My Journey to Egalitarianism (Part II)

God did answer my teenage prayer for help.

God turned on the lights regarding the relevant Scriptures: sexism is a product of the Fall. Go read Genesis 1&2 – sexism wasn’t there in the beginning, it wasn’t God’s design – it’s always been humans subjugating women. Jesus loves women, he welcomed them as students, he was financially dependent on them to support his ministry, he defended women when the religious elite condemned them, and he chose a woman to be the first preacher of his resurrection. 

And Paul — though I’m less fond of him than Jesus — he was alright too. He subverted the confines of patriarchal household codes to given women a little more marital standing than they previously possessed. He worked alongside women and spoke of them as equals (Phoebe, Lydia, Junia, etc). Also, it’s highly likely that Paul didn’t write 1 Timothy anyway (or five other letters attributed to him), so maybe it’s someone else’s fault that that horrible sentence is in there between verse 11 and verse 13. 

The trajectory of the Bible is towards women’s liberation and inclusion. And I’ve become convinced that part of walking with Christ is continuing and participating in that trajectory. Scripture includes horrific misogyny — let’s call a spade a spade. The biblical authors had their views of God and women, and some of those views leave a lot to be desired.

But I see a subversive undercurrent at play too, worked out over a thousand years and through a thousand people and still going on here and now, and I see the Spirit pushing humanity towards fuller and wider and deeper and richer justice for women. Because the God I met at fifteen and the God I still commune with today assures me that He – She – is for women.

He, She, Father, Mother, Creator, Maker, Alpha, Omega – I AM WHO I AM has always been about breaking down our barriers, obliterating our perceptions, busting out of every God-shaped box we create, and surprising us every. step. of. the. way.

The curtain was torn in two. The earth quaked. The sky turned black. They killed God, and then God got up.

And what had been for just Israel became for the whole world. “God’s people” became all people.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. –Galatians 3:28

The same Lord who said over and over, “You have heard it said, but I say to you…” is still talking to us. He – She — is still trying to surprise us. 

We tend to be so slow on the uptick.

God also flipped the lights on for me to reveal the hoops that complementarians will jump through to soothe their consciences and avoid unflattering optics.

• Oh, a woman wants to speak to the congregation? We’ll have her do it on a Wednesday, not a Sunday, because then it’s not preaching.
• Oh, a woman wants to lead a house group? We’ll assign a man to co-lead.
• Oh, a woman wants to be a deacon? We’ll make something up called “deaconess,” then it’s okay.
• Oh, a woman wants to get an MDiv? We’ll segregate the women into their own preaching class, separate from the men who will eventually be ordained, so they won’t hear women preaching.
• Oh, she wants to be a pastor? We’ll encourage her to pursue children’s ministry or women’s ministry – she can teach, just not in front of men.
• Oh, a woman wants to be a missionary in Africa? That’s fine – we only care about women not preaching to wealthy white dudes.

It became painfully clear to me that Scripture was a pawn in the service of patriarchy, especially amongst those with the most power in the evangelical world (popular theologians like Piper, seminary presidents, denomination presidents – people who have a lot of money or influence to lose, more or less). Like Beth Moore said so well on Twitter and I’ve previously quoted:

“All these years I’d given the men benefit of the doubt that these men were the way they were because they were trying to be obedient to Scripture. Then I realized it was not over Scripture at all. It was over sin. It was over misogyny. Sexism. It was about arrogance. About protecting systems. It involved covering abuses and misuses of power. Shepherds guarding other shepherds instead of guarding the sheep.”

Church, you have tried to keep me, her, us under your thumb. In innumerable ways, you have aligned yourself with patriarchy instead of God — even your name for our Maker is, of course, a boy’s name.

Church, you tried to sell us a puny Jesus who is intimidated by women. You asked us to shrink back for Christ’s sake (rose from the dead, but can’t handle a strong woman, sure) because you didn’t have the balls to say it was for your sake – and you know there ain’t no cover like a Jesus cover.

Church, you exploit women’s desire to be faithful to Jesus. You tell us to submit, to shelf our gifts, to shut down our sexuality, to quiet our voices and by extension, our lives. You let us serve lunch, sure, but never a congregation as senior pastor. And we go along with all this because you have told us this is the price of loving Jesus. And we really love Jesus.

In my case, your little tactic backfired. Because I came to love Jesus too much. Loving Jesus – more than the rules, more than the Church, more than the Bible, and eventually more than my own acceptance — that made me into a feminist, and then it made me care about all the marginalized people that Jesus loves. It made me care about politics and justice. It made me ask hard questions and push back on the status quo. It made me realize, horrified, that you have used Jesus as your puppet in so many ways.

Well, it doesn’t work on me anymore. And it’s never going to work on my daughters.

My girls will know from the get-go that they can lead, they can organize, they can write, they can teach, they can legislate, they can govern, and they can fucking preach.

For additional reading/listening:

• Junia Project Resources Page
• Marg Mowczko’s blog — Exploring the Biblical Theology of Christian Egalitarianism
• Why Talk About Faith, Gender, and Culture (Kate Nunnery’s home-run sermon at Biola University)
• I Will Be Me (absolutely gorgeous sermon by Kyndall Rae Rothaus, also check out her book Preacher Breath)
• Half the Church by Carolyn Custis James

Photo credits in order:

• Photo by Olivia Snow on Unsplash
• Photo by lucia on Unsplash
• Photo by Erik Brolin on Unsplash
• Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash
• Photo by israel palacio on Unsplash