The Provost’s Readers Meet the Author Series Explores “Becoming the Pastor’s Wife”
On Tuesday, February 17, 2026, at 11:30 a.m., the Office of the President and the Office of the Provost will present the third session of the 2025-2026 Readers Meet the Author series. Dr. Beth Allison Barr, Baylor University James Vardaman Endowed Professor of History, will speak about her latest book, “Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry,” in conversation with Charles J. and Eleanor McLerran DeLancey Dean and Holder of the William M. Hinson Chair of Christian Scriptures, Dr. Todd Still. The event will be held in the Schumacher Flex Commons of Moody Memorial Library and available online via Zoom Webinar.
“I hope readers will reconsider what they think they know about the pastor’s wife,” said Barr, “especially her overlooked significance in the course of evangelical history.”
Barr’s book examines the connection between the decline of female ordination and the rise of the role of pastor’s wife in the evangelical church, tracing its patterns in the larger history (ancient, medieval, Reformation, and modern) of Christian women’s leadership. By expertly blending historical narrative with personal experience from being a pastor’s wife herself for twenty-five years, she equips pastors’ wives to better advocate for themselves while helping the church understand the origins of the role as well as the historical reality of ordained women.
“I want the audience to learn the long history of women serving in pastoral leadership — ancient, medieval, and modern; how the pastor’s wife role has been recently, strategically, and effectively reshaped to combat women in pastoral leadership; and the often unrealized power of the pastor’s wife role in both helping and hurting women in the church,” said Barr.
Barr earned her doctorate in Medieval History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her areas of specialization include Medieval and Early Modern England, Women’s History, Medieval Sermons, and Church History. During her tenure at Baylor, Barr has served as Graduate Program Director in History (2016-2019), received a Centennial Professor Award (2018), served as Faculty-in-Residence for the LEAD Living and Learning Community in Allen/Dawson Residential Hall (2018-2024), and served as an Associate Dean in the Baylor Graduate School (2018-2022). Her research focuses on women and religion in medieval and early modern England, focusing especially on vernacular sermons, the art of preaching, pastoral care, and devotional literature. She has previously published journal articles in Fides et Historia, History Compass, The Journal of Religious History, and Perspectives in Religious Studies.
This event is free and open to the public. Following the conversation, there will be a reception with light refreshments and a book signing. At the event copies of, “Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry,” will be available for purchase.
The Readers Meet the Author Series is presented by the Office of the President and the Office of the Provost and hosted by the Baylor Libraries. The series fosters opportunities for faculty, staff, students, and others to gather for shared reflection and collegial conversation about big ideas.
For more information visit provost.web.baylor.edu/rma.