In Women Preaching Revolution Lawless analyzes the sermons she has collected to determine whether the women who preached them have, in fact, developed new sermon traditions that are radically different from those that they were expected to learn in seminary. She asks what rhetorical structures and strategies they employ and how much the new styles owe to the influence of liberation, process, and feminist theologies.

As she explores these questions, Lawless also examines the relationship of tests and performances.