Book Giveaway!
Becoming the Pastor's Wife by Beth Allison Barr
Growing up in the church, I knew I would never marry a pastor. I didn’t have anything against pastors, but I knew I didn’t want to be a pastor’s wife. This is exactly why Becoming the Pastor’s Wife is such a helpful book. Beth Allison Barr demonstrates that the stereotype of the pastor’s wife within modern evangelicalism cannot be sustained by history or the Bible. The book powerfully challenges not only the way the literal role of pastor’s wife has been unnecessarily narrowed and reduced, but even more importantly, how the role of pastor’s wife has served as a distorted metaphor for how all women in the church should (or should not) function. Becoming the Pastor’s Wife paints a truer picture in brighter colors.
This is the blurb I provided for
’s forthcoming book, Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman's Path to Ministry, which releases March 18 from Brazos Press.Whether you are complementarian or egalitarian—or embrace a tradition that long pre-dates these modern categories—you will find this book challenging and enlightening (and at times maddening). Here’s the thing: long before I had ever even heard the word “complementarian,” I was ordained in our Southern Baptist Church as a deaconess (alongside my husband, who was ordained as a deacon during the same service). I had no idea at the time that such a thing would be considered controversial. I had always attended and was attending then a church led by a male pastor. But on that day, I was ordained to serve—not lead, pastor, or preach—in the church. Only later would I come to learn that such blessings to serve would become hand grenades hurled in ongoing denominational wars over political power and institutional control. Beth’s ongoing work as a historian is helping to show how this happened—and why.
If you’re a paid subscriber to The Priory, comment below and I’ll pick one commenter to receive the book and the bling pictured. (You can comment on this or anything at all, really!) I will choose by end of day Friday.
Hi Karen and fellow readers,
Evangelicals begin our misinterpretation with the creation of Eve. We believe in hierarchy and since Adam came first, well - isn’t it obvious who should be in charge? Paul, of course, grew up in a patriarchal culture and did not see his ministry as one of changing that aspect of Jewish culture. When Protestants decided to revolt - where there was Mary, honored as the Mother of God. Something had to be done and Mary was reduced to something like the average pregnant teenager. An interesting story comes from America’s west. White women were often captured bu the Indian tribes to provide wives for the men since the army had the habit of killing women and children, much easier targets. But when these white women were liberated, a number didn’t want to return to their “privilege” existence as wives of settlers. They found much more respect among these “savages” than they found in their homes back in the settlement. Right now in my church we have one pastor who has stepped aside to determine if he wants to stay in ministry and another in the hospital with a bleeding ulcer. So much pressure on the men to perform while their wives are almost totally left out of the picture. But, of course, there would be something like a massive walk-out if a woman ever ascended the pulpit to preach. But might those pastor’s wives have some encouraging words for the wives in the congregation who believe they must submit?
Jack
I can’t wait to read the book. This battle against women within the evangelical church is disturbing and maddening. I think about single women who served as missionaries in dangerous places. Places mission boards didn’t want to send families because of danger. Yet, women went to serve God and fulfill their call.