Companions on the Journey: 7 Important Women from Church History
I have written elsewhere on this blog about the importance that figures from church history can have as companions on our journey of faith. The book of Hebrews describes people of faith as pilgrims who are seeking a lasting city (see ch. 11 and 13:13-14), and sometimes that pilgrimage can be lonely! We need help and support, and that support can come from our brothers and sisters who are no longer living, by means of their writings and their example.
Today I want to introduce you to seven women from throughout our 2,000 years of history. Each of the descriptions below is just a teaser, a short bio with reflections on why they might be helpful to you. The good thing is that there are all kinds of resources online to be able to learn more—and if I can help you find something or more about someone, reach out in the comments! Here we go…
Macrina the Younger (300s): Macrina was born into a Christian family – perhaps like you! – in the north-central part of what is now Turkey. Her family was wealthy, landed, and deeply devout. Her paternal grandmother, for whom she was named, was likely converted to Christianity in the third century. Unfortunately, only four of her several siblings survived into adulthood, but two of them are among the most famous early Christian thinkers (Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa), and a third brother was also a bishop in the church. Here’s the thing, though: the brothers seem to have thought that Macrina was the most spiritual of them all! Her brother Gregory said that she was devoted to the Scriptures, even as a young child, and as she came into adulthood, she dedicated herself and her family’s resources to the Lord. None of us gets to decide what family we are born into, but we all get to decide how to use what we are given. And Macrina is a great example of using our time, talent, and treasure for God!
Hilda of Whitby (600s): Hilda was an early English Christian, but unlike Macrina, she was not born into the faith. Rather, her great-uncle and guardian converted to Christianity when she was a teenager, and she followed him in that conversion. This was a time when Roman and Celtic forms of Christianity were both present in the island of Britain, and Hilda adopted the Celtic version in early adulthood, eventually setting up a monastery in northern England. She was educated, wise, and a great administrator. Additionally, both commoners and nobles sought her out for counsel – even kings! Her wisdom was such that, when the English church needed a place to hold a meeting to decide great church matters, they chose her abbey of Whitby. We make much of the “Proverbs 31” woman these days, and while Hilda was not a wife to a husband, she was clearly worth far more than rubies to the medieval English church.
Catherine of Genoa (1400s-1500s): Unlike Macrina and Hilda, Catherine was a “layperson,” i.e., not a church leader or nun of any kind. Rather, she was married – and to a husband who wasn’t a great guy. Like a lot of men at the time, he was unfaithful to his wife, and he wasted a lot of their money on frivolous luxuries and selfish living. For a time, Catherine coped with this disappointment with selfish living of her own, but she felt God calling her to repentance. She was able to influence her husband in a positive way, and he repented, too. Unfortunately, due to his mismanagement, they were financially ruined, but they were able to work at a local hospital, caring for the sick and destitute. After her husband’s death, Catherine eventually became the director of the hospital, all while pursuing deep practices of prayer. Her life reminds us that our past decisions and circumstances do not define us, and our lives can be redeemed by God!
Argula von Grumbach (1500s): Argula is like the other women we have read about so far, in that she was born into a life of privilege, but she is the first Protestant Christian on our list, having accepted Reformation teaching in her early adulthood. She was educated and devout, dedicated to her faith, and willing to speak up for it. The opportunity to do so came when she was about 30. There was a local scandal, when a Protestant student in a Catholic part of Germany was arrested for holding Protestant beliefs. When Argula heard about it, she wrote letters to the local theologians, arguing from Scripture that such things were inappropriate and unthinkable! While medieval theologians didn’t usually debate laypeople or women, the recently developed printing press came to her aid, as her letters were published and spread all over Germany. She even corresponded with Martin Luther, who praised her as “a singular instrument of Christ.” Her boldness inspires us to live as courageous Christians in the world!
Madame Guyon (1600s-1700s): Jeanne Guyon was an early modern Frenchwoman who has shaped the way that Christians think about prayer. She was married early but also widowed early, and the latter allowed her to pursue spiritual goals and to interact with church leaders. The Catholic church of her day was in some turmoil, due to a variety of controversies at that time. Madame Guyon is best known for her book A Short and Very Easy Method of Prayer, in which she teaches that all people (not just priests and leaders) are invited to experience the depths of Christ, and our prayer lives can help in that. We can let Scripture quiet our minds, and we can imagine our hearts as the Holy of Holies where God dwells. This was not yet the time in which people began to speak of a “personal relationship with God,” but her book certainly resonates with that idea. Through this book, Madame Guyon encourages us all in our prayer lives and relationship with the Lord.
Amanda Berry Smith (1800s-1900s): Amanda Berry Smith was unlike most of our women so far, in that not only was she not born into privilege, she was actually born a slave! Her family lived just near the Mason-Dixon line in Maryland, and her family’s owners trusted her father enough to let him earn extra money for himself, which eventually led to his purchasing the entire family’s freedom and their moving north. She experienced deep contrition during a Methodist worship service in her early teens, and she attended various camp meetings and other multi-racial church events. Despite living in the North, Amanda continued to experience racism and color-based struggle, even in church where she did not fit the mold of how Black women were expected to behave. Eventually, she felt called into ministry via the Methodist churches, and God opened doors for her to preach in the United States, India, and Africa! Fortunately for us, she left behind an autobiography, which you can read online. Amanda reminds us that God can use us in all sorts of ways, whether we “fit in” or not.
Dorothy Day (1900s): Dorothy is one of those Christians who also doesn’t fit familiar molds, at least in terms of a lot of contemporary Christianity. While she was drawn toward God and the church in her youth, she ended up living rather “wildly” in her young adulthood. Her family life included an unplanned pregnancy, an abortion, a divorce, an unhappy love affair, and a daughter born out of wedlock. In her outward life, she was a social activist, read anarchist and socialist authors, was friends with American Communists, and spent time in jail for her protest work. But God continued to call her heart, and around the age of 30, she was baptized into Christ. Not long after that, she met a fellow Christian who shared her desire to help the poor and to take social action. Together, they founded the Catholic Worker movement, which continues to this day. Her life and writings show us how social activism, a love of one’s neighborhood or city, Christian community life, and care for the less fortunate can all dwell together, even when others don’t agree with us.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, there are tons of resources online if you want to go deeper. One that I find to be accessible while also providing a good amount of information is the Christian History Institute website, which contains archives of the magazine Christian History as well as biographies of many important figures from church history.
