Marianne Farningham has been called one of the most influential female
members of the nineteenth-century Baptist community, yet her name, a
familiar one in evangelical households during the later nineteenth
century, is virtually unknown to us today. Marianne, who wrote for the
Christian press over a period of fifty years, both reflected and shaped
aspects of popular Nonconformity, through her poetry, prose and
biographies. She covered topics as varied as the theology of hell and
votes for women. This investigation explores major aspects of Marianne's
many-faceted life and thought, and discusses her views of women's roles,
her educational work, her public life, for example as a popular
lecturer, and her spirituality. Informed by Marianne's life and
writings, it challenges a number of stereotypes of Victorian
evangelicalism, including assumptions about evangelical women and the
relationship between Evangelicalism and feminism. It is a significant
contribution to the history of Victorian Nonconformity. 'Secular
scholars often complain that, traditionally, historians have ignored the
lives of women. Nevertheless, when these scholars have gone to
rediscover past women, they have often been bewildered by their strong
commitment to the Christian faith and their scholarship has suffered
from an inability to understand theology and spirituality. Linda Wilson
is the perfect historian to retrieve for us the life of a Victorian
woman. Wilson is a careful researcher and a clear, engaging writer. She
brings both a deep understanding of Christianity and a probing,
analytical mind. Moreover, Marianne Farningham is exactly the kind of
person we need to rediscover. Although a remarkable and fascinating
woman in many ways, Faningham did not live an extreme life - she was not
a genius, an aristocrat, or a heroic missionary-martyr. Calling herself
""a plain woman worker"", Farningham's life can inform the on-going
struggle of many women (and men) today to live out their faith, make a
living, seek to fulfill their potential even in the face of prejudice,
and value their home lives and relationships.' Timothy Larsen, McManis
Professor of Christian Thought, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, USA
'This stimulating study of an unjustly neglected figure not only brings
her life and work vividly before the reader, but also illuminates her
time and context in ways that will provoke further study.' Ruth
Gouldbourne, Minister of Bloomsbury Baptist Church and formerly Tutor in
Church History and Doctrine, Bristol Baptist College, UK 'Farningham
deserves the admirable quality of treatment found in this volume. She
had a significant personal influence and is also someone whose life
illuminates nineteenth-century Baptist and wider evangelical
Nonconformist culture and the role of women within that culture.' Ian M.
Randall, International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague, Czech
Republic and Spurgeon's College, London, UK Linda Wilson tutors distance
learning courses with London School of Theology and the University of
Gloucestershire. She is also part of the leadership team of a 'new
church', Bristol Christian Fellowship. Dr Wilson has previously
published Constrained by Zeal, a study of nineteenth-century female
spirituality.
