“When my daughter was in fifth grade, we visited my home church in Oakland, it was communion Sunday, and the preacher—male—got up and preached the sermon, then after the sermon, 12 men in their dark suits came forward to serve communion. And my daughter—fifth grade—leans over to me and she says, “Dad, where are the women?”
Misunderstood No More. It reminds me of the long-standing admonition, “Begin with the end in mind.” The last chapter of Mary DeMuth’s new book, The Most Misunderstood Women of the Bible is aptly titled, “Misunderstood No More.” Through the Bible stories of ten women, DeMuth illustrates the value of enduring the tension and hostility of being blatantly maligned, dismissed, and misunderstood. She writes, “I believe we can grow in our understanding of misunderstanding and, through that learning process, begin to act as Jesus did—with perseverance.” To learn more, read my new book review on The Most Misunderstood Women of the Bible.
I logged into Twitter early one April morning to tweet a request for ideas on Christian egalitarian women to interview. To my delight, Marg Mowczko (pronounced “Moss-Koh”) reached out and offered an interview. I’d previously read several of her blog articles, but we’d never before met or spoken. After arranging a Texas to Australia connection, Marg joined me via Facetime from her home in New South Wales.
I seized the opportunity to interview Dr. Wallace, a complementarian, on the topic of women’s leadership and the Bible. He graciously and enthusiastically engaged with me. Here is part of our lively dialogue.
For forty years, Beth Allison Barr (Ph.D.), associate professor of history and associate dean of the Graduate School at Baylor University, agreed with the complementarian theology of women, often described as “biblical womanhood.” Complementarians believe God divinely ordained men as leaders; therefore, men lead, and women follow (or help) men. The majority prescribe a husband’s “headship” over his wife and restrict women from serving in the church as an elder or lead pastor. But, they draw different lines in the sand on what context and to whom women may teach or lead. They hold a wide range of views on whether a woman may baptize, serve communion, hold the position of deacon or pastor, or be ordained. Read a concise description of evangelical views here.
African American women stand above all other groups of men and women of different racial and ethnic backgrounds for their high religious observance levels. The 2007 U. S. Religious Landscape Survey reported, “More than eight-in-ten black women (84%) say religion is very important to them” and “six-in-ten (59%) …attend religious services at least once a week.”[1] From the early twentieth century to the late 1950s, Nannie Helen Burroughs winsomely and persuasively stood as a leading Black voice advocating for faith, educating girls, and women’s right to vote.
In June 2019, I enjoyed the amazing opportunity to travel to northern Italy for an immersive study of medieval women’s spirituality and theology. Led by Sandra Glahn, Professor of Media Arts and Worship, my fellow students and I stayed in monasteries and visited art and history museums, cathedrals, and catacombs. One of my favorite excursions was to Ravenna, the Western Roman Empire’s capital in the fifth century and later (6th–8th century) of Ostrogothic and Byzantine Italy. Best known for its early Christian mosaic art, it has eight UNESCO world heritage sites. The great Italian poet Dante Alighieri described Ravenna’s Byzantine mosaics as “the sweet color of Oriental sapphires.” In this second of my “Historic Women of Faith” series, I will introduce you to three female martyrs in Ravenna’s ancient mosaics.
In the first of my series on Historic Women of Faith, I’d like to introduce you to the twin “Lady Bible Hunters.” Scottish twins, Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson were born in Irvine, Scotland in 1843. They were raised by their father after their mother died tragically when they were only two weeks old. Agnes and Margaret lived extraordinary lives—like Indiana-Jones-in-a-Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark kind of lives. They were called “Lady Bible Hunters” because they spent considerable effort, expense, and time to travel to hunt for ancient manuscripts. And, their incredible accomplishments have been acclaimed across the world. Curious?
“Hmmm, no, I’ve never heard of Huldah,” he replied. I was talking with my attorney friend and gifted teacher, who has taught the Bible at church for three decades. Another avid Bible-reading friend recently said she’d never heard of Huldah either. Do you know that we’ve neglected to highlight and reflect on half of church history?
Did God choose only a few “exceptional” women as leaders over men? In the evangelical church, some complementarians believe that the accounts of women leaders in the Bible were a “special case” to the “general rule.” That God only chose a few “exceptional” women but predominately favored male leaders. Those who hold this view prescribe male leadership as a “general rule.” They believe the Bible teaches a hierarchical leadership system both in the church and in the home. The Collins Dictionary defines “hierarchical” as a “system or organization in which people have different ranks or positions.” Under this system, men’s rank is leadership, and the position of women is support to male leadership. Let’s look at the three arguments supporting the premise, “God chose women leaders because they were “exceptional.”