¹ Vauchez, André, The Laity in the Middle Ages: Religious Beliefs and Devotional Practices, ed. Bornstein, Daniel E., trans. Schneider, Margery J. (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1993), 220–222Google Scholar, 226–227.

² Vauchez, Laity in the Middle Ages, 220–221.

³ Voaden, Rosalynn, God's Words, Women's Voices: The Discernment of Spirits in the Writing of Late-Medieval Women Visionaries (Rochester, N.Y.: York Medieval, 1999), 7–9Google Scholar, 37–40. Voaden draws a distinction between mystics and visionaries, where mystics experience an intellectual vision rather than the imaginative vision (via sensory or symbolic form) of the visionary. She contends that because of cultural limitations most late-medieval women became visionaries and prophets. See God's Words, Women's Voices, 10, 35–37.

⁴ Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica 2a2ae XLV, 77, as quoted in Voaden, God's Words, Women's Voices, 36. See also 37.

⁵ For examples of an analysis of this view of “exceptionalism,” see Minnis, Alastair, “Religious Roles: Public and Private” in Medieval Holy Women in the Christian Tradition, c. 1100–c. 1500, eds. Minnis, Alastair and Voaden, Rosalynn (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2010)Google Scholar, 50, 59 and Thompson, John L., “Rules Proved by Exceptions: The Exegesis of Paul and Women in the Sixteenth Century,” in A Companion to Paul in the Reformation, ed. Ward Holder, R. (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 530–532Google Scholar. Rosalynn Voaden devotes the majority of her book to an analysis of the late-medieval church's discourse and practice of discretio spirituum; see God's Words, Women's Voices.

⁶ Jon Balserak has very recently provided an account of these two traditions in his opening chapters of John Calvin as Sixteenth-Century Prophet (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), 17–32Google Scholar.

⁷ For example, Augustine argued that one who experienced both intellectual and imaginative vision was superior, while Peter Lombard and Thomas Aquinas viewed intellectual vision as more “pure.” For a more thorough account, see Balserak, John Calvin as Sixteenth-Century Prophet, 18–24.

⁸ For a more detailed account, see McKee, Elsie, Elders and the Plural Ministry: The Role of Exegetical History in Illuminating John Calvin's Theology (Geneva: Droz, 1988)Google Scholar, 44, 64–65 and Balserak, John Calvin as Sixteenth-Century Prophet, 25.

⁹ Rhabanus Maurus, Enarrationum in Epp. Pauli lib XI—Epist. 1 ad Corinthios 12 (Patrologia Latina 112:116), as cited in Balserak, John Calvin as Sixteenth-Century Prophet, 27. Thomas Aquinas, Peter Lombard, Lanfranc of Bec, Herveus Burgidolensis, and Bruno Carthusianorum also expressed this view. See Balserak, John Calvin as Sixteenth-Century Prophet, 27–29.

¹⁰ There are far too many sources that could be named here, but the ones listed here are representative. Many of these sources include both a view of prophecy as interpretation of scripture and the role prophecy played in how these male reformers conceived of themselves and their ministries. See Elsie McKee, Elders and the Plural Ministry, 72–88; Büsser, Fritz, “Der Prophet-Gedanken zu Zwinglis Theologie,” Zwingliana 13 (1969): 7–18Google Scholar; Denis, Philippe, “La Prophétie dans les Eglises de la Réform au XVIe siècle,” Revue d'Histoire ecclésiastique 72 (1977): 289–316Google Scholar; Bast, Robert, “Constructing Protestant Identity: The Pastor as Prophet in Reformation Zurich,” in Frömmigkeit—Theology—Frömmigkeitstheologie: Contributions to European Church History, eds. Litz, Gudrun, Munzert, Heidrun, and Liebenberg, Roland (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 351–362Google Scholar; Opitz, Peter, “Von prophetischer Existenz zur Prophetie als Pädagogik: Zu Bullingers Lehre vom munus propheticum,” in Heinrich Bullinger: Life-Thought-Influence, vol. 2, eds. Campi, Emidio et al. (Zurich: Theologischer Verlag Zurich, 2007), 493–513Google Scholar; Petersen, Rodney L., “Bullinger's Prophets of the ‘Restitutio,’” in Biblical Hermeneutics in Historical Perspective: Studies in Honor of Karlfried Froehlich on his sixtieth birthday, eds. Burrows, Mark S. and Rorem, Paul (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1991), 245–260Google Scholar; van't Spijker, Willem, The Ecclesiastical Offices in the Thought of Martin Bucer, trans. Vriend, John and Bierma, Lyle (Leiden: Brill, 1996)Google Scholar; Kolb, Robert, Martin Luther as Prophet, Teacher, and Hero: Images of the Reformer, 1520–1620 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1999)Google Scholar; Edwards, Mark U. Jr., Luther and the False Brethren (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1975)Google Scholar; Ganoczy, Alexandre, Le Jeune Calvin: Genèse et evolution de sa vocation réformatrice (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1966), 336–368Google Scholar; Engammare, Max, “Calvin: A Prophet without a Prophecy,” Church History 67 (1998): 643–661Google Scholar; de Greef, Wulfert, “Calvin on Prophecy,” in Ordenlich und fruchtbar: Festschrift für Willem van't Spijker, eds. Neusner, Wilhelm H. and Selderhuis, H. J. (Groen en Zoon, 1997), 111–128Google Scholar; de Boer, Erik, The Genevan School of the Prophets: The congregations of the Company of Pastors and their Influence in 16th Century Europe (Geneva: Librarie Droz, 2012)Google Scholar; and Balserak's John Calvin as Sixteenth-Century Prophet.

¹¹ See, for examples, Edwards's Luther and the False Brethren, 9, 22–26; and Balserak, John Calvin as Sixteenth-Century Prophet, 44–52. See also Klaus Depperman's description of Anabaptism in Strasbourg in Melchior Hoffman: Social Unrest and Apocalyptic Visions in the Age of Reformation, ed. Drewery, Benjamin, trans. Wren, Malcolm (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1987), 189–190Google Scholar.

¹² Moeller, Bernd, “What was Preached in German Towns in the Early Reformation?” in The German Reformation, ed. Dixon, C. Scott (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999), 41–42Google Scholar.

¹³ Russell, Paul, Lay Theology in the Reformation: Popular Pamphleteers in Southwest German 1521–1525 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 56–79Google Scholar, 21–55.

¹⁴ Chrisman, Miriam Usher, “Lay Response to the Protestant Reformation in Germany, 1520–1528” in Reformation Principle and Practice: Essays in Honor of Arthur Geoffrey Dickens (London: Scolar, 1980), 34–52Google Scholar; “The Artisans, Scripture, and Christian Practice” in Conflicting Visions of Reform: German Lay Propaganda Pamphlets, 1519–1530 (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities, 1996), 159–178Google Scholar; and Lay Culture, Learned Culture, 1480–1599 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982)Google Scholar.

¹⁵ Chrisman, Miriam U., “Women and the Reformation in Strasbourg, 1490–1530,” Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 63 (1972): 143Google Scholar, 153, 156–160, 163–164. Chrisman notes briefly Katharina's argument on the basis of scripture for women's right to an active role in the church (i.e., to speak publicly), but Chrisman views Katharina as unique (153, 156).

¹⁶ Chrisman, “Women and the Reformation in Strasbourg,” 160.

¹⁷ Scott-Baumann, Elizabeth, Forms of Engagement: Women, Poetry, and Culture 1640–1680 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013)Google Scholar, 7.

¹⁸ Scott-Baumann, Forms of Engagement, 10.

¹⁹ A critical edition of the German texts can be found in Matheson, Peter, ed., Argula von Grumbach Schriften (Heidelberg: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2010)Google Scholar—hereafter cited as “AVG Schriften.” English translations of the texts are provided in Matheson, Peter, ed., Argula von Grumbach: A Woman's Voice in the Reformation (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1995)Google Scholar, hereafter cited as “Matheson.” AVG Schriften, 72; Matheson, 86.

²⁰ McKee, Elsie, Katharina Schütz Zell, vol. I, The Life and Thought of a Sixteenth-Century Reformer and Katharina Schütz Zell, vol. II, The Writings, A Critical Edition (Leiden: Brill 1999)Google Scholar, as well as her English translation of Katharina's writings in Church Mother: The Writings of a Protestant Reformer in Sixteenth-Century Germany (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006)Google Scholar. Hereafter, the critical edition of Katharina's writings is cited as “KSZ II” and the English translation of her writings is cited as “Church Mother.” McKee's volume on Katharina's life and thought is cited hereafter as “KSZ I.” McKee notes Katharina's knowledge of male reformers' works and Katharina's understanding of herself as a full partner in her husband's ministry. See KSZ I: 81, 289–291, 373, 441–451; KSZ II, 73–74, 169–173; Church Mother, 106, 192, 224–228.

²¹ KSZ I, 55fn18; McKinley, Mary B., Marie Dentière: Epistle to Marguerite de Navarre and Preface to a Sermon by John Calvin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004)Google Scholar, 4.

²² The goal is not to present an exhaustive account of Luther, Matthew Zell, Bucer, or Farel's teachings on the priesthood of all believers and the call for all to interpret scripture. It suffices to demonstrate that these male reformers clearly expressed these teachings, specifically during these early years of the 1520s.

²³ Matheson, 52–53. Matheson writes concerning Halbach's findings: “In its theological judgments it measures Argula by a Lutheran plumb-line, and is over-confident about the influence of specific Lutheran writings on her.”

²⁴ Halbach, Silke, Argula von Grumbach als Verfasserin reformatorischer Flugschriften (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1992), 221–225Google Scholar. Matheson, 30, 39; “A Reformation for Women? Sin, Grace and Gender in the Writings of Argula von Grumbach,” Scottish Journal of Theology 49 (1996): 40–41Google Scholar, 44; and “Martin Luther and Argula von Grumbach,” Lutheran Quarterly 22 (2008): 2, 6–7Google Scholar, 11. Russell, Lay Theology in the Reformation, 200–201. Stjerna, Kirsi, Women and the Reformation (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2009), 74–77Google Scholar.

²⁵ AVG Schriften, 64, 88, 98, 100, 107, 112, 119, 120, 121, 128–129, 149; Matheson, 75, 76–77, 103, 118, 121, 127, 132, 142, 143, 145, 155–156, 192.

²⁶ AVG Schriften, 136, 137, 138; Matheson, 175, 176. Likewise, she exhorted Duke Wilhelm to “test everything by the Spirit, according to Holy Scripture” and reminded her relative that “whoever asks God for a good Spirit will be given it from the Father” and that “all Christians have a responsibility to know the Word of God” (AVG Schriften, 87, 122; Matheson, 102, 145, 146).

²⁷ Martin Luthers Werke, Kritische Gesamtausgabe, 66 vols. (Weimar: H. Böhlau, 1883–1987), 6:407, 408–409 [hereafter WA]; Luther's Works, 55 vols. (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1955–1986), 44:127, 129, 130 [hereafter LW].

²⁸ WA 6:411–12, 413; LW 44:133–134, 136.

²⁹ WA 8:491, 491–492, 495; LW 36:144, 145, 149.

³⁰ See KSZ I, 390–418. McKee depicts the reception of Katharina's ideas by her male contemporaries (see KSZ I, 58 65–66, 80–81, 93, 101–102 146, 153), but supplies general statements about Katharina's reception of contemporary male reformers' teachings (KSZ I, 81, 289–291, 373).

³¹ Note that this is one of Argula's favorite texts. Katharina cites the Markan version (Mk 8:38) and conflates this with Matthew 10:33. KSZ II, 7; Church Mother, 52.

³² KSZ II, 7, 131; Church Mother, 52, 194.

³³ KSZ II, 7, 311; Church Mother, 52, 132. See also KSZ II, 22, 24; Church Mother, 63, 64.

³⁴ KSZ II, 22–23, 127–128, 133–135, 145–146, 172–173, 173;Church Mother, 64, 191–192, 194, 196–198, 209, 228, 229–230.

³⁵ William Stafford emphasizes the central role of faith in his analysis of Das Ym Selbs, but the importance of love of neighbor is also apparent. See William Stafford, Domesticating the Clergy: The Inception of the Reformation in Strasbourg, 1522–24 (Missoula, Mont.: Scholars, 1976), 48–65. Amy Nelson Burnett, as well, indicates the importance of love and service to the neighbor for Bucer's theology. See “Church Discipline and Moral Reformation in the Thought of Martin Bucer,” Sixteenth Century Journal 22 (1991): 440, 453, 454Google Scholar. McKee discusses Katharina's emphasis upon love of neighbor but does not draw clear parallels to the teachings of contemporary male reformers in Strasbourg. See KSZ I, 287–288, 318–327.

³⁶ Bucer, Martin, Martin Bucers Deutsche Schriften, vol. 1, ed. Stupperich, Robert (Gütersloh: Mohn, 1960–1962)Google Scholar, 321 (henceforth designated as “DS”).

³⁷ DS 1:82, 83.

³⁸ Matthew Zell, Christeliche Verantwortung (Strasbourg, 1523), y3r–v, e1r–v; henceforth cited as “CV.” The translation of this passage comes from Stafford, Domesticating the Clergy, 251–52, fn. 85. Zell also wrote in this same treatise: “Since God does not will that his creation be wholly ruined, he always raises up people through whom he rebukes the rulers” (CV, y2v).

³⁹ Similar to the secondary literature on Katharina Schütz Zell, studies of Marie Dentière either compare her to the work of other women writers or address male reactions to her teachings. See Head, Thomas, “The Religion of the Femmelettes: Ideals and Experience among Women in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century France,” in That Gentle Strength: Historical Perspectives on Women in Christianity, eds. Coon, Lynda L., Haldane, Katherine J., and Sommer, Elisabeth W. (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1990), 159–166Google Scholar and “A Propagandist for the Reform: Marie Dentière,” in Women Writers of the Renaissance and Reformation, ed. Wilson, Katharina M. (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1987), 265–266Google Scholar. See also Douglas, Jane Dempsey, “Marie Dentière's Use of Scripture in Her Theology of History,” in Biblical Hermeneutics in Historical Perspective (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1991), 243–244Google Scholar and McKinley, Mary, “The Absent Ellipsis: The Edition and Suppression of Marie Dentière in the Sixteenth and Nineteenth Century,” in Women Writers in Pre-Revolutionary France: Strategies of Emancipation, eds. Winn, Collette H. and Kuizenga, Donna (New York: Garland, 1997), 85–97Google Scholar.

⁴⁰ Dentière, Marie, Epistre tres utile faicte et composée par une femme Chrestienne de Tornay, Envoyée à la Royne de Navarre seur du Roy de France, Contre Les Turcz, Iuifz, Infideles, Faulx chrestiens, Anabaptistes, et Lutheriens (Geneva: Jean Gérard, 1539)Google Scholar, c6v–c7r. McKinley, Marie Dentière, 76–77.

⁴¹ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, c8v–d1r; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 79.

⁴² Dentière, Epistre tres utile, d6v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 85. In the body of the letter, Marie frequently exhorted everyone to defend their views from scripture. See Dentière, Epistre tres utile, b1v, b2r; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 61, 62.

⁴³ Guillame Farel, Summaire et briefve declaration daucuns lieux fort necessaries a ung chascun Chrestien pour mettre sa confiance en Dieu et ayder son prochain (Neuchâtel, 1534), Bv. See also Zuidema and Raalte, eds., Early French Reform: The Theology and Spirituality of Guillame Farel (Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2011)Google Scholar, 126, 162. He wrote that every Christian should test and judge even what their pastors teach in order to “seek diligently to know if it is of the Word of God” (162).

⁴⁴ See Guillame Farel, The Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed (1524), trans. Theodore Van Raalte in Zuidema and Raalte, Early French Reform, 111 and Summaire, Bvi; see also Ciii, Cv–vi, Hiv–v, Liii. Zuidema and Raalte, Early French Reform, 127; see also 131, 133, 162, 163, 179.

⁴⁵ WA 6:411; LW 44:134. The reader should note that the central subject matter of I Corinthians 14 is the gift of prophecy.

⁴⁶ WA 8:491–92, 495–96; LW 36:145, 149–50.

⁴⁷ Luther again employed I Corinthians 14 in his 1523 treatise Concerning the Ministry to describe a process by which all Christians might discern right and true doctrine by judging it in accordance with scripture. See WA 12:179–80, 187–89; LW 40:21, 31–34.

⁴⁸ DS 2:112. Bucer wrote, commenting on I Corinthians 14, “To prophesy in this place, as you know here, is preaching the Word of God and making it clear [interpreting].”

⁴⁹ DS 2:127–28. See also DS 2:447, 451; 5:27. I Corinthians 14:29 states (NRSV), “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.”

⁵⁰ CV, y2v, a2v, y3r–v, e1r–v. a3r–v.

⁵¹ Farel, Summaire, Hv; Zuidema and Raalte, Early French Reform, 163; see 162–163.

⁵² Farel, Summaire, Cv–vi; Zuidema and Raalte, Early French Reform, 132–133.

⁵³ WA 6:461; 8:539, 555, 559; LW 44:206, 36:200, 220, 225.

⁵⁴ WA 6:405–406, 8:494; LW 44:125; 36:147.

⁵⁵ WA 8:555, 556, 557, 558–559, 559–560; LW 36:220, 221, 222–223, 224, 225–226.

⁵⁶ WA 8:561; LW 36:227.

⁵⁷ CV, y3r–v.

⁵⁸ William Stafford makes this point in Domesticating the Clergy, 35, 35–37.

⁵⁹ Farel, Summaire, Dvii–viii, Div, Dv; Zuidema and Raalte, Early French Reform, 141, 138, 139.

⁶⁰ Farel, Summaire, Hiv; Zuidema and Raalte, Early French Reform, 162. See Joel 2:1, 15–16.

⁶¹ Farel, Summaire, Ivii–viii; Zuidema and Raalte, Early French Reform, 170–71.

⁶² CV, e2v–e3r.

⁶³ DS 2:127–28.

⁶⁴ WA 6:409, 414; WA 8:502, 504; LW 44:131, 138; LW 36:158, 160. See also Martin Luthers Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe, Breifwechsel, 18 vols. (Weimar: H. Böhlau, 1930-1985), 2:424–425, 427, 448–449, 460.

⁶⁵ Farel, Summaire, Cii–iii, Ciii–v, Cvi–vii, Gv–Hi; Zuidema and Raalte, Early French Reform, 130–131, 131–132, 134, 157–160.

⁶⁶ Farel, Summaire, Gv–Hi; Zuidema and Raalte, Early French Reform, 157–160.

⁶⁷ Russell, Lay Theology in the Reformation, 211. Granting that an apocalyptic character was important to Argula von Grumbach's conception of prophecy (even as she did not operate with merely an apocalyptic concept), such is significantly less clear in the person of Katharina Schütz Zell—not only because her ministry extended far beyond the 1520s, but also because she identified her ministry in language and actions that suggested a model to be sustained rather than “exceptional.”

⁶⁸ See Russell, Lay Theology in the Reformation, 70–72, 185–211. See also his article, “‘Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy . . .’ (Joel 2:28): Common People and the Future of the Reformation in the Pamphlet Literature of Southwestern Germany to 1525,” Archiv für Reformationsgeschichte 74 (1983): 122–140Google Scholar.

⁶⁹ Peter Matheson broadly refers to Argula's “sense of prophetic vocation,” yet relates it to her apocalyptic expectations (“Breaking the Silence,” 102). In “A Reformation for Women? Sin, Grace and Gender in the Writings of Argula von Grumbach,” he simply states that Argula's discourse was “of a prophetic calling” (51). In reflecting upon Argula's employment of Joel 2:28, Matheson does not mention prophecy at all (Argula von Grumbach: A Woman's Voice in the Reformation, 39; “Breaking the Silence,” 101; and “Martin Luther and Argula von Grumbach,” 9).

⁷⁰ Halbach, Argula von Grumbach als Verfasserin reformatorischer Flugschriften, 216–218.

⁷¹ KSZ I, 173–200, 434–439. Other alternative identifications for Katharina named by McKee are “fisher of people” (440), “fellow worker” (451–453), and “church mother” (465–476).

⁷² KSZ I, 435, 436–439.

⁷³ KSZ I, 474fn138.

⁷⁴ See footnote 10.

⁷⁵ See McKinley, Marie Dentière, 15, 19, 20, 25.

⁷⁶ See Thomas Head, “The Religion of the Femmelettes,” 159, 161–162. Head writes, “Having failed in her attempt to construct some alternative to the cloister and the kitchen, Dentière found herself forced to rely—like Anabaptist contemporaries whom she despised and Catholic nuns whose life she had rejected—on a claim of charismatic or prophetic, rather than institutional, authority” (161–162). On the contrary, Dentière's emphasis on her call by God to interpret scripture publicly was her claim to authority; it was a claim to a different conception of the prophetic office than one primarily reliant upon claims to an ecstatic experience of the Holy Spirit. Head does not mention prophecy at all in his brief article, “A Propagandist for the Reform: Marie Dentière,” 260–270. Irena Backus makes a single reference to prophecy in her article (“Marie Dentière: un cas de féminisme théologique à l'époque de la Réforme?” Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire du Protestantisme Français 137 [1991]: 187–188Google Scholar).

⁷⁷ Douglass, “Marie Dentière's Use of Scripture in Her Theology of History,” 227–244. Even the classic work by Natalie Zemon Davis, which argues that the new Reformed image of the heroine is a “simple woman who knows her Bible,” makes only a single reference to the role of prophecy. See “City Women and Religious Change,” in Society and Culture in Early Modern France (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1965, 1975), 65–95Google Scholar. Davis refers to a small lay prophesying movement in a sixteenth-century Reformed church southwest of Paris (83).

⁷⁸ Here she began with the passage from I Timothy 2 that commands women's silence and then cited Matt 10:32–33, Is 3:3 and 12, Is 29:24, Ez 20:23, Ps 8:2, Lk 10:21, Jer 31:34, Jn 6:45, Is 54:13, I Cor 12:3 and Matt 15:17. AVG Schriften, 68; Matheson, 81. She quoted Deut 4:2 and Prov 30:5–6, which command not to add anything to God's words.

⁷⁹ AVG Schriften, 75, see also 73; Matheson, 90, see also 87.

⁸⁰ AVG Schriften, 92; Matheson, 110.

⁸¹ AVG Schriften, 139–140; Matheson, 180.

⁸² KSZ II, 10; Church Mother, 53.

⁸³ Of course, quoting scripture is also a tool of the ministry of comfort and rebuke. She wrote, “If, however, we are weak in our flesh, we should always encourage each other with the Word of God” (KSZ II, 44; Church Mother, 80).

⁸⁴ KSZ II, 71–72; Church Mother, 104.

⁸⁵ KSZ II, 145; Church Mother, 207.

⁸⁶ KSZ II, 133–134; Church Mother, 196.

⁸⁷ Hebrews 2:8 and I Corinthians 15:27 cites Psalm 8:6 as a prophecy of Christ. The pre-modern church viewed David as a prophet.

⁸⁸ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, a5v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 56–57.

⁸⁹ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, a7r; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 58.

⁹⁰ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, d8r; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 87.

⁹¹ She cites Hos 13:8 and 6:5, Is 30:1 and Ezek 13:17, 19 and Ezek 33:32. She conflates Hos 6:5 and Is 30:1, proclaiming, “I smote them with the words of my mouth. Woe to you! For you have made your counsel without me” (AVG Schriften, 66; Matheson, 77–78).

⁹² AVG Schriften, 75; Matheson, 90. She cited Joel 2:12.

⁹³ AVG Schriften, 88–89; Matheson, 104–105.

⁹⁴ AVG Schriften, 100; Matheson, 121.

⁹⁵ AVG Schriften, 130; Matheson, 158.

⁹⁶ See especially KSZ II, 312–13; Church Mother, 132.

⁹⁷ She cited Is 54:4–8, 11, 10; 49:15; 43:1, 5, 14; 44:2. See KSZ II, 10–11; Church Mother, 54–55.

⁹⁸ KSZ II, 43–44; Church Mother, 79–80. In addition, Katharina framed her letter of rebuke against Ludwig Rabus with a quotation from Isaiah 38: “Oh how happily will I speak, because God has and does rebuke; therefore, I will be thankful all my life long for my afflictions” (KSZ II, 168; Church Mother, 223).

⁹⁹ KSZ II, 46; Church Mother, 82. All the persons named are biblical prophets of the Old or New Testaments.

¹⁰⁰ KSZ II, 76–77; Church Mother, 109.

¹⁰¹ KSZ II, 79–80; Church Mother, 111.

¹⁰² KSZ II, 76; Church Mother, 108. She also likened Zell to Moses, as well as Christ himself as the true Shepherd. KSZ II, 90, 88; Church Mother, 120, 118.

¹⁰³ KSZ II, 76, 77, 80, 87, 88, 90; Church Mother, 108, 109, 112, 118, 120.

¹⁰⁴ Of course, Katharina did not solely describe her husband's ministry in prophetic terms. She just as much envisioned it in apostolic terms (such as likening him to Paul), as well. See KSZ II, 76, 79–80, 85; Church Mother, 108, 111, 116.

¹⁰⁵ KSZ II, 43, 70, 71–72, 134, 151, 168–169; Church Mother, 79, 103, 104, 196, 212, 224.

¹⁰⁶ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, a5v–a8v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 57–59. She began, “But we are so blind because of our avarice . . . by false doctrines and long orations false prophets have seduced and tricked the poor people” (57). Then she continued, “In spite of all that, this good God is ready to take us back again, receive us, and pardon us for the love of his son” (58). She concluded, “Now we must not serve God in ceremonial, carnal, or visible servitude, but in freedom of spirit. For our God is not carnal or visible, but spirit; and he asks to be adored and served in spirit and truth” (59).

¹⁰⁷ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, a8v–b2r, there b2v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 62.

¹⁰⁸ Dentière, Epistre tres utile; b3r–b5v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 63–64.

¹⁰⁹ AVG Schriften, 65–66; Matheson, 77. The specific image she alluded to here is the image of the rod and the boiling pot in Jeremiah 1:11–13. Argula refers again to this boiling pot in her letter to Frederick the Wise (AVG Schriften, 113; Matheson, 134).

¹¹⁰ AVG Schriften, 73–74; Matheson, 88.

¹¹¹ AVG Schriften, 99, see also 67; Matheson, 120, see also 79. She refers to these same texts in Isaiah 3 in her letters to Duke Wilhelm (AVG Schriften, 89; Matheson, 106) and Frederick the Wise (AVG Schriften, 113; Matheson, 133–34). Likewise, in her 1524 poem, after recounting the feats of such women as Judith, Jael and Deborah, she wrote, “Should God raise women up again / To punish your too high disdain. / Awesome for you God's visitation / Plagued solely by a group of women!” (AVG Schriften, 143; Matheson, 185).

¹¹² She wrote, “O you women, who are perfectly described in this chapter! Who would want a better description than this? Are you not now widows, called by God? All these things have happened to you for the sake of His Word” (KSZ II, 10–11; Church Mother, 54).

¹¹³ Ps 116:10, Ps 69:9, Is 57:1, Ps 69:20, Lam 3:1, Is 58:8, Is 53:9, Zech 13:7, and Ps 69:6. See KSZ II, 76, 77, 80, 87, 88, 90; Church Mother, 108, 109, 112, 118, 120. It was also not uncommon for her to pray that a biblical prophecy not be fulfilled; for examples, she implored that Zech 13:7 might not be fulfilled upon her husband's death and that they might always honor God the Father and not fulfill Mal 1:6, 10 or Is 1:2–3 (KSZ II, 88, 350–351; Church Mother, 118, 159).

¹¹⁴ KSZ II, 341–43; Church Mother, 151–52.

¹¹⁵ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, a6v–a7v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 57–58.

¹¹⁶ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, b7v–b8r; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 67.

¹¹⁷ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, d2v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 81. To be clear, this article does not deny that apocalyptic elements may very well be at play here. The point is that the apocalyptic element is not the only aspect at play and that these women embraced a view of prophecy as interpretation of scripture rather than its visionary form.

¹¹⁸ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, a7r–v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 58.

¹¹⁹ AVG Schriften, 65–66, 67; Matheson, 77, 79.

¹²⁰ AVG Schriften, 66; Matheson, 78. She also exclaimed, “You may imagine that you can defy God, cast down his prophets and apostles from heaven, and banish them from the world. This shall not happen” (AVG Schriften, 66; Matheson, 77). Silke Halbach briefly notes Argula's concern with false prophets. Halbach, Argula von Grumbach als Verfasserin reformatorischer Flugschriften, 217.

¹²¹ AVG Schriften, 89, 100; Matheson, 106, 122.

¹²² AVG Schriften, 120–121; Matheson, 144.

¹²³ KSZ II, 26–27; Church Mother, 66–67.

¹²⁴ KSZ II, 31–37; Church Mother, 70–75.

¹²⁵ KSZ II, 324; Church Mother, 142.

¹²⁶ Contemporary male leaders in Strasbourg and Wittenberg not only insisted on the primacy of scripture and the inseparability of the work of the Holy Spirit from scripture, but they also maintained the necessity of a call in order for one to exercise a valid ministry. In Katharina's letter to Schwenckfeld, she remarked that others regard her as a “presumptuous spirit,” who claimed to “possess the whole Spirit of God.” To this Katharina responded, “I have never seen one of the Spirit's feathers, much less received one” (KSZ II, 127–128; Church Mother, 191). Here she is alluding to Luther's arguments against the Spiritualists in Against the Heavenly Prophets, when he wrote that they swallow the Holy Spirit “feathers and all” (WA 18:66). Later on in the letter she recounted a response she once gave to a critic, “God did not use some special revelation with you anymore than with me” (KSZ II, 149; Church Mother, 210).

¹²⁷ KSZ II, 43, 70, 71–72, 134, 151, 168–169; Church Mother, 79, 103, 104, 196, 212, 224.

¹²⁸ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, a6r–a7r; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 57–58.

¹²⁹ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, c1r–c2v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 70–72.

¹³⁰ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, d6v–d7r; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 85–86.

¹³¹ For examples, see Blaisdell, Charmarie Jenkins, “The Matrix of Reform: Women in the Lutheran and Calvinist Movements,” in Triumph over Silence: Women in Protestant History, ed. Greaves, Richard L. (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1985), 13–44Google Scholar and Douglass, Jane Dempsey, “Women and the Continental Reformation,” in Religion and Sexism: Images of Woman in Jewish and Christian Traditions, ed. Ruether, Rosemary Radford (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974), 292–318Google Scholar, which provide good summaries of the relevant primary and secondary sources. See also Thomas Head, “The Religion of the Femmlettes,” 153–168.

¹³² Matheson, “Breaking the Silence,” 102, 104.

¹³³ Matheson, “Martin Luther and Argula von Grumbach,” 7–8, 9.

¹³⁴ WA 8:498; LW 36:152. Just prior to this, Luther explicated Paul's command that women should be silent (2 Tim 2:2): “Thus Paul forbids women to preach in the congregation where men are present who are skilled in speaking, so that respect and discipline may be maintained” (LW 40:152; WA 8:497).

¹³⁵ WA 12:189; LW 40:34.

¹³⁶ WA 30/3:524; LW 40:391.

¹³⁷ John L. Thompson has studied quite extensively the protestant reformers’ interpretations of biblical texts concerning women, ministry, and prophecy. Thompson affirms that Luther allowed that women might have a genuine prophetic calling, but only under the circumstances of an “emergency.” See John Calvin and the Daughters of Sarah: Women in Regular and Exceptional Roles in the Exegesis of John Calvin, his Predecessors, and his Contemporaries (Geneva: Librarie Droz, 1992)Google Scholar; “Rules Proved by Exceptions: The Exegesis of Paul and Women in the Sixteenth Century,” in Companion to Paul in the Reformation, ed. Ward Holder, R. (Leiden: Brill, 2009)Google Scholar, 531; and Reading the Bible with the Dead: What you can learn from the history of exegesis that you can't learn from exegesis alone (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 2007)Google Scholar. See especially chapter six, “Silent Prophetesses,” 113–135.

¹³⁸ See KSZ I, 128, 123.

¹³⁹ Capito to Jodocus Neobolus, March 10, 1538, Quellen zur Geschichte der Täufer 15, #814, p. 138, as quoted by McKee in KSZ I, 102.

¹⁴⁰ See KSZ I, 456–457, 93. See McKee's discussion and footnotes for primary sources.

¹⁴¹ See KSZ I, 65, 58, 101, 217–218. By “devotional writings,” I refer specifically to her writings of consolation, such as those to the women of Kentzingen and meditations on some Psalms to Felix Ambruster. It appears that these were much better received than her polemical writings.

¹⁴² See the discussion by McKinley, Marie Dentière, 14–15.

¹⁴³ See the discussions of Head, “The Religion of the Femmelettes,” 161 and McKinley, Marie Dentière, 16. See also Douglass, “Marie Dentière's Use of Scripture in Her Theology of History,” 243.

¹⁴⁴ Zwingli argued that since scripture commanded that women are not to speak publicly in church (I Cor 14:34 and I Tim 2:11), then for women “prophesy” meant simply to “hear a sermon or attend to the exposition of Scripture in church.” See Zwingli, “The Preaching Office, June 1525,” In Search of True Religion: Reformation, Pastoral and Eucharistic Writings, vol. 2, Huldrych Zwingli's Writings, ed. Furcha, Edward J. and Wayne Pipkin, H. (Allison Park, Penn.: Pickwick, 1984)Google Scholar, 171.

¹⁴⁵ AVG Schriften, 153; Matheson, 168. Likewise, throughout his poem he particularly attacked Argula's presumption of the right to interpret scripture: “That Holy Scripture you dare interpret . . . For Scripture is twisted to your fancy . . . So arrogant and without control / As if the Bible you'd swallowed whole. / Though you're a child in scriptural matters / Grasping whatever the wind may flutter” (AVG Schriften, 151, 153; Matheson, 165, 167).

¹⁴⁶ AVG Schriften, 148; Matheson, 192; emphasis added.

¹⁴⁷ She wrote, “But how can I profit from such as you / Who force the people the truth to eschew?” (AVG Schriften, 148; Matheson, 192).

¹⁴⁸ Argula pointed to the teaching of Joel 2:28 to argue two key points: that women are not excluded from this prophecy of the giving of the Spirit and the call to “read Scripture straight” (AVG Schriften, 136–37; Matheson, 176). She then proceeded to argue from other biblical texts (e.g., Jn 7:37–39) that the promise of the Spirit includes both peasants and women and that with the Spirit all may test the truthfulness of a teaching. Next, she employed I Corinthians 3:16 to argue that women are also “temples of the Holy Spirit.” Finally, she insisted that all may be taught by God, which is available to all through scripture. See AVG Schriften, 137–138; Matheson, 178–179.

¹⁴⁹ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, a4r–v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 54–55.

¹⁵⁰ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, a5r; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 56. I Corinthians 14:34 reads, “Women should be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak but should be subordinate.” I Timothy 2:11–12 reads, “Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.” Zwingli, as well as the vast majority of prior tradition and his contemporaries, read these texts very literally. Zwingl argued on the basis of these texts for the definition of women's prophesying as hearing God's Word (Zwingli, “The Preaching Office,” 171).

¹⁵¹ KSZ II, 133–134; Church Mother, 196–197. Emphasis added.

¹⁵² Interestingly, Katharina continued on in this letter to Schwenckfeld to respond to the charge that she did not allow herself to be taught by others by arguing extensively about how, indeed, she most definitely has heard and followed the teachings of others when they have upheld God's truth (KSZ II, 134–144; Church Mother, 197–206).

¹⁵³ One reader of this essay suggested that possibly the women were more apt to provide messages of comfort through the use of the Old Testament prophets than male interpreters, but my research has not found this to be true.

¹⁵⁴ AVG Schriften, 67; Matheson, 79; KSZ II, 133–134; Church Mother, 196–197; Dentière, Epistre tres utile, a2v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 53. Argula also acknowledged her need for instruction when she wrote, “It is my desire to be instructed by everyone”; yet, she then reminded her audience to beware of lofty speech and the wisdom of the world (AVG Schriften, 74; Matheson, 89).

¹⁵⁵ When one reads these women's treatises in their entirety, strong cases for the legitimate public ministries of women become evident. Marie Dentière is most clear with her sustained defense of women in ministry. See Epistre tres utile, a4–a5v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 54–56.

¹⁵⁶ AVG Schriften, 141; Matheson, 183; KSZ II, 33; Church Mother, 72.

¹⁵⁷ KSZ II, 33; Church Mother, 72.

¹⁵⁸ KSZ II, 71–72; Church Mother, 104; Dentière, Epistre tres utile, a4v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 55.

¹⁵⁹ AVG Shriften, 143; Matheson, 184; KSZ II, 134, 168; Church Mother, 196, 224; Dentière, Epistre tres utile, a4–a4v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 54–55. Deborah was both a prophet and a judge (Judges 4:4). Elizabeth prophesied the birth of the Messiah from Mary's womb (Lk 1:41–45). Anna was a widow in the temple who prophesied about the coming redemption brought by Christ (Lk 2:36–38).

¹⁶⁰ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, a4v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 55.

¹⁶¹ AVG Schriften, 67–68, 74; Matheson, 80, 90 and see 80–81, 89–90. She repeated several of these same verses in her letter to the people of Regensburg, see AVG Schriften, 129; Matheson, 156–157.

¹⁶² AVG Schriften, 119; Matheson, 141, 142.

¹⁶³ KSZ II, 21; Church Mother, 62. Later on in this treatise, Katharina speaks disparagingly of Johannes Cochlaeus's so-called “wisdom.” See KSZ II, 30; Church Mother, 69–70.

¹⁶⁴ KSZ II, 147; Church Mother, 209.

¹⁶⁵ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, b5, b7; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 64, 66. She began the epistolary section by arguing that all true wisdom comes from Christ and not from human powers (56). She wrote, “We must not take glory in the multitude of men, in the wisdom of men” (66). Later she concluded with this question, “I ask you, miserable creature, is there anyone wiser than God?” (85).

¹⁶⁶ AVG Schriften, 72; Matheson, 86–87. Argula also commented that she would not bury her talent in her open letter to the people of Regensburg; here it referred more to the call to speak publicly to reprove sin. See AVG Schriften, 129; Matheson, 156.

¹⁶⁷ KSZ II, 123; Church Mother, 187.

¹⁶⁸ KSZ II, 133–34, 144–45; Church Mother, 196, 206, 207. Katharina also employed the parable of the talent to her husband's ministry. See KSZ II, 81–82, 83. Church Mother, 113, 114.

¹⁶⁹ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, a3r, a3r–v; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 53, 53–54.

¹⁷⁰ Dentière, Epistre tres utile, a5; McKinley, Marie Dentière, 56. Carol Thysell explores the role of the Parable of the Talents in validating early modern women's preaching, especially in the works of Marie Dentière and Rachel Speght (a seventeenth-century English woman). Thysell argues that these two women broke the mold from the tendency of early modern women to justify their ministries by appeals to their own exceptionalism. Instead, Dentière and Speght, Thysell contends, sought to justify a public ministry for all women. See Thysell, Carol, “Unearthing the Treasure, Unknitting the Napkin: The Parable of the Talents as a Justification for Early Modern Women's Preaching and Prophesying,” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 15 (1999): 7–20Google Scholar. I contend that Argula and Katharina should be included in this list.