The Woman I Am

It is a great joy that Melody Maxwell, who did her PhD at IBTS and is much loved in our community, has now had her revised thesis published, under the title The Woman I Am. This is a splendid book which analyzes the traditional, progressive, and potential roles female Southern Baptist writers and editors portrayed for Southern Baptist women from 1906 to 2006, particularly in the area of missions. Melody is Assistant Professor of Christian Studies at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas. She previously served with East Texas Baptist University and Woman’s Missionary Union.

Batty A. DeBerg, an influential writer on gender and American fundamentalism, commends Melody’s ‘deft reading, description, and analysis’ as a ‘huge contribution’ to the field of studies in the role of women in American religious history. DeBerg describes Melody’s scholarship as ‘impeccable’.

Melody’s work is a superb example of how to read and utilise very extensive primary source materials to produce work that is well-argued, illuminating, accessible and relevant.

Congratulations to Melody!

Melody Maxwell, The Woman I Am: Southern Baptist Women’s Writings, 1906-2006 (University of Alabama Press, 2014), 304 pages.

 – Ian