As much as conservative evangelicals love to hate Hollywood, sometimes Hollywood plays the role of the prophet, exposing the brutal power dynamics of complementarianism’s “male headship.” Such is the case with Brett McCracken, senior editor and director of communications at…
John MacArthur is wrong about so much more than keeping women in abusive marriages
A righteous furor has erupted in the past week over a credible report published by Christianity Today telling more stories of women who sought help through “biblical counseling” at John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church and were told they must remain…
Why can’t churches get handling abuse right?
Yet another evangelical megachurch is repenting for mishandling clergy sex abuse. Every few days, it seems, we’re hearing about a different instance of a pastor or church leader who has abused women and/or children and a church (or denomination) that…
What does complementarianism have to do with Domestic Violence Awareness Month?
“Please don’t tell my husband I said anything. These men think they can bully women into submission.” I hear statements like this from Christian women in complementarian marriages quite often. But while many of these women are aware of the…
Readers bristle at Desiring God column on beards as signs of God’s intent to separate men from women
It turns out there’s more than a hairs-width of difference between the theology of the TheoBros and most everyone else. The Christian Twitterverse has been aflame the past few days about an article published on the website of the conservative…
Dear Denny Burk, your view of gender is not biblical, it is dangerous
In a 2019 talk given at Compass Bible Church in Aliso Viejo, Calif., Denny Burk spoke about how “unbiblical” it is to state that one’s brain is experiencing a disconnect with their bodily gender, but then cited Genesis 1:26-28 as…
As church staff roles evolve, the SBC is forced to define the word ‘pastor’
Sixty years ago, Baptists would have had little reason to debate the meaning of the word “pastor.” In those simpler days, “the pastor” was the primary staff leader of a congregation — the person who preached most Sundays and provided…
Sadly, I agree that a complementarian seminary shouldn’t offer women degrees in pastoral theology
Twitter was abuzz last week when Scott Aniol took to the platform to dump cold water on a woman who was celebrating her pastoral ministry degrees. Aniol wrote, “Theological seminaries should not be giving women degrees in pastoral ministry. Full…
Has God really ‘staked everything on men’?
If you want to understand how extreme the male-dominance wing of the Southern Baptist Convention has become, consider this March 30 social media post from Owen Strachan: “God has staked everything on men. Strong men are the foundation of a…