"Providence has freed our hands"
Subtitle: women's missions and the American encounter with Japan
By: Karen K. Seat.
Edition: 1st ed.
Series: Women in religion; Women in religion (Syracuse University)
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Syracuse, N.Y
Language: eng
Number of pages: 193
ISBN-13: 9780815631811
Subjects: Russell, Elizabeth, -- 1836-1928; Methodist Episcopal Church -- Missions -- Japan; Women in missionary work; Missions -- Japan; Women missionaries -- United States; United States -- Church history -- 19th century
Description: "In "Providence Has Freed Our Hands," Karen K. Seat tells the history of women's foreign missions in Japan and reveals the considerable role they played in liberalizing American understandings of Christianity, gender, and race." "The author uses the story of Elizabeth Russell, a colorful missionary to Japan, to illustrate the key issues shaping Protestant women's missions. As a member of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the most powerful women's institutions of the late nineteenth century, Russell founded a progressive school for girls in Japan, defying conservatives not only within her own denomination but also in the government of Japan. Transformed by their experiences in Japan, missionaries like Russell became forceful advocates for racial tolerance and women's rights"--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 165-180) and index.
Table of contents: title: "Something in me, dangerous" : women's missions in the age of empire; title: "Translated from darkness to light" : the formation of an American missionary woman; title: "Who are we that we should fight against the Holy Spirit?" : the rise of the American women's mission movement; title: "Opened before our delighted vision" : American Protestant missionaries in new Japan; title: "The world moves" : Protestant missionaries negotiate gender ideologies; title: "One world-wide sisterhood" : advocating a conditional equality.