Voices of Thunder by Naomi Baker
I find the subject of women in religion an absolutely fascinating subject, to the extent that I dedicated a large part of my own research on Early Christianity in Wales on women in particular, so I was delighted at the opportunity to review Voices of Thunder: Radical Religious Women of the Seventeenth Century by Naomi Baker, who explores some of the more prominent and pioneering women who strove to make their voices heard during a period of, not only civil war, but reformation of the Church.
Amid a time of religious upheaval and the emergence of many new religious groups, such as the Fifth Monarchists, Quakers and the Levellers, it seems appropriate that such women dared to speak out, not just in a male-dominated society, but also in a church that had predominantly excluded women from preaching since the writings of Paul’s First Epistle to Timothy, declaring he did not permit women to teach or preach over men.
Although women were not allowed to preach in church, it by no means stopped them from preaching to anyone who would listen, and it is here that in Voices of Thunder, we are introduced to many of these pioneering women, such as Rose Thurgood and Anne Wentworth, who both subject to bad, or abusive, husbands, along with facing extreme poverty found their voice through God, calling into question the status quo and igniting many religious questions relating to the fundamentals of religion we still discuss today. Also, the influence of the mystical Jane Lead, whose writings certainly drew the interest of philosophers, such as William Blake and Emanuel Swedenborg, whose own writings in the late seventeenth century also adopted many aspects of ancient Hermeticism and the notion of The New Jerusalem as depicted in the Book of Revelation.
Although these women may have been forgotten in today’s world, Naomi Baker brings their stories once again to the forefront in a highly readable book, which certainly deserves to be studied and adopted by anyone focusing on this subject or those looking for an introduction. Bringing each of these stories to light, Voices of Thunder not just highlights the role of these women in the church, but also how each of these women, by their own teachings, has helped modernise religious views to an expansive audience, which has included some of our greatest thinkers.
Although times have changed since the seventeenth century, women’s struggle for a more prominent and equal status within the church has been a long battle, with the first female priest only ordained as recently as 1994, which faced great opposition from male members at the time. Heeding this, Voices of Thunder enriches our understanding that this event was not a case of simple reactionism, but one of inevitability to ensure that the voices of all are heard within the church.
- Voices of Thunder: Radical Religious Women of the Seventeenth Century by Naomi Baker is out now, published by Reaktion Books (£16.99). To order a copy, go to reaktionbooks.co.uk
Founder and Editor of Pilgrim House and The Gothic Revival, currently undertaking research in Gothic Literature and religion and working on a book on Folklore and early Welsh Christianity. Tom’s other work on music, poetry, health along other writings and images can be found at tomasstanger.com