CBEers: Who Are We? -- By: Kaye Cook
Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 10:3 (Summer 1996)
Article: CBEers: Who Are We?
Author: Kaye Cook
PP 10:3 (Summer 1996) p. 6
CBEers: Who Are We?
Dr. Kaye Cook is Professor of Psychology at Gordon College, Wenham, MA.
“…Orthodoxy has yet to take its women seriously with respect to their status in society in general and their standing in the Church in particular. That woman is inferior to man is an established doctrine in most Fundamentalist and Evangelist churches... Women’s Liberation (sic) is here to stay, and once again Orthodoxy is dragging its feet.”
Richard Quebedeaux (The Young Evangelicals. 1974, p. 112)
College students are as uninformed as the rest of the church. When my students hear I am a biblical feminist, they are sometimes surprised to find out that I am married. Some assume that I support abortion on demand; others assume that I support the civil rights of homosexuals. These minds are not “blank slates,” ready to be written upon. They have been taught these assumptions in their churches and families!
A survey of the evangelical literature suggests that many evangelicals share their biases. Too often, those who write about biblical feminists stereotype Christian feminists as extremists. They may describe biblical feminists, for example, as undermining the family, believing in androgyny, supporting socialism, and arguing that women’s ordination and inclusive language are a matter of “human rights” rather than a gift of faith (Bloesch, 1984).1
Indeed, it takes a careful survey of the evangelical literature to find these references. Many evangelicals simply omit any reference to biblical feminists, as if we have had little impact upon the history of the church. For a thoughtful comment on our invisibility, see Mary Stewart van Leeuwen’s review of Mark Noll’s The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (printed in Priscilla Papers, Summer 1995.) She incisively titles her review “The Scandal of the (Male) Evangelical Mind.” Perhaps by ignoring our contributions, writers like Noll hope to trivialize the issues that we—before God— think are important.
How We Describe Ourselves
Although various authors have written about biblical feminists, few have asked us directly what we believe. To find out what evangelical feminists believe, I developed a 3-page, single-space survey that was distributed at the 1995 CBE conference at Gordon College. Half (120) of the approximately 250 people who came to the conference completed the survey. A great big thanks to all of you who shared your ideas!
In the paragraphs that follow, I will summarize the results of this survey. I covet your feedback. What surprises you here? What interests you? Where do you “fit” in th...
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