Complementarian “authority and submission” dogma fails the test of Scripture and will die the same death as the teaching that women are especially prone to deception. The powerful men who ignore God’s call to women may try other arguments, but their days are numbered. They always have been:

Over the last year, I’ve provided so much information to argue for women's inclusion into teaching and leadership ministry that some of you have asked me to make one main synopsis post. *This is that post.* I summarize my position and provide numerous links to articles that delve deeper.

A study in the American Sociological Review finds that women’s health is significantly worse in churches that prohibit women from teaching and leading. If you've seen references to this study before, I have new insights. If you haven't, buckle your seat because my new article is a doozy.

The New Testament and early centuries contained an Order of Widows, a recognized church office with qualifications that largely mirrored the qualifications for overseers in 1 Timothy. Learn about it in my brand new article.

What if we considered Christ’s teachings from the perspective of the marginalized and abused (which, after all, is the context of the people to whom Christ came, lived among, and ministered). My brand new post:

I accidentally typed a text message that tomorrow will be January 310. I have to say, it certainly feels that way.

My brand new article looks at a stunning example from early church history, then a big one from recent decades that “hid in plain sight,” and finally one from the Bible to show logical inconsistencies and the morally and scripturally bereft nature of arguments against women teaching men.

Jesus came into a world that often demoralized and hurt women, those with disabilities, the poor, and anyone who was considered an outsider. In my brand new post, I look at how Jesus responded in the Gospel of Luke.

This weekend, I’ll be reading through an advance copy of Preston Sprinkle’s new book “From Genesis to Junia: An Honest Search for What the Bible Really Says About Women in Leadership.” I will publish a full review the day before its March 3 release. I’ve been curious about this one for a while!

1 Cor. 14:34 says, "Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak ..." Are there cultural reasons they would be interrupting the service to ask questions? Is this a scribal gloss? Or is Paul quoting his opponents in order to refute them? Let's consider the possibilities:

1 Corinthians is a dicey letter for anyone claiming that male-rule is God’s good gift. But there is one part that would seem to back up this view: 14:34-35. In my brand new article, I examine it:

I've written a lot about 1 Timothy 2 and other passages, arguing for the necessity of teaching and leadership in the church being open to women. I haven’t touched the passage that would seem, in a “plain reading of the English text,” to be the ultimate “clobber” verses, 1 Cor. 14:34-35. Until today:

There is a growing boldness and popularity for preachers like Doug Wilson who espouse the Southern “Lost Cause” mythology that redefines slavery as somewhere between “not that bad” and God’s ordained plan, The theological reasoning is similar to current “biblical patriarchy” models.

Words from leading male theologians who understand the powerful, prophetic message of the Magnificat/Mary's Song, & the significant role Mary plays as the favored one chosen by God to give birth to Jesus. @scotmcknight.bsky.social @religionprof.bsky.social @bobbygilles.bsky.social #Bonhoeffer

In a culture and era that considers women as incidental to God’s story, Dr. Ingrid Faro shows how godly women in the Hebrew Scriptures advanced the plot in ways that many Bible teachers ignore, downplay, or misinterpret. Read my review of her new book, "Redeeming Eden”:

Over the past year, I’ve presented enough evidence in support of a hierarchy-free mutuality of women and men within the church and home to fill a book. Still, complementarians ask, "Aren’t you just bowing to secular culture, though? Don’t you see how women have taken over everything?" Nope:

Let’s talk about the good, bad, and ugly of evangelism and missionary activity in the last two millennia. We'll distinguish godly power from worldly power, and see the evidence for Jesus's parable of the wheat and the weeds, growing together until harvest time.

The angel Gabriel's involvement with two couples, highlighted during the first Advent of Christ, definitively disproves the complementarian "created order" teaching that bars women from teaching or exercising authority. I'll show you:

You’re talking with your cousin, TheoBro Ted, and he shakes his head when you talk about women in ministry. Ted says, "“Look, I just believe what everyone believed until five minutes ago. This whole ‘women preacher’ thing is just a new feminist idea." Ted is wrong. And I'll prove it:

With so many churches and denominations perpetrating and covering up horrific abuses, and with more and more people deconstructing due to hypocrisy and harmful teachings, is there an argument for church community today? My new post looks at why Carmen Joy Imes says, "Yes."

My new post analyzes proof from many sources and studies to show the link between complementarianism and both abuse and infidelity. "Why he cheats, beats, or mistreats often correlates with his theology"

We are living in hard times. How must the church relate to Christ, each other, and the world? It's all about "withness" and "witness." My new article explores Bonhoeffer's take on this, placing him in conversation with NT Wright, John Barclay, Matthew Bates, and other current scholars.

Complementarianism insists men and women are equal in value but unequal in "role and authority." This is doublespeak for "They are not equal." And the idea that “It’s not about ability, it’s about responsibility” fails on scriptural and logical grounds. I talk about it in my brand new post:

“Disallowing a woman’s leadership under the “women are too emotional” argument reveals a misunderstanding of the very concept of emotion. Emotions are not sinful; they are expressions of how we have been spiritually formed over time. /1

Jesus lived justly and trained his followers to be people of justice. We see this in their treatment of the marginalized in the New Testament and early historical records. More on this, plus info on my next two posts, here:

Christian patriarchy (no matter what name it goes by) gets many things wrong. Prominent among them are ten “gotcha” statements often repeated on social media and other forums. My brand new post rebuts all ten.

Jesus is for the poor, the hurting, the sick, the homeless, and the helpless. And he calls us to this position. My brand new post:

One epistle and two women almost never come up in the debate about women teaching and leading in the church. Yet, they are absolutely crucial. Let me show you:

I am honored to be featured on @scotmcknight.bsky.social’s Substack with a post called "A Family Resemblance." I will show that Mary taught scripture to Jesus and James, shaping the New Testament community. This is based on a very small part of the thesis I wrote for Scot at Northern Seminary.

This is a good message all the time, but especially in troublesome times: “Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” — 1 Corinthians 13:7-8

The Hebrew prophets decried injustice, and so should we. My brand new article:

When you were made for communion but raised for conflict, you plant your flag, call it “home,” and exile anyone who disagrees with you or doesn’t submit to your “authority.”

I propose that Artemis plays a significant but indirect role in 1 and 2 Timothy. I'll show you why and how it fits, and why claims that this passage shows women may never teach the Bible to men are wrong: bobbygilles.substack.com/p/is-artemis...

In today's post, I’ll juxtapose the indirect emphasis of the Artemis cult with what I think is the direct claim of the teachers that 1 Timothy 2:11-15 opposes. We’ll end by answering, “Isn’t the complementarian ‘created order’ argument for 1 Timothy 2 the simplest, thus the best, interpretation?”

The Law of Moses gives special protection for groups of people known as the stranger, the poor, the widow, and the orphan. If we are going to be a society that, say, posts the 10 Commandments in public places, we should follow through in how we relate to people within these and similar categories:

How does the historical-cultural situation of Artemis Worship in Ephesus in the first century reflect on the prohibition on women teaching in 1 Timothy 2? Let's dive in!

The story of Mary Magdalene speaks today:

For the first time, I've written a (very) short story that will make Mary Magdalene's role as a preacher of the gospel clear. Following the story, I answer the claim that the language of Christ’s commission to her means she was “just delivering the news,” not doing anything analogous to preaching.

Genesis 3 introduces rebellion and broken fellowship into the biblical story, setting in motion a chain of events that leads to perpetual, unjust power plays. This is NOT what God wants. As we read, we long for things to be made right.

I've written about women prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures but what about the argument, "That's the Old Testament - in the New Testament, women are not permitted to preach?" My new article lays that claim to bed ...

Similarities and differences between the Genesis creation accounts and other ancient Near East literature reveal God’s heart for justice, love, peace, equality between the sexes and among all peoples, and expectations for their loving care of all creation.

Today I'm writing about popular suppositions that many Christians (who believe in a God-ordained gender hierarchy of men over women) bring to the study of scripture, and comparing those suppositions to the story of Huldah, the woman prophet.

The U.S. Pledge of Allegiance famously ends, “with liberty and justice for all.” But justice is a controversial subject these days. My new post looks at key terms from the Scriptures to understand how Christians should understand social justice and why we must let justice roll like a river.

"Sojourner combined in herself, as an individual, the two most hated elements of humanity. She was black, and she was a woman, and all the insults that could be cast upon color and sex were together hurled at her; but there she stood ..." Sojourn Truth still speaks to us. Do we listen?

Were nineteenth-century preachers who defended slavery just "men of their times," who shouldn't have been expected to read the Bible another way? Well, maybe if they'd have listened to this other preacher that I know a little something about ...

Life in the Substack Notes timeline ...

My Northern Seminary sister Jane Anne Tucker is my first guest writer in this week’s post: “to truly understand biblical interpretation in post-Civil War America ... one must look back to the hermeneutic that 'fueled the standoff of Civil War.”

"When Paul finished dictating this letter to his scribe Tertius, it is inconceivable that he would have thought, 'Maybe I shouldn’t have stuck my neck out for women in the closing greetings; I probably blew it with the complementarians.' Paul expects his audience to agree with his assessment ..."

As the battle lines have moved from discussions of Junia’s name, sex, and status among the apostles, some allege that, even if Paul mentions a woman apostle, this doesn’t mean what we think it means. They are wrong. Let’s dive in:

In the last two decades, a few translations have begun to say that Junia was “well known to the apostles” instead of “outstanding among the apostles.” This is wrong. Here’s why.