“It is a small thing to be judged of a man’s judgement. It is good to know that we are judged by God.”
When I stumbled across the quotation above it gave me pause. The open defiance of authority expressed was notable in the writing of a female missionary, certainly. But this was not any missionary. This was Lottie Moon, the Southern Baptist icon and namesake of the annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, promoted vigorously each year to supply funds for the denomination’s mission efforts. The woman I remembered from a childhood spent in Southern Baptist churches seemed at odds with this intriguing quotation so I began to read research on Moon. Who was this woman who supposedly starved herself to death out of devotion to the Chinese and mission cause?
As I looked closely at the publications, I found a woman whose life and work offers a view of nineteenth-century womanhood that corrects an understanding of them as passive and resigned to a domestic fate. Moon’s decision to go abroad as a pioneering single woman missionary was notable, to be sure. But her decision to advocate for the formation of the Woman’s Missionary Union and to argue for equal treatment of male and female missionaries moves her into the realm of activist and advocate. Only by removing the artifice of legend are we able to reveal the story of Moon’s unusual upbringing in Albemarle County, Virginia, her willingness to challenge gender norms, and to support female organization.
Yet to consider Moon’s biography alone would provide only part of her powerful story. The legend of Moon’s death from starvation on the mission field has played a central role in how she has been remembered, especially since the myth of her Christ-like sacrifice is essential to Southern Baptist mission fundraising. Through the research I discovered Moon did not starve herself to death nor did she give all of her money away to famine relief. It is, indeed, ironic that Moon’s active life, her call for female equality and her support for female organization have been overlooked.
I invite you to a new consideration of the missionary in Lottie Moon: A Southern Baptist Missionary in History and Legend by Regina D. Sullivan.
As I looked closely at the publications, I found a woman whose life and work offers a view of nineteenth-century womanhood that corrects an understanding of them as passive and resigned to a domestic fate. Moon’s decision to go abroad as a pioneering single woman missionary was notable, to be sure. But her decision to advocate for the formation of the Woman’s Missionary Union and to argue for equal treatment of male and female missionaries moves her into the realm of activist and advocate. Only by removing the artifice of legend are we able to reveal the story of Moon’s unusual upbringing in Albemarle County, Virginia, her willingness to challenge gender norms, and to support female organization.
Yet to consider Moon’s biography alone would provide only part of her powerful story. The legend of Moon’s death from starvation on the mission field has played a central role in how she has been remembered, especially since the myth of her Christ-like sacrifice is essential to Southern Baptist mission fundraising. Through the research I discovered Moon did not starve herself to death nor did she give all of her money away to famine relief. It is, indeed, ironic that Moon’s active life, her call for female equality and her support for female organization have been overlooked.
I invite you to a new consideration of the missionary in Lottie Moon: A Southern Baptist Missionary in History and Legend by Regina D. Sullivan.
