Bobbed Hair, Bossy Wives and Women Preachers: Swim On

Biblical Equality: Complementarity Without Hierarchy, edited by Ronald W. Pierce, Rebecca Merrill Groothuis and Gordon Fee

progress: 151/507

The first few chapters of the book discuss the historical widening and narrowing of women's ministry roles. Although the tradition of the Christian church has been overwhelmingly patriarchal, history provides consistent examples of exceptional men and women who modelled or worked toward equality in the church - from martyrs, monastics, and reformers, to quite a few mainline demonminations at the turn of the twentieth century. I was quite intrigued to discover the role my own alma mater played - on both sides of the fence. Two different circulations (Alumni News and Moody Monthly) from Moody Bible Institute in the 1920s celebrate the stories of female alums who who ministered in roles that the Moody of my era (1990s) would have met with clear disapproval. The first woman to graduate from the pastor's course in 1929 accomplished a feat that would've been impossible during my time there in the mid-90s, when preaching classes were not open to women. Such stories as these compelled the author of this chapter (Janette Hassey) to conclude, "Consequently, the early MBI stands as an appropriate educational symbol of 'fundamentalist feminism.'" (42)

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Such egalitarian attempts didn't last long. The latter half of the chapter discusses the reasons for the rise and fall of women's ministry in the last century. The rise of women in the church was due in large part to three factors: 1) Eschatological interpretations of passages such as Joel 2:28 and Psalm 68:11-12 among evangelicals emphasized the role of the Holy Spirit in empowering people - men and women - to meet the needs of reaching the lost in the "last days." 2) "Charismatic church leadership" maintained that Spirit-gifting was the primary qualification for leadership, rather than gender, and allowed women the opportunity to train and work as lay leaders, often alongside their husbands. 3) Social activism allowed women the opportunity to become public church leaders, and as they spoke out on behalf of slaves and other victims, they found a voice to speak out for themselves. (50)

For a while, women enjoyed a great amount of freedom to serve within the church. So what changed it all, and so quickly? Hassey provides four explanations: 1) Fundamentalist subcultures arose as a response to the modernist theology that had infiltrated the mainline denominations between WWI and WWII. Some of these exhibited separatist tendencies that narrowed the role of women. I found it interesting that one of the major movements of the latter variety was the founding of Dallas Theological Seminary, whose "southern conservative social values" limited the role of women in the church and society. (53) A significant contributor to the tightening of women's opportunities at Moody Bible Institute was the influx of DTS graduates onto MBI faculty. (53-54)

A second reason for the decline of women's roles in the church was 2) its institutionalization. An increased emphasis on professionally-trained rather than lay-trained ministers and its focus on specialization edged women out. One unfortunate consequence was that "educational attainment and credentials often replaced spiritual gifts as the essential leadership qualifications." (53-54) Another reason was 3) the fundamentalist reaction to social change. As women's roles in society expanded with the increase of secular feminism, the church reacted in fear by narrowing the sphere of women in the church. The author's mention of a 1940s book entitled Bobbed Hair, Bossy Wives and Women Preachers made me laugh despite the ominous undertones of how Christian gender perspectives were changing. Hassey summarizes those changing perspectives this way:

"Convinced that the survival of the traditional family and of the entire social order was at stake, many evangelicals tightened their approach to women in ministry." (55)

Finally, 4) fundamentalist exegesis resulted in a revised understanding of women's role-limiting passages such as 1 Timothy 2. A narrowed understanding of biblical inerrancy led to a literalism which prevented such passages from being understood as occasional or culturally specific, and instead emphasized the instructions presented as the enduring standard for all women for all time.

I found it fascinating to observe the ebb and flow of women's roles over the course of a century, and the varied reasons for the changes that took place. What a bunch of reactionary folks we humans are, changing our minds as often as our world changes. I might be discouraged if not for the fact that I have confidence in the Holy Spirit's ability (passion?) to work through and in spite of our human tendency to complicate most everything with questionable motives and imbalanced perspectives. These are muddy waters to navigate, but closing our eyes and treading water accomplishes nothing, so we swim on.

~B

P. S. Click here for an entertaining history of the bob haircut. The most astonishing line I read: "Men divorced their wives over bobbed hair."