor unpack the legacy of Elizabeth Rundle Charles (1828 -1896). A prolific author, Rundle Charles is one of the hundreds of long-forgotten women who authored a wide variety of devotional and educational books for adults and children, including commentaries on the Bible.
Dr Taylor discovered Rundle Charles and other lost foremothers of the faith when one of her students asked her whether she could do a paper on an early woman interpreter of the Bible. Dr Taylor didn’t know whether women had published works on the Bible prior to the 1970s. “For the first time in my life I was confronted with the gap in our history which really only told the stories of the great books written by great male theologians, preachers and scholars but didn’t mention any of the writing of women.” And thus, her search began.
That student’s curiosity, Dr Taylor’s scholarship, many years of work, and collaboration with students and scholars from many disciplines have resulted in much writing, and in particular, two books that have broadened theological scholarship: a 2012 handbook of women interpreters, and Voices Long Silenced: Women Biblical Interpreters through the Centuries, co-written by Dr Taylor and Joy Schroeder. Published in 2022, this book brings more than 400 women and their stories to the forefront.
Dr Taylor’s work calls on scholars and religious communities to recognize the contribution of women who “preached with their pens… in church basements, and in their homes or on street corners.” As she told attendees, “We are not the first women to preach and teach. We are standing on the shoulders of women long forgotten.”
Indeed, Women’s Breakfasts invite women who attend to not forget their sisters in the faith around the world who want to pursue theological education. During the Breakfast, Dr Taylor introduced attendees to Sandra (PhD, Old Testament) and MJ (MTS), Wycliffe students who have led, or are leading, in church and ministry contexts. Sandra affirmed Wycliffe’s global influence and personal, life-changing impact.
“As an international student, the bursary Wycliffe provides sends me a message that for Wycliffe, the Church is global,” she said. “Most Taiwanese doctoral students here at Wycliffe plan to return to serve Taiwanese churches and seminaries after our graduation. I will bring no direct benefit to Canada after graduation. That benefit belongs to the Taiwanese Church, therefore, on behalf of the Taiwanese theological education community I express my gratitude to Wycliffe College and all its sponsors.”
Wycliffe’s invitation to biblical scholarship changes lives and impacts the world. All that attendees saw and heard at this Women’s Breakfast attests to this.
You are always welcome to support bursaries for women students at Wycliffe College. Just go to https://www.wycliffecollege.ca/give-wycliffe
Discover more students and Alumni in the Winter 2024 issue of Insight magazine. Email patti.smyth@wycliffe.utoronto.ca with Winter 2024 Insight Magazine in the email subject line.
