ABSTRACT
From the 1650s onwards, brief defenses of female prophesying often appear in the midst of Quaker women's writings where the primary focus is on something else altogether. Although justifications of women's preaching are commonplace in seventeenth-century Quaker tracts, from the beginning the mode of argumentation varies widely. Their role-model is the prophet Deborah, who sang as a "mother in Israel" (Judges 5:7) to celebrate her people's triumph in battle; not Jael, who helped achieve that victory by driving a tent-peg through Sisera's head (Judges 4:18-22). This chapter sketches what can be learnt through examining the widely diverse language used by those addressing the question of women's right to preach. Being the Lord's handmaiden could have frightening consequences in a society which did not, in general, allow women to speak publicly or express opinions on religion or affairs of state, as is vividly documented in accounts of Quaker court trials.
