Either/Or: Mood'y Bible Institute's Men's...I Mean, Pastors Conference | Part 3

This is Part 3 of 3 in a series which explores Moody Bible Institute's tradition of disallowing women to register for their annual Pastor's Conference, and the connections that story has to deeper issues of problematic either/or thinking in Western Evangelicalism. 

You can also read Part 1 of this series: Either/or Understanding of Scripture or Part 2: Either/or Understanding of Evangelical Feminism.

3) Either/Or Understanding of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: “Men are either masculine, powerful, and in charge or they are feminine, weak, and subject to the pseudo-leadership of women.”

Moody aside, this false dichotomy is subtly found in many of our churches and institutions. And while these places may not always claim to have chosen to believe only one side of this either/or, they unfortunately communicate otherwise.Yet, I have seen, again and again, that Christians who define their manhood primarily by power and control often work out that ideology through theological suppression (or exclusion) of women whose femininity can be seen as a threat to manhood itself.

It is my experience that Biblical manhood need not ultimately be exercised through control, power, and authority. Jesus’ journey to his crucifixion and his resurrection experience illustrates this perfectly. “Biblical Manhood” also need not be hierarchical, as if the only alternative to being subservient to one’s wife is to preemptively dominate her.

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In the end, one can choose a high value of scripture, Christian orthodoxy, and Biblical womanhood and manhood while also choosing egalitarian hermeneutics, Evangelical feminism, and alternative understandings of manhood and womanhood. The “Egalitarianism vs. Complementarianism” debate need not be a battle of the antithetical opposites, but rather a recognition of the complexities behind a variety of biblically-based positions. In this specific case, a major representative of the wider Evangelical tradition has allowed an either/or posture to reinforce the binary thinking that plagues not only Evangelicalism in particular, but the Western world in general.

At first Moody’s response to Adam’s McLane’s Tweet (posted above) which read, “Praise God for other conferences #Heprovides” left me a bit frustrated. However, I am now left wondering if the author of that tweet was onto something. We should praise God for other Pastor Conferences that are welcoming of women and men who have dedicated their lives to sacrificial service in the church. And maybe that means—at least for the time being—we should also seek out those conferences for our further pastoral training and encouragement. In the meantime, maybe it would be more appropriate for Moody to call their gathering, “The Moody Pastoral Conference for Men.”

Want to read more? Check out Discovering Biblical Equality by Douglas Fee for issues of exegesis, hermeneutics, and church history. Or pick up Woman Caught in the Conflict by Rebecca Groothuis for info on Evangelical Feminism and the sociological side of gender equality. You can also read Part 1 of this series: Either/or Understanding of Scripture or Part 2: Either/or Understanding of Evangelical Feminism.  

-Michael L. Wiltshire