Douglass was professor of church history at the Claremont School of Theology, where she was the first female faculty member, and professor of religion at Claremont Graduate School.[10][11] She went on to serve as the Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Historical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary from 1985 until her retirement in 1998.[12][13] In 1983, Douglass was the first female President of the American Society of Church History.[14] In the same year, she delivered the Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary in a series titled Christian Freedom in Calvin's Theology, which led to the publication of her book Women, Freedom, and Calvin in 1985.[15]
A Christian feminist,[16] Douglass challenged the dominant interpretation of John Calvin's view of the role of women, identifying certain aspects of his thought as protofeminist.[17] Calvin regards the apostle Paul's advice that women should remain silent in church as being adiaphoral, which Douglass argues leaves him open to the possibility of a broader role for women in the church in the future,[17][18] writing: "Though Calvin sees strong biblical guidance for women's subordinate role in the public life of church and society, and though he finds it appropriate for his own society that women should be subordinate, he holds on principle that the order in which women are subordinate is one determined by human law, ecclesiastical and political [rather than divine law]. Such order can legitimately be adapted to changing circumstances."[19]
Douglass has received honorary doctorates from Franklin and Marshall College, the University of St. Andrews, and the University of Geneva.[13] She is commemorated by the American Society of Church History with the Jane Dempsey Douglass Prize, awarded annually to the author of the year's "best unpublished essay on some aspect of the role of women in the history of Christianity".[25]
Justification in Late Medieval Preaching: A Study of John Geiler of Keisersberg (2nd ed.). Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill. 1989. doi:10.1163/9789004477728. ISBN978-90-04-09047-7.
^Haruko Nawata Ward (2001). Women and the Jesuits in the Christian Century (1549–1650) in Japan (doctoral dissertation). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton Theological Seminary. p. 1. ProQuest276243423.
^Jane Dempsey Douglass (June 1984). "Christian Freedom: What Calvin Learned at the School of Women". Church History. 53 (2): 155. doi:10.2307/3165353. ISSN1755-2613. JSTOR3165353.
^Julia Pitman (2011). "Feminist Public Theology in the Uniting Church in Australia". International Journal of Public Theology. 5 (2): 156. doi:10.1163/156973211X562741. ISSN1569-7320.
^ abNico Vorster (2019). The Brightest Mirror of God's Works: John Calvin's Theological Anthropology. Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications. ISBN978-1-5326-6026-9.
^Jane Dempsey Douglass (June 1984). "Christian Freedom: What Calvin Learned at the School of Women". Church History. 53 (2): 155–156. doi:10.2307/3165353. ISSN1755-2613. JSTOR3165353.
^David Briggs (June 9, 1991). "Church Declares Sexual Equality an Article of Faith". The Sun. Baltimore, Maryland. p. 1B. ISSN1930-8965. ProQuest407145310.
^Michael D. Schaffer (August 26, 1990). "New Calvinist Leader Faces a Balancing Act". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. B1. ISSN0885-6613. ProQuest1835487623.