Joan M. Martin is a Protestant feminist theologian. Martin has been politically active with a number of different feminist causes and is notable for her 1978 congressional testimony on behalf of the Equal Rights Amendment.[1]

Joan M. Martin
Born
Ecclesiastical career
ReligionChristianity (Presbyterian)
Congregations served
Christian Union Church, North Truro, Massachusetts
Academic background
Alma mater
Academic work
DisciplineTheology
Sub-disciplineChristian ethics
School or traditionChristian feminism
InstitutionsEpiscopal Divinity School

Equal Rights Amendment edit

Martin was a member of the Religious Committee for the ERA. Numerous Catholic nuns also belonged to this organization including Sister Mary Luke Tobin.[2] Many women from this organization worked with the National Coalition of American Nuns and National Assembly of Women Religious.[2] The Religious Committee for the ERA was also known as the National Religious Committee for the ERA and worked alongside People of Faith for ERA.[3]

Martin was part of a group of faith-based feminists, including Sonia Johnson from Mormons for ERA, who testified in Congress in support of the ERA in August 1978.[1] Johnson noted in her book, From Housewife to Heretic, Martin was an impressive speaker who "...had immense dignity and presence, and was splendid under interrogation. Also intimidating, to me."[4]

In Martin's testimony, she stated, "To live out our faith and freedom, we must exercise it as whole persons; otherwise it has no meaning. In the context of the ERA ratification process, failure to pass the amendment hinders women from the exercise of our civil rights."[1]

Publications edit

  • Martin, Joan M. (2000). More Than Chains and Toil: A Christian Work Ethic of Enslaved Women. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 0-664-25800-X.[5]

Personal life edit

Joan M. Martin is from New York.[4] She was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian church.[4]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c United States Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution (1979). Equal Rights Amendment Extension: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-fifth Congress, Second Session, on S.J. Res. 134 ... August 2, 3, and 4, 1978. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  2. ^ a b "ERA Gets Support from 31 Religious Groups". Rocky Mount Telegraph. September 19, 1975.
  3. ^ "Religious Committee for ERA". The Columbia Record. May 14, 1982.
  4. ^ a b c Johnson, Sonia (1981). From housewife to heretic. Garden City, N.Y. p. 131. ISBN 0-385-17493-4. OCLC 7553190.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ Hayes, Diana L. (2003). "Review of More Than Chains and Toil: A Christian Work Ethic of Enslaved Women". Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 71 (1): 223–225. doi:10.1093/jaar/71.1.223. ISSN 0002-7189. JSTOR 1466324.