Women and the Baptist Experience
Carolyn DeArmond Blevins Carolyn Blevins is associate professor em enta ofreligion at Carson-Newman University.
"Freedom!" was the cry o f Baptists who emerged in the restricted religious climate of seventeenth-century England. Baptists in England and later in the American colonies fought tenaciously for freedom of religious expression for people o f ail religious faiths. The individual's religious freedom did not stop at the Baptist church door. Freedom within Baptist churches is a hallm ark of Baptist theology. Ecclesiasdeal hierarchy is foreign to Baptist teachings. The doctrine of the priesthood of the believer, which asserts the individual's right to interpret scripture for herself, and the doctrine of the autonom y of the local church are cornerstones of Baptist doctrine. Congregational government, giving responsibilities and rights to every church member, is the polity of local Baptist churches. Great em phasis is placed on the individual's r c ^ n s ib ility for her relationship with God. Historically, freedom has been treasured by Baptists—in their doctrine if not always in their practice.
*[Previously published in Religious Institutions and Women's Leadership: New Roles Inside the Mainstream, Catherine Wesinger, ed. ׳Studies in Comparative Religion (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1996), 158-170. Perm ission to reprint granted by University of South Carolina Press. Special assistance in reproduction of article provided by Courtney Breeden of Carson-Newman University.]