While Barnes’ words are particularly violent, they are nevertheless indicative of a fissure within American evangelicalism regarding the role of women in church leadership. What these discussions often betray is the apparent disdain that some Christian leaders have for influential female leaders, even apart from the relevant theological considerations.
Earlier this week, author and Bible teacher Beth Moore, who was infamously told by pastor John MacArthur to “go home,” became the subject of conversation after pictures began circulating of her serving the Eucharist at her local Anglican church.
Moore was a longtime member of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and had a longstanding publishing partnership with Lifeway Christian Resources. Earlier this year, Moore left the SBC after the denomination was implicated in the mishandling of sexual abuse allegations and had been waging various internal political battles, particularly with regard to critical race theory.
Moore had also been the subject of ongoing criticism and harassment within the denomination, much of it aimed at her being a female Bible teacher. The SBC holds to a complementarian view of gender roles, which argues that the roles of men and women in the home and church are distinct. Complementarian theology often exists on a spectrum, making some within the more conservative branches of the SBC deeply suspicious of Moore’s orthodoxy.
Upon seeing Moore serving the Eucharist at an Anglican church, many of Moore’s critics within the SBC took the opportunity to continue their campaign against her, with some claiming that she had been an agent of liberal drift within the SBC and that she had only left the denomination after it was “no longer making her money.”
While a number of SBC leaders piled on, others were quick to come to Moore’s defense, including editor-in-chief of Outreach Magazine Ed Stetzer.
“I became a believer in an Anglican church, and don’t feel a particular urge to return. Yet, today, I stand w/ my many Anglican friends, including @BethMooreLPM,” Stetzer tweeted. “I’m thankful for my friends in @The_ACNA—and think some Southern Baptists should be ashamed of themselves today.”
While the theological debate between complementarian and egalitarian visions for the role of women in the church, home, and workplace will persist, many evangelical leaders are growing even more concerned about how Christian leaders honor or dishonor the women in their midst, regardless of their stance on the issue.
In a tweet earlier this year, Beth Moore said herself, “When you functionally treat complementarianism—a doctrine of MAN—as if it belongs among the matters of 1st importance, yea, as a litmus test for where one stands on inerrancy & authority of Scripture, you are the ones who have misused Scripture. You went too far.”
