Stained Glass Ceilings by Lisa Weaver Swartz

Author:Lisa Weaver Swartz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rutgers University Press

“Context, Context, Context”: Learning the Equality Story

While Asbury’s required curriculum does not include classes devoted to explicitly gendered topics, mandatory coursework often introduces related content. One required class, titled “Vocation of Ministry,” covers a variety of themes—including women in leadership. I observed from the back of the classroom one morning as the professor appealed to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. “Pentecost,” the lecture began, “is the third most important day in the church calendar” (presumably behind Christmas and Easter). The Spirit is given entirely to both men and women, the speaker continued, as is salvation in Jesus. “So,” the professor paused, looking expectantly at the class, “wouldn’t you agree that God’s two best gifts are given to both?” The class rewarded the question with nodded agreement. “Who gets to decide who gets what spiritual gift?” their teacher continued. “It’s not you. It’s not me. It’s not [complementarian theologian] Wayne Grudem.” The answer, so obvious that no one bothered even to voice it, was the Holy Spirit.

Like Southern, Asbury invests in holistic formation. The process often begins in classrooms like this one, which facilitate social exchanges as well as intellectual work. As students interact with each other, and with their professors, they learn the language of the Equality Story. New Testament faculty members contribute heavily to this work. Students often mentioned these professors as key in their egalitarian development. Sara, for example, admitted that she had been “a little bit confused on the issue, actually, when I came.… I had heard so much about the man being the spiritual head of the house growing up that I just took for granted that there’s some element of truth to it. I would have said before that both equally share spiritual responsibility. Just in different ways.… It wasn’t that I had this dogmatic, well thought out viewpoint, it was just like the wallpaper; I just didn’t think about it.” Sara’s New Testament professors, she remembered gratefully, nurtured her toward a more robust understanding. “They can articulate some of those difficult [scripture] passages really well—their meaning from a scholarly point [of view],” she said. “That was fantastic.” This faculty includes prominent biblical scholars like Craig Keener, whose books have sold well over half a million copies and earned him widespread recognition as a leader in his field of biblical studies.2 Keener has consistently and strongly affirmed gender equality and women’s leadership, most notably in his 1992 book Paul, Women, and Wives. Keener’s colleague Ben Witherington likewise highlights, as the title of his first book indicates, Women in the Ministry of Jesus (1984). Significantly, both of these men cut their scholarly teeth on questions of women in the New Testament and have been intellectual leaders in the field of egalitarian biblical scholarship for decades.

If students learn anything from these professors, it is this: context matters. In a widely read blog post titled “Why It Is Important to Study the Bible in Context,” Keener argues, “Using verses out of context one could ‘prove’ almost anything about God or justify almost any kind of behavior—as history testifies.

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