Feminism in the Church

For 2,000 years, Orthodox Christianity has taught distinct gender roles. These gender responsibilities did not come from man’s ingenuity, but from the Holy Scripture. 

Feminist ideology however, have rejected these concepts; saying women have been classified by men. It now time, these feminists say, that women who have been named as man’s equals have been given the right to classify herself. While most Christians will deny they are feminists, it is practically impossible to not come away unscathed and unaffected. Christians have imbibed the feminist ideology. The question is, how much?

Enter in: Evangelical Biblical Feminism

Within secular culture, the cry for equality came through the churches back doors. Slowly, but surely, egalitarianism crept in. The feminists proclaimed that men and women were equal in all areas of life; that the different roles between men and women were interchangeable. Within this, feminists questioned the submission of women and women in ministry. As Mary Kassian pointed out, “ground-level feminists sought to overcome women’s differences in order to become just like men.” These women inside the church wanted equality of the sexes; just like the women outside of the church.

Women’s liberation theology became the lens in which feminist theologians filtered their theology. The theme verse of these feminist theologians was Galatians 3:28, “There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

The idea of equality with subordination does not make sense to evangelical feminists. This fact simply shows the dangers of taking on this belief when looking at the God himself. Within the Trinity, there are clear and distinct roles, some of which seem like subordination. The Father sending the Son, the Son submitting to the Father, etc. Will these feminists change their view of God in order to further their case?

“Equality and subordination are contradictions!” -Scanzoni and Hardesty

Having one person over another does not necessitate a lack of equality. There is an equality of essence but a difference in economic equality. Yet, feminists do not believe that this economic inequality is justified scripturally speaking. Kassian states, “Jewett concurred that a hierarchical structure could not be taught ‘without supposing that the half of the human race which exercises authority is superior in some way to the half which submits.”

Orthodox Christianity has believed for over the last 2,000 years that men and women have unique roles and functions. These are not based on society, but on the order of Creation that God set in motion. To deny this, is to deny God’s order, not man’s. Anyone who believes otherwise simply shows how much of the feminist ideology they have indeed imbibed.