Further Reading

If reading Women of Bethel makes you want to learn more — about Bethel and its denomination or the intersections of women’s history with education, religion, and sports — try some of the books and articles suggested below.

L.J. Ahlstrom, John Alexis Edgren: Sailor, Soldier, Educator, Author, Journalist (Conference Press, 1938)

G. William Carlson and Diana L. Magnuson, Persevere, Läsare, and Clarion: Celebrating Bethel’s 125th Anniversary (Bethel College and Seminary, 1997)

Christopher Gehrz and Fletcher Warren, Bethel at War: A Digital History of a Christian College in a Century of Warfare (2015)

Daniel John Hoisington, This Cap of White: The Story of the Mounds-Midway School of Nursing (Mounds-Midway Alumni Association, 2007)

Diana Magnuson, “Swedish Baptist Women in America, 1850-1914: the ‘High Calling’ of Serving Christ in the Life of the Church,” The Baptist Pietist Clarion, March 2009, 1, 15-20.

Norris A. Magnuson, Missionsskolan: The History of an Immigrant Theological School; Bethel Theological Seminary, 1871-1981 (Bethel Theological Seminary, 1982)

Adolf Olson, A Centenary History, as Related to the Baptist General Conference of America: “A Century of God’s Grace,” 1852-1952 (Baptist Conference Press, 1952)

________ and Virgil A. Olson, Seventy-Five Years: A History of Bethel Theological Seminary, 1871-1946 (Conference Press, 1946).

James A. Patterson, Shining Lights: A History of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (Baker Academic, 2001)

William C. Ringenberg, The Christian College: A History of Protestant Higher Education in America, 2nd ed. (Baker Academic, 2006)

Ethel Ruff, When Saints Go Marching: The Memoirs of a Baptist Evangelist (Exposition Press, 1957)

James and Carole Spickelmier, eds., Five Decades of Growth and Change: The Baptist General Conference and Bethel University, 1952-2002 (The History Center, 2010)

Additional books about the Baptist General Conference can be found in the “Ebooks” section of the Bethel Digital Library. For more on Bethel history, follow Bethel’s History Center on social media at Instagram and Facebook. If you’re interested in researching the history of Bethel and its denomination, get in touch with archivist Rebekah Lopez.

Gary A. Berg, The Rise of Women in Higher Education: How, Why, and What’s Next (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019)

Linda Eisenmann, Higher Education for Women in Postwar America, 1945-1965 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006)

Lynn D. Gordon, Gender and Higher Education in the Progressive Era (Yale University Press, 1990)

Mary Kelley, Learning to Speak and Stand: Women, Education, and Public Life in America’s Republic (University of North Carolina Press, 2006)

Savanah N. Landerholm, Beyond Equality: Women Leaders in Higher Education (Fortress Press, 2024)

Karen A. Longman and Susan R. Madsen, eds., Women and Leadership in Higher Education (Information Age, 2014)

Nancy Weiss Malkiel, “Keep the Damned Women Out”: The Struggle for Coeducation (Princeton University Press, 2016)

Margaret A. Nash, ed., Women’s Higher Education in the United States: New Historical Perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018)

Mabel Newcomer, A Century of Higher Education for American Women (Harper & Row, 1959)

Carol S. Pearson, Donna L. Shavlik, and Judith G. Touchton, Educating the Majority: Women Challenge Tradition in Higher Education (American Council on Education/Macmillan, 1989)

Tracey Schier and Cythia Eagle Russett, eds., Catholic Women’s Colleges in America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002)

Barbara Miller Solomon, In the Company of Educated Women: A History of Women and Higher Education in America (Yale University Press, 1985)

Andrea L. Turpin, A New Moral Vision: Gender, Religion, and the Changing Purposes of American Higher Education, 1837-1917 (Cornell University Press, 2016)

Khristi Lauren Adams, “The Black Church Models a Different Conversation about ‘Gender Roles,’” Christianity Today, November 2023

Beth Allison Barr, The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth (Brazos, 2021)

________, Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry (Brazos, 2025)

Linda Belleville et al., Two Views on Women in Ministry, rev. ed. (Zondervan Academic, 2005)

Sarah Bessey, Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to Revisit the Bible’s View of Women (Howard Books, 2013)

Kate Bowler, The Preacher’s Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities (Princeton University Press, 2019)

Aimee Byrd, Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: How the Church Needs to Rediscover Her Purpose (Zondervan, 2020)

Bonnidell Clouse and Robert G. Clouse, eds., Women in Ministry: Four Views (IVP Academic, 1989)

Pamela D.H. Cochran, Evangelical Feminism: A History (Fordham University Press, 2005)

Kevin DeYoung, Men and Women in the Church: A Short, Biblical, Practical Introduction (Crossway, 2021)

Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation (Liveright, 2020)

Rachel Held Evans, A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband “Master” (Thomas Nelson, 2012)

Stanley J. Grenz and Denise Muir Kjesbo, Women in the Church: A Biblical Theology of Women in Ministry (IVP Academic, 1995)

R. Marie Griffith, God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission (University of California Press, 2000)

Kathy Keller, Jesus, Justice & Gender Roles: A Case for Gender Roles in Ministry (Zondervan, 2014)

Andreas J. Köstenberger and Margaret E. Köstenberger, God’s Design for Man and Woman: A Biblical-Theological Survey (Crossway, 2014)

Andreas J. Köstenberger and Thomas R. Schreiner, eds., Women in the Church: An Interpretation and Application of 1 Timothy 2:9-15, 3rd ed. (Crossway, 2016)

Michelle Lee-Barnewall, Neither Complementarian nor Egalitarian: A Kingdom Corrective to the Evangelical Gender Debate (Baker Academic, 2016)

Susan Hill Lindley, “You Have Stept Out of Your Place”: A History of Women and Religion in America (Westminster John Knox, 1996)

Lucy Peppiatt, Rediscovering Scripture’s Vision for Women: Fresh Perspectives on Disputed Texts (IVP Academic, 2019)

John Piper and Wayne Grudem, eds., Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, rev. ed. (Crossway, 2021)

Amy Reynolds, Janel Curry, et al., “Gender Dynamics in Evangelical Institutions: Women and Men Leading in Higher Education and the Nonprofit Sector,” Women in Leadership National Study (2016)

Letha Dawson Scanzoni and Nancy A. Hardesty, All We’re Meant to Be: Biblical Feminism for Today, 3rd ed. (Eerdmans, 1992)

Lisa Weaver Swartz, Stained Glass Ceilings: How Evangelicals Do Gender and Practice Power (Rutgers University Press, 2022)

Andrea L. Turpin, “Two Questions For Complementarians (And One For Egalitarians),” The Anxious Bench, May 26, 2021

William G. Witt, Icons of Christ: A Biblical and Systematic Theology for Women’s Ordination (Baylor University Press, 2020)

Katie Barnes, Fair Play: How Sports Shape the Gender Debates (St. Martin’s, 2023)

Sharron Davies with Craig Lord, Unfair Play: The Battle for Women’s Sport (Forum, 2023)

Julie DiCaro, Sidelined: Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America (Dutton, 2022)

Pamela Grundy and Susan Shackelford, Shattering the Glass: The Remarkable History of Women’s Basketball, rev. ed. (University of North Carolina Press, 2025)

Macaela MacKenzie, Money, Power, Respect: How Women in Sports Are Shaping the Future of Feminism (Seal Press, 2023)

Michelle J. Manno, Denied: Women, Sports, and the Contradictions of Identity (NYU Press, 2023)

Maggie Mertens, Better, Faster, Farther: How Running Changed Everything We Know About Women (Algonquin Books, 2024)

Caitlin Murray, The National Team: The Inside Story of the Women Who Changed Soccer (Abrams Press, 2019)

Molly Schiot, Game Changers: The Unsung Heroines of Sports History (Simon & Schuster, 2016)

Jaime Schultz, Qualifying Times: Points of Change in U.S. Women’s Sport (University of Illinois Press, 2014)

Lisa Smith, ed., Nike Is a Goddess: The History of Women in Sports (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1999)

Susan Ware, Title IX: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007; reissued, Waveland Press, 2014)

Erica Westly, Fastpitch: The Untold History of Softball and the Women Who Made the Game (Touchstone, 2016)