Protestants, Gender and the Arab Renaissance in Late Ottoman Syria

Deanna Ferree Womack is Assistant Professor of History of Religions and Multifaith Relations at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and director of the Leadership and Multifaith Program (LAMP) in Atlanta. Ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Womack has lectured and published widely on the subjects of Arab Protestantism, mission history, world Christianity and Christian-Muslim relations. 'Protestants, Gender and the Arab Renaissance in Late Ottoman Syria' is her first book. Womack is co-editor, with Philip Forness, of the Edinburgh Studies in Middle Eastern Christianity series.

Deanna Womack presents a brilliant study of Syrian Protestants in the Nahda, the late nineteenth-century Arabic literary awakening, while examining how printed essays, books, and sermons shaped communal and devotional life. By featuring Syrian Protestant women, in particular, as prolific writers of the nahda, Womack blazes trails in the fields of Middle Eastern gender history and World Christianity alike.

• AcknowledgementsNotes on TranslationIllustrationsAbbreviationsIntroduction1. Evangelical Awakening: Becoming Protestant in the Arab Renaissance2. "Publishing" the Gospel, Reading the Nahda: Protestant Print Culture in Late Ottoman Syria3. A Feminist Awakening? Evangelical Women and the Arab Renaissance4. Ministers and Nahdawi Masculinity: The Beirut Church Controversy5. Syrian Women with a Mission: Preaching the Bible and Building the Protestant ChurchConclusionGlossaryAppendix A: Syrian Protestant GenealogiesAppendix B: American Missionary Families and Dates of ServiceAppendix C: Founding Members of the Evangelical Independent Church of Beirut, 1894Appendix D: Biblewomen Employed by the British Syrian Mission: 1860-1914Appendix E: Statistical Comparison: Biblewomen of the British and American MissionsAppendix F: Publications of Syrian Women at the American Mission Press, BeirutBibliographyIndex