by Sandy » Sat May 14, 2011 2:49 pm
Women who serve on the SBC executive committee:
Debbie Ackerman, president of the WMU
Wilma Booth, Illinois
Lovina Rush, Missouri
Joan Mitchell, North Carolina
Carol Yarber, Texas
Sarah Talley, West Virginia
Martha Lawley, Wyoming
That's more than there ever have been, I believe. Also, I don't know how many are on other committees or trustee boards at the SBC level, but I would guess that number is also higher than it ever has been. The moderates have done a lot of talking about putting more women in positions of authority, but prior to 1979, when they ran the show, the power and influence that comes with holding committee or board seats seemed not to interfere too much with their idealistic view, because few men ever stepped back to let a woman serve back then.
Also, there's a lot of incredulity over the "lack" of female professors at the six seminaries. But when you consider that Baptist theological education has never followed the "Ivory Tower" model, that's not surprising. Rather than seminaries loaded with "intellectuals" who write books, pontificate on the way things should be, and hire doctoral fellows to teach their classes because they are involved in intellectual pursuits, Baptists decided that the best seminary professors would be those who had a lot of practical experience in the ministry, and could teach practical application rather than spout intellectual theories. In a denomination that has always been committed to scriptural fidelity and believes in distinct, different ministry roles for men and women, with the pastorate reserved for men, most of those great teachers are going to be male.