Doomed Romance

December 21, 2020
Bancroft Prize winner Heyrman (American Apostles) delivers an immersive look at changing gender dynamics within evangelical Protestantism in the years before the Civil War. Heyrman centers the narrative on Martha Parker, a New England schoolteacher who aspired to be a missionary. Women in the 1820s could only enter the missionary field as ministers’ wives, however, so Martha’s engagement to Elnathan Gridley, a clergyman selected for a mission to Palestine, seemed to be a match made in heaven. But Martha’s second cousin, Thomas Tenney, protested; after accepting his marriage proposal on a “conditional” basis, Martha broke off the engagement when she couldn’t obtain her sister’s approval of the marriage. (Heyrman suggests that interest from Gridley was the true cause of the relationship’s demise.) In an exhaustive investigation into Martha’s character conducted by the missionary board, Tenney’s allies argued that her “flirtatious ways” ought to disqualify her from missionary work; meanwhile, Martha’s supporters defended her right to change her mind. Heyrman’s fluid account reveals how encouraging female parishioners to use their God-given talents for holy ends benefited evangelical churches, yet led to worries about the feminization of religion and the growing ambitions of women. This richly detailed history shines.