May She Speak in the Name of the Father: Patriarchy, Preaching and the Gospel

By Liz Shercliff

Review by Hannah Wilkinson, book reviews editor of The Preacher

SCM Press, 2026, 208 pages

May She Speak in the Name of the Father: Patriarchy, Preaching and the Gospel

Drawing upon her extensive research and conversation with women in training and ministry, Dr. Liz Shercliff details and analyses the way women in the Anglican Church and elsewhere ‘experience training for ministry and preaching.’ Shercliff highlights the stories of parish priests, curates, readers and congregation members, from their experiences being taught to preach to how their preaching is received. There is such richness in Shercliff’s book, and this is a must read for anyone involved or interested in ministerial training, formation or developing preachers.

As a woman currently in Anglican training and church ministry, I found resonances of my own experiences in Shercliff’s analysis. This book is both prophetic and challenging, encouraging and affirming. Through story and theology, Shercliff argues compellingly that throughout the discernment and training process, both in theological college and in ministry, women are formed into a male norm. She writes, ‘ministerial formation, I want to argue, is a machinery of power that breaks down and rearranges women in particular, in order that they might, as closely as possible, fit the male mould’ (p. 28). A prime example of this is Shercliff’s analysis of the ways in which women’s voices are sought to be controlled or weakened. When it comes to preaching, women’s voices are too often belittled or demeaned by gendered expectations. Preach like a man, speak like a man, stand like a man is the implicit and often explicit message women are told.

Moreover, in conversation with Foucault, Shercliff highlights how theological education as a site of the Church’s power produces knowledge by determining the very definition of that knowledge. The consequence for women here is their training determines both what they should be like and what they know. Theology defined as a male corpus, with feminist theology as an add on or addition simply will not do. Women, called to speak, minister and lead, deserve better.

One of the most incisive challenges in this book is Shercliff’s argument that ‘women need to be prepared to minister in the church as it is.’ (p. 159). Too often, theological colleges fail to prepare women for the reality of sexism they will face in ministry. One woman in the study notes how the expectations of her from her family’s patriarchal assumptions impinge on her ministerial responsibilities. Despite living an hour away from her parents, and her brother living significantly closer, when her parents need care they call her. Shercliff uses this story to highlight the ways in which formational criteria so often reinforce patriarchal expectations of female sacrifice and obedience. One of the formational qualities (assessment criteria for ordinands in the Church of England) is for candidates to display: ‘a willingness to accept the costliness of ordained ministry.’ This model of servanthood, cost and sacrifice ignores the fact that ‘the sacrificial impact of vocation for women [often] includes incorporating the social demands made on them to fulfil caring roles alongside careers’ (p. 97).

This book is timely and prophetic. For preachers, and those engaged in developing and shaping the voices of preachers, this is a must read. Presenting both a sober reflection on the reality of being a preacher and a woman in the church, while offering hope, Shercliff calls the Church to make space for women to find their own voice as called to speak in the name of God.

BASKET SUMMARY

BASKET SUMMARY

May She Speak in the Name of the Father: Patriarchy, Preaching and the Gospel

By Liz Shercliff