Though it's been over 20 years, I remember with clarity a college professor's powerful illustration about the nature of Christian ministry. This professor, also a long-time minister and volunteer hospital chaplain, had been called upon to be a pastoral presence in two contrasting yet related situations: first, as a new mother promptly parted with her newborn daughter, and then minutes later when the infant was presented to her adoptive parents. The point of the illustration [more]
On Why I Still Need You To Defend Me
This post is in answer to the post published on the Scroll on May 5th and entitled "NO DEFENCE NEEDED!"
Hannah Swithinbank has a PhD in ancient history, a diploma in professional writing, and an inherited tendency
to read anything that comes to hand, including the back of the cereal box at breakfast. She is currently working as a research assistant, which goes well with her overdeveloped sense of curiosity.
The following column is her response to Steve Holmes' [more]
Is Egalitarianism on a Slippery Slope?
I don’t know about you, but I have evangelical friends with all kinds of different views on gender. Come to think of it, I have evangelical friends with all kinds of different views on a whole host of topics: child baptism or believers baptism, just war or pacifism, Arminianism or Calvinism, and, yes, even egalitarianism or some form of gender hierarchism (often called, somewhat misleadingly, “complementarianism”). Since evangelicalism has no official magisterium, such diversity is [more]
Why I Can No Longer Defend the Ministry of Women in the Church
Steve Holmes is a Baptist minister, currently teaching theology at St Mary’s College, St Andrews, Scotland. He blogs about theology and culture from an Evangelical perspective at Shored Fragments.
The following column is posted with permission from his blog.
I have defended the ministry of women in the church in public for a while now, including on my blog. I don’t think I can do it any longer. Not [more]
I would suggest that most, if not all, women would have been the subject of ridicule in some form or other simply because of their gender. Sometimes it is felt even without words - the scorn, belittling behaviour and condescension. Then of course we know of the way many men talk of their mothers, wives, sisters and women in general when with their friends; berating women as being silly, emotional, talkative (fill in the dots).
BUT....what [more]
The blogosphere is buzzing with backlash about recent articles that are advocating for "young marriage." Apparently, the millennials (18-29 yr olds), my generation, have a low marriage rate at 21 percent in the U.S., compared to other generations during this age range.
I posed a question on my Facebook status to my unmarried or later-married friends:
Why are YOU delaying marriage? (Besides not knowing anyone you WANT to marry.) I chose to get married instead of waiting, [more]
This photo is of an apple.......no question about that. Now it's cut we can see inside but before then we had no idea what was inside. So it is with people.....we can assume things without knowing 'what's inside'. There's an old saying 'don't judge a book by its cover', and yet it happens all the time. We see someone and make assumptions. Hopefully it remains in our mind and we control ourselves from making statements [more]
Is Real Faith Getting Skewed Today
There are a number of ways that godly faith in the God who is GOD, the REAL Messiah and the ONLY HOLY Spirit can get skewed is when humans step in to contain and control. I believe that what I’m going to say needs to be said and spread. I’d like to see it defined concisely and plainly. But for now I’d like us to just define it well.
At this time in my church, I’m [more]
The new issue of Mutuality, themed “Rape and Sexual Violence,” is hot off the press. It includes the following piece by Christian blogger Luke Harms (lukelivingthetension.blogspot.com). Harms critiques what he sees as a culture of rape present in the church, which holds that women are responsible for the sexual violence committed against them. We invite you to join in this important conversation.
Recently, a fellow blogger wrote a great piece about the problems with modesty rules [more]
That same day two of them were walking to the village of Emmaus, about seven miles out of Jerusalem.
They were deep in conversation, going over all these things that had happened. In the middle of their talk and questions, Jesus came up and walked along with them, but they were not able to recognise who he was.
He asked "What's this you are discussing so intently as you walk along ?" They just stood there, long [more]
I was working on my thesis in seminary. Tired of being asked if I was going to seminary to be a pastor’s wife, I had decided to write a biblical theology of single women in ministry that would show God’s calling for a woman was not dependent on her marital state. I was talking with [...]
One of the most troubling aspects of a belief that a man can somehow be the “head” of a woman is what happens in the privacy of the homes of countless people with this viewpoint. If it is believed by both husband and wife that the man is “over” his wife, then it gives occasion [...]
One of my favorite blogs is the thoughtful and humorous “Bridget Jones Goes to Seminary” written by Meg, a theology student at Calvin Theological Seminary. In her most recent post, “Why I Am a Feminist,” she declares: “I am a feminist because my Christianity, my Reformed Christianity no less, constrains me. I am a feminist [...]
A few weeks back I was teaching a class on Anabaptist history. I gave my usual spiel about the nature of history and the problems with reductionism. Anabaptist concerns were both theological and economical (among other things); cases of injustice, after all, traverse all aspects of life. Abuses by the church and its oppression of [...]
Pop psychology is known for its easy answers, and, sheesh, does it sell. Of course, evangelicaldom has lots of that, too — especially when it comes to relationships and other topics that it is easy to froth about. Andy sends along a wonderful review of Captivating by John and Staci Eldridge, a Christian book bestseller [...]
A prominent sociologist on evangelicals, Sally Gallagher, has much to say to egalitarians in her article, The Marginalization of Evangelical Feminism. She questions, when 56% of evangelical women are employed outside the home and when many evangelical marriages are egalitarian in practice, why evangelicals as a whole have still rejected mutuality and partnership between the [...]
Andy passes along this blog reference for our attention — http://www.emergentvillage.us/weblog/being-emergent-woman — as an example of what younger church leaders are thinking, in this case within the emergent movement. He also suggests that this blog post that he’s recommending could use our support. I think it’s a great idea.
