My initial hope was to read about women in the church, write some posts, and be done with it. But as is often the case, the more you know the more you realize how much you don’t know. I have more questions than I started with. I’m keenly aware of my lack of knowledge regarding the context of these difficult passages and the history of how the church has viewed women. Even more—scholars …
Continue Reading about The Greatest Danger: More on Women in the Church
Being a woman used to mean being many things I wasn’t. Shortly after becoming a Christian, I listened to sermons like a maniac. David Platt, John Piper, and Matt Chandler especially. They quickly became my heroes and I found myself constructing sermons in my head when my mind wandered. I had a subtle but buried desire to teach, but neither the confidence nor place to believe I ever would. But I …
Less than a year ago, my view on women in ministry began to get disrupted. Desperate for answers, I went to a wise professor, expecting him to give me a simple yes or no answer on whether women should be pastors.[1] He took a while to answer my question. He seemed to give a lot of extraneous information. That’s when I realized this question is more complicated than I originally thought. Such is …
Continue Reading about Absolutely Certain about Women’s Ordination
Does gender* affect everything? Is biological sex the determining factor of our personalities, temptations, interests, and paths in life? God made me female—and that is no small thing. And yet, it’s not everything. Katelyn Beaty, managing editor for Christianity Today, writes, If mainstream culture reduces femaleness to a construct, church culture loads femaleness with a ‘universal …
I’m not a big fan of separating women’s and men’s theological education. I affirm the differences between men and women. I believe women’s Bible studies and accountability groups are valuable. But I also see a huge disparity between the ministry opportunities for men and those for women. Even women who attend seminary can end up in a gender-secluded arena upon graduation. They can educate other …
Continue Reading about Should the Church be Separated by Gender?
Culture is complex. One of the least helpful things to do when it comes to culture is treat a complex issue as if it's simple. This is an easy but destructive way of speaking about a topic without actually understanding it. There is nuance—good and bad--in almost every cultural product or cultural movement. One topic that tends to get oversimplified by conservative Christians is …
