View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Boston University Institutional Repository (OpenBU) Boston University OpenBU http://open.bu.edu Theses & Dissertations Boston University Theses & Dissertations 2020 “Stand for the New Testament order and trust God for the consequences": Sarah Andrews and the emergence of Churches of Christ as a global Christian tradition, 1916-1961 https://hdl.handle.net/2144/39857 Boston University BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY Dissertation “STAND FOR THE NEW TESTAMENT ORDER AND TRUST GOD FOR THE CONSEQUENCES”: SARAH ANDREWS AND THE EMERGENCE OF CHURCHES OF CHRIST AS A GLOBAL CHRISTIAN TRADITION, 1916-1961 by JEREMY P. HEGI B.S., Texas A&M University, 2005 M.A., Abilene Christian University, 2012 M.Div., Abilene Christianity University, 2012 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2020 © 2020 Jeremy Paul Hegi All rights reserved Approved by First Reader _________________________________________________________ Christopher H. Evans, Ph.D. Professor of History of Christianity and Methodist Studies Second Reader _________________________________________________________ Dana L. Robert, Ph.D. Truman Collins Professor of World Christianity and History of Mission DEDICATION To Vanessa, who understands me and loves me. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I did not do this on my own. This dissertation only exists because of the community of support that surrounded me through every stage of the writing process. While I apologize for forgetting or leaving out any individuals, there are several people that I would like to thank for supporting me through the entirety of this process. My primary advisor and first reader, Christopher Evans, was a constant source of encouragement as he pushed me to focus and refine my ideas. My secondary advisor and second reader, Dana Robert, helped me make critical historical connections in my work that elevated it to another level. In the difficult moments that I experienced during my program, Chris and Dana were profound sources of pastoral support and understanding that enabled me to move forward. They both have my eternal gratitude. While other faculty at the Boston University School of Theology did not directly shape my dissertation, they did play a significant role in forming me as a scholar and teacher. I am grateful to Christopher Brown, Robert Neville, Shelly Rambo, Rady Roldán-Figueroa, and Bryan Stone, for their patience and mentorship. I am a better scholar and teacher because I had the opportunity to work with you. Finally, I am indebted to everyone on my dissertation committee: Christopher Evans, Dana Robert, Douglas Foster, Jonathan Calvillo, and Bryan Stone. Their questions and input have strengthened this project and I am grateful for their support and affirmation. I am also grateful to my colleagues in the program: Gina Zurlo, Katharyn House, Michèle Sigg, Laura Chevalier, Jean Luc Enyegue, Eva Pascal, Yara González- Justiniano, David Penn, and Cisca Ireland. You represent a community of collegiality and v encouragement that strengthened me as an academic and supported me through your friendship. I leaned on two of my peers, in particular, Daryl Ireland and Matthew Preston. They walked alongside me through this process as invaluable conversation partners, sources of inspiration, and good friends. I will forever be grateful for all of the individuals that I crossed paths with at the School of Theology. I would not have made it through my program at Boston University without the training I received from the Abilene Christian University Graduate School of Theology (GST). The continued support and encouragement that the GST faculty gave me as I went through my program at Boston University made all of the difference. Thank you Mark Hamilton, Tim Sensing, Jeff Childers, Fred Aquino, Chris Flanders, and especially Doug Foster for pushing me to the next level and walking alongside me through this process. This project would not have been possible without funding from two sources: Boston University School of Theology’s Springboard Funding and the Christian Scholarship Foundation. With Springboard funding, I was able to visit two archives: the Callie Faye Milliken Special Collections of the Margaret and Herman Brown Library at Abilene Christian University (ACU) and Pepperdine University’s Jerry Rushford Center for Research on Churches of Christ and the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement. In Abilene, Carisse Berryhill and Mac Ice gave me full access to the archive’s holdings and were indispensable to this project. Mac and Carisse continued to provide me with electronic material and guidance through the periodicals after my visit to Abilene. They were invaluable conversation partners during my research. In Malibu, Jerry Rushford and Kelsey Cox afforded me every opportunity to explore their extensive collection of vi material from Japanese Churches of Christ and Churches of Christ missions to Japan. Their help and hospitality were invaluable during my stay at Pepperdine. Through a graduate fellowship award provided by the Christian Scholarship Foundation, I was able to take a research trip to Japan in August 2018 and visit the churches started by Sarah Andrews and Iki Naemura. I went to Japan in response to an invitation by Japanese Churches of Christ historian, Yukikazu Obata. Obata served as a translator and guide as I toured Japan. He has also been an incredible source of support and a helpful conversation partner as I have attempted to navigate the history of Japanese Churches of Christ. I was able to tell a more in-deptH story that incorporated Japanese sources through Obata’s help. I owe him a tremendous debt and cannot thank him enough for his hospitality and friendship. Without my family’s support, this project would not have been possible. My parents, Don and Karen Hegi, supported Vanessa and me in every possible way during our time in Boston. After we moved to Lubbock, they provided childcare, warm meals, and a place to stay as I finished writing. My in-laws, Ricky and Elaine Massey, were incredibly encouraging with unwavering support and prayer throughout this process. I am also grateful to my sister, Kimberly, who provided support and encouragement along the way, especially as I began teaching and writing. Finally, Vanessa got me through this program and this project. Through numerous conversations, she knows as much about Sarah Andrews and Iki Naemura as I do. While supporting me, she carried the load for our family in so many ways throughout the whole process. Our sons, Van and Abe, were a constant source of inspiration for me in the final stages of writing this dissertation and vii are the light of my life. I am lucky in life to be surrounded by these people. I love you. Thank you for believing in me. viii “STAND FOR THE NEW TESTAMENT ORDER AND TRUST GOD FOR THE CONSEQUENCES”: SARAH ANDREWS AND THE EMERGENCE OF CHURCHES OF CHRIST AS A GLOBAL CHRISTIAN TRADITION, 1916-1961 JEREMY P. HEGI Boston University School of Theology, 2020 Major Professor: Christopher H. Evans, Professor of History of Christianity and Methodist Studies ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the role that Churches of Christ missionary Sarah Andrews (1863-1961) played in transforming the denomination’s identity in tHe twentieth century. In partnership with Japanese missionary Iki Naemura, Andrews extended the presence of the denomination to southern Japan. This international growth of Churches of Christ inculcated a global consciousness within the North American denomination. Moving beyond denominational concerns centered on its geographic region in the American South, by the mid-twentieth century, Churches of Christ existed as an international network of congregations with a presence in forty different countries across the globe. Discourse about Andrews by denominational leaders reflected a growing self- awareness as a global Christian tradition as Churches of Christ moved beyond its American origins. Andrews shaped Churches of Christ in the twentieth century both directly and indirectly: she extended the global presence of the denomination and also became a mirror in which denominational leaders reflected the developing identity of their tradition. This dissertation resituates Andrews’s importance to American Christianity ix beyond denominational hagiography and standard historiographical interpretations of women in the American missionary movement. By examining Churches of Christ history through the lens of its chief missionary woman, this dissertation demonstrates how integrating women’s history into the historical narrative challenges the established historiography. The project traces how Churches of Christ’s perception of Andrews’s role was transformed over her forty-five-year career. When she left for Japan in 1916, Churches of Christ leaders saw her as subservient to male authority. As the years progressed, however, Andrews’s stature as a missionary grew. In the periodical culture of Churches of Christ during this period she inhabited a series of images that reflected denominational leaders’ growing perception of Churches of Christ as a global Christian tradition. These shifting images reflect the growth of Churches of Christ’s global presence and identity in the twentieth century. Sarah Andrews dwelt in a tension in Churches of Christ orthodoxy that both enabled her success and ingratiated her to the leaders of the denomination. On the one hand, she subordinated herself to the strict boundaries