Or a Path to Liberalism? a Biblical Tradition
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A Biblical Tradition or a Path to Liberalism? Featuring... The central role of egalitarians in the evangelical movement Are egalitarians on a slippery slope? Examining the claim and assessing the logic Understanding evangelical feminism and its implications A special edition journal of Christians for Biblical Equality | cbeinternational.org | 2013 A Biblical Tradition, or a Path to Liberalism? is a special edition journal published by Christians for Biblical Equality and distributed at the expense of Christians for Biblical Equality, © 2013. 122 West Franklin Avenue, Suite 218, Minneapolis, MN Contents 55404-2451, phone: 612-872-6898; fax: 612-872-6891; or email: [email protected]. CBE is on the web at www.cbeinternational.org. We welcome comments, article 3 Editor’s Reflections submissions, and advertisements. Tim Krueger Editors Tim Krueger and William D. Spencer 4 A Forum of Sensible Voices: 19th Century Associate Editor Deb Beatty Mel Forerunners of Evangelical Egalitarianism Editorial Consultant Aída Besançon Spencer Brandon G. Withrow President / Publisher Mimi Haddad 8 Egalitarians: A New Path to Liberalism? Or Integral to Board of Reference: Miriam Adeney, Carl E. Armerding, Evangelical DNA? Myron S. Augsburger, Raymond J. Bakke, Anthony Campolo, Mimi Haddad Lois McKinney Douglas, Gordon D. Fee, Richard Foster, John R. Franke, W. Ward Gasque, J. Lee Grady, Vernon 17 Egalitarianism as a Slippery Slope? Grounds†, David Joel Hamilton, Roberta Hestenes, Gretchen Stephen R. Holmes Gaebelein Hull, Donald Joy, Robbie Joy, Craig S. Keener, John R. Kohlenberger III, David Mains, Kari Torjesen Malcolm, 19 Assessing Hierarchist Logic: Are Egalitarians Really on Brenda Salter McNeil, Alvera Mickelsen, Roger Nicole†, Virgil Olson†, LaDonna Osborn, T. L. Osborn, John E. Phelan, Kay F. a Slippery Slope? Rader, Paul A. Rader, Ronald J. Sider, Aída Besançon Spencer, David C. Cramer William David Spencer, Ruth A. Tucker, Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen, Timothy Weber, Jeanette S. G. Yep 25 Equating “Feminisms” Allison Quient To order additional print copies of this or other special edition CBE journals for only the cost of shipping, visit cbeinternational.org/freejournals. A free, downloadable digital version is available at cbeinternational.org/pastors13. DISCLAIMER: Final selection of all material published by CBE in A Biblical Tradition, or a Path to Liberalism? is entirely up to the discretion of the editors, consulting theologians and CBE’s executive. Please know that each author is solely legally responsible for the content and the accuracy of facts, citations, references, and quotations rendered and properly attributed in the article appearing under his or her name. Neither Christians for Biblical Equality, nor the editor, nor the editorial team is responsible or legally liable for any content or any statements made by any author, but the legal responsibility is solely that author’s once an article appears in print in A Biblical Tradition, or a Path to Liberalism?. 2 A Biblical Tradition, or a Path to Liberalism? www.cbeinternational.org Editor’s Reflections � My first grade teacher was one of the few served the poor and impoverished, who fought to missionaries in our little corner of the Philippines end child labor, and who championed prohibition who remembered what it was like fifty or sixty years as a means to rescue society from domestic abuse. ago. She told me that the rice and sugar cane fields Evangelicals have long recognized the urgency of Greetings from CBE International, that now stretch to the distant mountains had once God’s call to share the gospel with the world in word been fields of tall grass, with blades sharp enough and in deed—and have long acknowledged that the Christians for Biblical Equality to cut skin. The narrow strip of jungle along the task requires the full engagement of the gifts God (CBE) is a nonprofit organization river was the remnant of a massive rainforest that gives all people, regardless of gender. of Christian men and women had been home to hundreds of now-endangered Historically, many Christians have affirmed who believe that the Bible, species of tropical birds. I realized for the first time the participation of women in all positions of properly interpreted, teaches the that my view of the world was severely limited service, not in spite of, but because of Scripture. fundamental equality of men and women of all ethnic groups, without the input of previous generations. The Quakers who combatted slavery realized the all economic classes, and all age There were a few others who had been around connection between the perverted theological groups, based on the teachings of as long as her. All were elderly, and most were single justifications for slavery and the oppression of Scriptures such as Galatians 3:28: women. At the time, I just thought of these women women and girls. Others recognized that the as old, intimidating, and unduly bothered by little urgency of the Great Commission required both “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, boys trampling their gardens and destroying their men and women to pour out their lives for Christ. neither slave nor free, nor is there carefully-tended orchids. But as I grew older, I began But it was not just social workers and missionaries. male and female, for you are all to realize they were the pillars of our community. Evangelical scholars like A.J. Gordon stood with one in Christ Jesus” (NIV 2011). They had been there, dutifully serving God them in affirming an egalitarian understanding since the time my parents were children. Why did of Scripture. For evangelical abolitionists, social CBE affirms and promotes the so many in the neighboring towns know and love workers, missionaries, and scholars alike, the biblical truth that all believers— God? Who had waged war against the spirits that Bible taught the full equality and mutuality of men without regard to gender, ethnicity or class—must exercise their God- held entire villages in bondage for generations? and women in all things; the Great Commission given gifts with equal authority God accomplished these things through the work demanded the gifts of all people, regardless of and equal responsibility in church, of these women, who had devoted their lives to gender; and the love of God compelled women and home and world. Jesus long before I was born. men to serve the people of the world side by side. Families like mine came and went. Children Just as my perspective was limited because CBE envisions a future where all grew up, moved back “home,” and eventually I never knew a world of wild grasses, endless believers are freed to exercise their the parents followed. The few single men around jungles, and exotic birds, the church suffers gifts for God’s glory and purposes, tended to marry and follow the same pattern as when it lacks historical perspective. Many are with the full support of their other families. Sometimes we tell women that the now skeptical of egalitarian ideas, supposing Christian communities. biblical ideal for them is to marry, bear children, them to be an attempt to reinterpret Scripture to and raise those children up to follow God. These accommodate secular values that place our own We offer this journal as an are admirable goals, to be sure, but is this always the desires and experience above the authority of invitation to revisit the history of the egalitarian movement in the best for the global family of believers? Countless God’s Word. The articles that follow explore this evangelical church. people around the world would have been born claim and find that quite the contrary is true. Far and died without knowing Jesus if women like my from being a path away from biblical teaching and A free, downloadable version teacher had quietly pursued marriage, rather than toward liberal theology, egalitarian perspectives of this journal is available at traveling alone to the other side of the world. But have arisen specifically because evangelicals held cbeinternational.org/pastors13. they answered God’s call, using their leadership, the Bible as authoritative and sought to apply it to resourcefulness, devotion, and initiative to bring every aspect of life. Print copies are available for thousands to Christ. only the cost of shipping. For centuries now, evangelical women have Tim Krueger is the editor of Mutuality Visit cbeinternational.org/ answered the call to every conceivable kind of magazine and is publications coordinator freejournals to order. at Christians for Biblical Equality. He was service. The single women I knew as a child are part raised in the Philippines and studied history of this proud tradition. So are the women who fought and Bible at Bethel University (MN). He and against slavery in the United States, the women who his wife, Naomi, live in Saint Paul, MN. Christians for Biblical Equality A Biblical Tradition, or a Path to Liberalism? 3 a forum of Sensible Voices 19th Century Forerunners of Evangelical Egalitarianism Brandon G. Withrow Elizabeth Pandita Mary Fidelia Fry Ramabai Lyon Fiske C.S. Lewis once wrote that “the unhistorical are usually, Nineteenth Century Foundations without knowing it, enslaved to a fairly recent past.” The same The story of civil rights violations—as well as the story of might be said for the conclusion that evangelical egalitarianism humans fighting to preserve those rights—is as old as history. But is merely the child of the radical feminism of the 1960s and ’70s. the nineteenth century in particular saw several developments Guilt by alleged association is, without a doubt, a powerful that paved the way for great change. Early in the century, for tool; but in this case, such a conclusion is a textbook example example, there was a move for the fair treatment of the mentally of reductionism, or the oversimplification of history.