Donna Giver-Johnston is an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament, currently serving as Pastor of Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon. She has a PhD and MA from Vanderbilt University and an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary.

"this book makes an important case for the inclusion of women preachers in the study of homiletics. Aspiring ministers deserve to know more about the pioneering women whose expert narrative strategies enabled them to claim the call to preach." -- Catherine A. Brekus, Harvard Divinity School, Church History

"The author skillfully draws upon history, theology, practice and stories of struggle and success. She weaves together various threads, which makes this book a compelling read and one that invites reflection and discussion in both academic and pastoral circles." -- Anne Koester, Pray, Tell Blog

"Giver-Johnston promotes these women as models for today, calls for ending the debate over women in the ministry, and advocates the church's institutional sanction of women's inward call" -- W. B. Bedford, CHOICE Connect, Vol. 59 No. 8

"Highly recommended" -- CHOICE

"Kudos for this excellent addition to the study of women and preaching! Donna Giver-Johnston not only provides us with a deeply nuanced historical study of how four diverse nineteenth-century preaching women claimed their own calls to preach. She also invites us to wrestle more deeply with the whole notion of call, how it is mediated in human life, and how those who have been marginalized from the pulpit can creatively reclaim their callings today." -- Leonora Tubbs Tisdale, author of How Women Transform Preaching

"In Claiming the Call to Preach, Giver-Johnston examines the rhetorical strategies whereby nineteenth-century women claimed their calling to preach. She shows how their rhetoric set into motion a historical trajectory that did much to move women's preaching from spaces marginal to the organized church (revivals, movements, educational gatherings, etc.) into the center of the church's ecclesial and public life. This is an important book for both feminist rhetoric, and the history of preaching." -- John S. McClure, Charles G. Finney Professor of Preaching and Worship, Vanderbilt Divinity School

"Claiming the Call to Preach seeks to restore a 'narrative of neglect' with regard to the call and contributions of women preachers, both in history and today. Donna Giver-Johnston skillfully interweaves her own reflection on her call, that of women clergy and students with whom she has worked and the historical women from whom both can draw inspiration and strategic wisdom. This book makes a significant contribution to the field of homiletical history which has not traditionally focused on in-depth treatments of women preachers from the past." -- Alyce M. McKenzie, Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship, Southern Methodist University