Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 39:3 (Summer 2025)
Article: Separate But Equal: The Great Lie Behind Jim Crow And Progressive Complementarianism
Author: Greta L. Bennett

PP 39:3 (Summer 2025) p. 17

Separate But Equal: The Great Lie Behind Jim Crow And Progressive Complementarianism

Greta L. Bennett

and

AJ Fletcher

Women’s roles and responsibilities have been debated for centuries. Today, this debate has two distinct sides within evangelicalism: egalitarianism and complementarianism. Though, in theory, such debates should be about both women and men, they tend to focus explicitly on limiting women. The question is often framed, “though men and women are equal, are their roles limited, separate, and thus complementary?” The truth, however, is that only women’s status is being questioned, for men’s roles—even if separate—are not limited. It is significant and telling that men are the defining subject and women’s positions are presented as contingent upon relationships with men.

Certain evangelical scholars and church leaders try to walk the tightrope between these two sets of ideas yet remain predominantly in the complementarian mindset. We have dubbed such views “progressive complementarianism” in this article. The progressive complementarian stance seems innocuous but is, in fact, an antithesis of either egalitarian or complementarian scriptural interpretation. In progressive complementarian churches, women may be given a title such as “director” while their male counterparts are “pastors.” They may also be expected to perform a job similar to their male counterparts but with no title at all. While these examples may, at first, seem like steps in the right direction, they unveil flawed logic that Christians on either side of the egalitarian/complementarian divide cannot defend biblically.

A Jim Crow Analysis

There are connections between such regulations of women and the Jim Crow idea of separate-but-equal. The separate-but-equal policy in the United States created rules to control the Black community, much like progressive complementarianism focuses on controlling women within the church. Both seek a middle way while still limiting those, and only those, whom they claim to free. NT scholar Love Sechrest speaks of “regimes of control” as part of her explanation of mass imprisonment as a tool of “the New Jim Crow.” She extends this to the “metaphorical prisons” experienced primarily by women and girls of color.1 We believe this terminology also describes the treatment of women who are confined in “metaphorical prisons” by “regimes” of progressive complementarianism.

Jim Crow was an 1828 minstrel character created by Thomas D. Rice, a White actor who performed with hands and face painted black (and often with red protruding lips), depicting stereotypes of Black culture. This character ...