(RNS) — If the blurb on the back of a history book dared admit it had begun life as an academic paper, you wouldn’t be blamed if you replaced it on the shelf and kept perusing.
But the Rev. Boise Kimber’s new book about Black women in ministry, born as a Yale Divinity School master’s thesis, doesn’t suffer from its scholarly start: Kimber, president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., fills his book, “Breaking the Stained-glass Ceiling,” with his own pioneering promotion of women in his historically Black denomination.
“I have appointed women in ministry, including pastors, to my cabinet, placed them in leadership roles and opened national platforms for them to preach, teach and lead,” said Kimber. His book, which is dedicated to his wife and “all women in ministry — past, present and future,” is intended, he said, to “chart a future where not only is the stained-glass ceiling shattered, but also the brick wall of resistance is dismantled,” said the author.
Kimber’s is one of three new books by prominent Black denominational leaders that examine the role of the Black church and the work of its clergy and lay people — all historical analyses pegged to Black History Month, but all of them vibrant with the experience of authors who have watched the Black church’s evolution over their decades of ministry.
“This project resurfaced my own memories of attending segregated schools, sitting in the ‘colored’ balcony section of the movie theater, and ‘whites only’ water fountain signs in public buildings and restaurants in my hometown,” wrote Bishop Teresa E. Snorton, the ecumenical bishop and program development officer for …
