Susan M. Felch, director of Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship and a Professor of English, believed that Knox’s was not misogynistic but just passionate about maintaining the natural order of things. Felch further stated that while Knox was writing "The First Blast" he was writing letters to women which were “remarkably free of gendered rhetoric.” Knox addressed his female friends as partners in the fight against sin. Accompanied with expressions of non-romantic love, Knox gave spiritual advise to them but also believed that women could make their own spiritual decisions and encouraged them to do so. Felch believed that Knox did not think of Mary I as a lesser being, but believed that her "decision" to take the throne was sinful.