Daughters of Light

New Republic

Rebecca Larson offers a deeper and more daring probe into colonial religious life.

Women's Review of Books

[Larson] has given us the stories of thousands of women whose words and courageous deportment forced large numbers of British North Americans to admit female competence.

Choice

Larson has written the first comprehensive account of the role of 18th-century Quaker women ministers.

Philadelphia Inquirer

Daughters of Light should be required reading for everyone engaged by present-day debates about whether the clergy should be open to women.

Publishers Weekly

In the past quarter-century the number of women entering the ordained ministry has increased dramatically. There is consequently a lively interest in the history of women's leadership from biblical times to the present. This account of the Quaker women (numbering well over a thousand) empowered by their home meetings to travel and preach throughout the British Isles and the American colonies will find an appreciative audience among those with such a concern. Believing that men and women were equally open to divine inspiration, Quakers not only accepted the preaching ministry of women, but actively encouraged it by sponsoring and assisting the women preachers in their extensive journeys, of which many first-hand accounts survive. In its presentation of these documents, however, this study (the author's first book) betrays its origins as a doctoral dissertation. The pastiche of quotations can make for slow going, especially since archaic spellings and usages are translated in brackets, often when the meaning is already quite clear. There is a wealth of detail, however, that amply illustrates the background and daily life of these remarkable women. The final chapter places the preachers' ministry in the larger context of the history of both the Quaker and the non-Quaker world during this period. Illustrations. (Aug.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

With grace and insight in this debut work, historian Larson brings to light a story too long left in the shadows of Colonial American and religious history. Following Quaker women ministers in their travels across the British Empire, she shows how the Quakers accepted "divinely inspired" women as God's "chosen instruments," able to instruct, guide, and encourage Quakers and others in such matters as public policy, social reform, and individual faith and behavior. Such women were public figures, demanding strict discipline within the Society of Friends and insisting that Quakers give up political power and worldly goods when they compromised faith and morality. The American Revolution and the Quakers' retreat from public affairs and evangelizing ended the transatlantic ministries, and the women's stories slipped into obscurity as Quakers became less visible in American society. Larson has resurrected these remarkable women and makes us rethink basic assumptions about women and religious tolerance in Colonial America. Larson is our own "daughter of light" in giving us so rich a history.--Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Quaker women were active as preachers throughout the colonies, often speaking to large mixed audiences. Larson, an independent scholar, investigates the ways in which this public, authoritative role affected these women's identities. She focuses particularly on how the vast amount of traveling some of these women did, even returning to Britain, influenced their families and Quaker society as a whole, on both sides of the Atlantic. The final chapter reflects on how these women have been viewed by non-Quakers over the years. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Sandra F. VanBurkleo

First, and most important, she has recovered hundreds of influential Quaker women from the dustbin of history. She is not writing from a vacuum...But Larson digs more deeply into Quaker soil than any of her predecessors, providing critical detail about women&#39s lives, much of it autobiographical. She makes it possible to say with confidence that the antebellum Lucretia Mott, Susan B. Anthony and other Quakers were standing on tradition...This book, then, might be regarded as a rich pile of under-explicated evidence. Yet Larson seems to have intended exactly that result—one thing at a time, beginning with extensive description. Sometimes we need to write it all down so that readers and textbook writers can see what happened in abundant detail.
—The Women's Review of Books

Kirkus Reviews

Wonderfully researched and written history of 18th-century Quaker women preachers. Because Quakers held to a doctrine of Christ's "Inward Light," which dwelt in all people, women as well as men, were viewed as potential instruments for the divine. As Quakerism became more established in England and America, the informal exhortations of the 17th century gave way to a more permanent network of "public friends" who traveled abroad and preached Quakerism's message. Women were a part of this spiritual elite, and Larson, who has a doctorate from Harvard, eloquently demonstrates the surprising influence women "ministers" wielded. Larson has narrowed her study to the approximately 1,500 English and American Quaker women in the 18th century who traveled across the Atlantic to preach and help establish Quaker meetings. In an era when few women wrote and only a scant handful were published, these women saw their sermons and tracts reach an eager transatlantic audience. When women scarcely traveled much distance beyond their hometowns, Quaker women with a "concern" for a particular destination journeyed thousands of miles through dangerous conditions to preach before mixed audiences. Believing that they were called of God to preach, they were absent from husbands and young children for years at a stretch. Larson shows that these preaching women were not simply novelties; they exerted real power over the direction of the midcentury Quaker Reformation. When the movement threatened to wax soft in the face of religious toleration and material prosperity, female Friends encouraged a return to the strict tenets of early Quakerism. Women ministers demanded a retrenchment of dress, a renewed commitment topacifism, and a universal abolitionist stance when such opinions were unfashionable among successful Quakers. And the female reformers won. Largely because of their persistent message, colonial Friends renounced politics and slaveholding, and settled into Quakerism's now familiar trajectory of quiet activism and social justice. One of the best books ever on women and Quakerism. (25 illustrations)

From the Publisher

Rebecca Larson offers a deeper and more daring probe into colonial religious life. (New Republic)

[Larson] has given us the stories of thousands of women whose words and courageous deportment forced large numbers of British North Americans to admit female competence. (Women's Review of Books)

Larson has written the first comprehensive account of the role of 18th-century Quaker women ministers. (Choice)

Daughters of Light should be required reading for everyone engaged by present-day debates about whether the clergy should be open to women. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

"Larson] provides a welcome corrective to popular historical accounts that underestimate the roles of women and religious diversity in early American history. (Booklist)