Women Pastors, Women Preachers, and the Looming Test of the Southern Baptist Convention by Albert Mohler
“Behold, a little cloud like a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” That was the message the prophet Elijah heard from his servant. Then, “And in a little while the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.”
That’s the way issues often arise. At first, there is only a small cloud. Soon thereafter, here comes the downpour. Well, here it comes.
The issue of women serving as pastors and preachers in churches roiled the Southern Baptist Convention from the 1970s until the Conservative Resurgence in the Convention clarified the question conclusively in the Baptist Faith & Message revision of 2000. There never was a moment when more than a handful of women served as pastors of SBC churches, but the mainline Protestant denominations were rushing headlong into the ordination of women as pastors and (Episcopal) priests, driven by two major energies — first, the demands of second wave feminism and, second, the impulses unleashed by liberation theology. In both cases, the main obstacle was the Bible, but, already compromised by theological liberalism, these denominations deployed revisionist arguments to defuse any argument from Scripture. The strategies of biblical subversion also took two basic forms. The argument was proffered that either the Bible was misread by Christians for nearly 2,000 years or the Bible is just hopelessly mired in patriarchy and oppression and the biblical authors were flat wrong.
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Usually, the arguments went together. Comparing the Apostle Paul to the Rev. Norman Vincent Peale (a preacher of little theology but much positive thinking), Sen. Adlai Stevenson famously quipped, “I find Saint Paul appealing and Saint Peale appalling.” Well, the theological liberals and feminists found St. Paul appalling. The LGBTQ theorists are in full agreement.
The result has been the feminization of liberal Protestantism. Put bluntly, there are just not that many males left. Actually, there are not many people left in those churches. Liberal theology is the kiss of death for any church or denomination. Little remains but social justice activism and deferred maintenance.
