Becoming the Pastor’s Wife

How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry

In her book, Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry, Dr. Beth Allison Barr draws on her experience as a pastor’s wife, and her academic expertise as an historian, to trace the history of the role of the pastor’s wife; a role that has both helped women and hurt women within conservative Protestant traditions. This collection houses an introduction to the various women throughout church history that are mentioned in Becoming the Pastor’s Wife.

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While the role of pastor’s wife gained important leadership status in the twentieth century, women lost independent church leadership opportunities that existed throughout most of church history, thus strengthening a current gender hierarchy that prioritizes men in ecclesiastical leadership positions. Dr. Barr examines the connection between the decline of female ordination and the rise of the role of pastor’s wife in the evangelical church, tracing its patterns throughout multiple eras of church history, from ancient and medieval eras, to the Reformation and modern periods of Christian women’s leadership. Barr’s scholarship elucidates the origins of the role of pastor’s wife, creating a framework by which to view the historical reality of ordained women.