MINNEAPOLIS (ABP) — One of Southern Baptists' most outspoken pastors has been recognized for his defense of women — although he does not personally feel women should serve as pastors.
Wade Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla., and former president of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, recently received the Priscilla and Aquila Award from Christians for Biblical Equality.
The award honors people who, like early church leaders Priscilla and Aquila, faced persecution for the sake of the gospel. With the award, CBE honors those who have “risked their necks for the sake of biblical equality,” the CBE website says.
The non-profit organization, which promotes gift-based — rather than gender-based — Christian service for men and women, lauded Burleson for using his blog to alert Baptists to the firing of Hebrew professor Sheri Klouda. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson fired Klouda earlier in 2007 for holding a “position reserved for a man.”
Klouda, a graduate of Criswell College and Southwestern, said school administrators had previously told her she would not be fired when Patterson came to the post in 2003. After the dismissal, Southwestern trustee chair Van McClain described her earlier hiring to the position as “a momentary lax of the parameters.”
The “Baptist Faith and Message” doctrinal statement, revised in 2000 by fundamentalist leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention, calls on women to “submit graciously” to their husband's leadership and says they are “unqualified by Scripture” to serve as pastors. The statement does not address women in other leadership roles.
Some Southern Baptists, like Burleson, feel Southwestern's dismissal of Klouda was unethical, illegal and a far reach beyond the convention's stated doctrinal positions.
Through his web site, Burleson raised thousands of dollars to assist Klouda during a period of financial hardship brought on by her dismissal and her husband's health problems.
Klouda, who now teaches at Taylor University in Indiana, is suing Southwestern and Patterson for fraud, breach of contract and defamation. An attempt by the seminary to have the lawsuit dismissed failed recently.
Burleson, who has gained notoriety in recent years for calling for a stop to the ever-narrowing circle of participation in the SBC, is a trustee of the International Mission Board. He has claimed that fellow trustees loyal to Patterson are implementing policies that exclude many missionary candidates and undermine the leadership of IMB President Jerry Rankin.
Burleson's blogging about issues related to the IMB and the SBC has troubled some trustees. Last year they approved, and then withdrew, a motion asking SBC messengers to remove Burleson. But in November they accomplished much the same by censuring and effectively barring him from carrying out the duties of his office.
While Burleson said he maintains his view that women should not serve as senior pastors, he said such decisions should rest with autonomous congregations rather than Baptist conventions. Women's roles, he said, should not be considered a primary and divisive theological issue.
In an Oct. 4 posting at his website, Burleson even suggested that he might be wrong about his current view on women's roles.
“I wonder if dogmatism against women in ministry might one day be viewed the same as we now view Southern Baptists' former dogmatism in defending slavery. I don't know. I'm just asking,” he said. “It's one of the reasons I refuse to be dogmatic on my complementarian beliefs and will listen to my friends who are egalitarian.”
Egalitarians believe men and women should be treated equally, while complementarians believe women are limited to roles that “complement” male leadership. Both groups claim biblical support for their positions.
“This does not mean I doubt the Word of God,” Burleson added. “I fully trust God's Word. It means I fully comprehend my own fallibility in properly interpreting the Word of God.
“Let's dialogue about the issue. Let's debate the issue. Let's disagree over the issue. But we should never divide over the issue. There are far more important doctrines that unite us.”
CBE also honored Mary Lambert, who was asked by the pastor of Watertown Baptist Church, an American Baptist Church in New York state, to forego her position as a Sunday school teacher to adults. He asked her to leave on the grounds that he believes the Bible prohibits women to teach men. Lambert had taught Sunday school for more than 60 years.
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