At first glance, the landscape of evangelical megachurches looks like a man's world. Almost all of the largest churches in America are headed by men. Women make up the majority of churchgoers, but men look like the leaders and the stars.
But Kate Bowler sees powerful women hiding in plain sight. In her new book The Preacher's Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities, Bowler argues that evangelical Protestant women—conservatives in particular—have carved out extraordinary influence for themselves nonetheless. The cohort Bowler describes includes many women married to famous pastors and some who are pastors themselves. But it also includes independent speakers and authors like Beth Moore, Jen Hatmaker, Joyce Meyer, and others who have made their careers in the vast network of conferences, cable television, nonprofits, and church committees that makes up the lucrative and largely conservative world of "women's ministry."
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