Conservative Christian Women And The Worst Accusation, by Rev. Jeremiah Gibbs
If you are the one that opposes women’s leadership, you would do much better to tell her that you read the Bible differently than her. But at least acknowledge that she too is striving to honor God and God’s Word with her life. To tell her that she isn’t “biblical” is to call her essential spirituality and relationship with God into question. To do so certainly is not good leadership or pastoral. It’s simply a power play to silence the opposition.
Domestic Violence and Spiritual Abuse: Part 1, by Rev. Al Miles (Joyful Heart Foundation)
Perpetrators of domestic violence are found in every segment of religious and secular society. And yes, some of them are spiritual leaders—board members, deacons, educators, pastors, pastoral counselors and youth ministers. They will not only use various aspects of culture, faith, religion and spirituality to assert control and power over their current or former female intimate partners. These men will also claim that God and Jesus Christ instructed them to carry out their misdeeds.
There’s a fly in the soup; there is patriarchy in my religion, by Sarahbeth Caplin
Even though I firmly believe Jesus valued women (he saved the life of one about to be stoned for adultery, per Old Testament law, after all), if other Christians who claim to represent him cannot allow for equality in their definition of womanhood, then the result is simple: the church will have no women.
Video Shorts #8: How does the gospel reclaim Eve? Junia’s story, by Suzanne Burden
In the last eight weeks, we’ve discovered how the gospel reclaimed seven New Testament women—Mary Magdalene, then Mary of Bethany, The Samaritan Woman, The Unclean Woman, Priscilla, Phoebe and Lydia. Last stop: Junia. The most controversial figure of all.
This week on The Scroll
Diversity Works: Celebrating Diversity in the Leadership of the Early Church, by Mimi Haddad
Diversity was in the very DNA of the Philippian church, which grew out of three conversions: a Jewish business woman, Lydia (Acts 16:13–15); a slave girl from Macedonia (Acts 16:16–18); and a Roman jailer (Acts 16:19–34).
Modeling Gender Equality in Children’s Stories, by Naomi Krueger
So there’s hope for breaking out of the love-at-first-sight, damsels-in-distress clichés for children’s movies, but what about role models for boys? Who is teaching our boys to respect women, to treat them like equal partners in the battle for good over evil, and to see them as more than sex objects?
Read any excellent articles or blog posts about gender equality this week? Share the title, author name, and URL in the comments.
*Note: Linking to these posts is not a CBE endorsement of previous or future written work or statements made by the authors.
