Free Indeed - Women In The Pre-reformation Movements - The One Year Women in Christian History Devotional

Long before Martin Luther tacked his ninety-five complaints on the church door, launching the Protestant Reformation, others were protesting. The Western church exploded in the 1500s, but the previous centuries had already seen several courageous leaders calling for reform. Groups often formed around these leaders—and these groups had a surprising level of female leadership.

In the 1300s, John Wycliffe riled up English Christians with a strong message against papal authority and the wealth of the church. He began translating the Bible from church Latin to common English. This was revolutionary. If just anyone could read the Scriptures, who needed priests?

Wycliffe’s followers were known as Lollards (probably from a Dutch word for mumbling, because they preached in the common tongue). For another century or so, they spread Wycliffe’s ideas in the face of persecution. Some critics had a hard time with the idea that Lollard women were speaking out as well as men. One poet chided:

Some women . . . though their wit be thin

Will arguments make in Holy Writ!

It’s unclear whether women were actually serving as priests in this movement, but they were learning and sharing Scripture. This is true of several other pre-Reformation movements as well—such as the Cathars (Albigensians) and Waldensians of earlier centuries. In the early 1400s in Bohemia, Jan Hus preached a Wycliffe-like message and promoted an even stronger role for women. “Women were made in the image of God and should fear no man,” he preached, allowing women to preach, serve on councils, and even fight in battle. (Ironically, Joan of Arc, in a break between her battles, fired off a letter to the Hussites urging them to cease their heretical ways.)

Right or wrong, these movements were preaching liberation—freedom from the consolidated power of the priesthood. Central to their teaching was that every human being—male or female—should be able to pray, to read the Bible, to confess sin, to know God, and to talk about God. It’s no surprise, then, that even in their restricted culture many women were liberated to serve God according to their gifts.

Our culture is quite different, but you have freedom too. Freedom to know and serve God. How are you using it?

If the Son sets you free, you are truly free.

John 8:36