Thanks to the many women writers throughout history, we have today written witnesses of their lived experiences—not from onlookers, redactors, or family members overcome by strong emotions and motives—but their story in their own words. Because of this, historians, theologians, and Christians worldwide have, over the centuries, been emboldened by the unshakable faith and courage of women like Felicitas and Perpetua, early Christian writers, martyrs, and mothers. Their story, titled the “Acts of Perpetua and Felicitas” or Acta,1 constitutes one of the earliest and most extensive written documents by a Christian woman. Composed by a young noble mother—Perpetua—martyred in Carthage, North Africa, in AD 203, her words provide the details of their suffering as Christians willing to face death rather than deny their Lord and Savior.
Arrested for her faith in Christ, Perpetua was still nursing her child when she was imprisoned along with her pregnant slave, Felicitas. Both women were professing Christians ready to endure torture, even death, for Christ. Under arrest and guarded closely by Roman soldiers, Perpetua managed to write an account of their suffering not only to describe the abuse by Roman guards, but also to provide family members with her spiritual perspective regarding her ill-treatment.2 Through the lens of her spiritual eyesight, Perpetua regarded her battle not as one of flesh and blood alone, but the result of a Christian’s struggle against spiritual forces promoted by Satan. Confident in Christ’s ultimate triumph, Perpetua wrote, “I knew I would win the victory.” Depleted of strength and unable to write further, Perpetua’s biographer described how she and Felicitas faced their deaths, glowing as “the wife of Christ, putting down everyone’s stare by her own intense gaze . . . as she was struck to the bone; then she took the trembling hand of the young gladiator and guided it to her throat.”3
Perpetua’s legacy may have inspired other women writers like the fourth century woman Egeria, an Italian woman who documented her Holy Land observations in “Poeregromato.” Letters from Egeria’s pilgrimage provide valuable details about Holy Week in Jerusalem, including specific rituals and practices common among Christians at the time. Her letters contain the oldest known description of a pilgrimage and contains one the most comprehensive accounts of Christianity in Turkey and the Middle East during this era.4
The writings of women flourished throughout the Middle Ages, significantly the writings of women mystics like Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179), a German nun and abbess overseeing a double monastery.5 Wielding tremendous political power, her book Scivias—Latin for “know the ways of the Lord”—explores Paul’s writings, the O.T. prophets, and Revelation, alongside the corruption in the church of her day. Other women writers like Argula von Grumback (1492–1554) published letters full of scriptural interpretation, theology, philosophy, and wisdom, widely challenging corrupt leaders with logic and resilience: “What I have written to you is no ‘woman’s chit-chat’, but the word of God.”
Following their example, women of the Modern Missionary Movement were powerful writers, teachers, evangelists, and activists. Their legacy was thoroughly documented not only in secular news articles, but also through personally published works and biographies. Catherine Booth’s Female Ministry: or Women’s Right to Preach the Gospel succinctly shows how women’s gospel gifts and calling have been silenced in opposition to Scripture. In it, she notes that “we find from Church history that the primitive Christians thus understood it; for that women did actually speak and preach amongst them we have indisputable proof.” Supremely, in the writings of Katharine Bushnell’s God’s Word to Women, we have a cogent, systematic biblical analysis supporting women’s gifts, calling, and “great commissioning” in any sphere of service or leadership that Christ calls women to pursue.
CBE stands on the shoulders of these women whose sacrifice and victorious leadership is exemplified in written documents that God has graciously preserved for those who follow in their footsteps. May we study well their faith, their example, their courage, and their legacy through their writings as they reveal faithful lives of service to Christ our savior and king.
Notes
- James Bridge. “Acts of Perpetua and Felicitas,” Early Christian Writings, updated November 12, 2025.
- James Bridge, “Acts of Perpetua and Felicitas,” Early Christian Writings, updated November 12, 2025.
- Perpetua and others, “From the Archives: The Martyrdom of Perpetua,” Christian History Institute, accessed November 12, 2025.
- Egeria, “Holy Week in Jerusalem: A Pilgrim’s Description from around 380 AD,” Renovare, updated March 2024.
- A double monastery was a religious community with both men and women living in separate but adjacent quarters, governed by a single superior and sharing a common church.