A Response to the Danvers Statement - Revision history

BrantleyRider at 21:11, 11 March 2025

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	10. Historical study is increasingly demonstrating that there have always been at least some evangelicals at the vanguard of movements for the emancipation of women from the arbitrary restrictions of a male-dominated traditionalism. Janette Hassey's "No Time For Silence" is a recent example (1986) To paraphrase a famous Puritan pastor as he sent some of his flock off to the New World, "The Lord hath yet more light to break forth from the history of women's ministry!" And much of this history does not particularly flatter traditionalism. Have we forgotten how bitterly the reactionary conservative clergy inveighed against even so elementary a development as allowing female citizens the right to vote? Would a modern signatory to the Danvers Statement like to argue that the women's vote is the cause of today's social corruption? Since the "spirit of the age" is still male-supremacist, and the suppression of women (in cheerful fulfillment of the prediction in Genesis 3:16) is the natural stance of all heathen cultures, I fail entirely to see how our practicing the implications of Galatians 3:28 could be rationally thought of as conformity to the spirit of the age.		10. Historical study is increasingly demonstrating that there have always been at least some evangelicals at the vanguard of movements for the emancipation of women from the arbitrary restrictions of a male-dominated traditionalism. Janette Hassey's "No Time For Silence" is a recent example (1986) To paraphrase a famous Puritan pastor as he sent some of his flock off to the New World, "The Lord hath yet more light to break forth from the history of women's ministry!" And much of this history does not particularly flatter traditionalism. Have we forgotten how bitterly the reactionary conservative clergy inveighed against even so elementary a development as allowing female citizens the right to vote? Would a modern signatory to the Danvers Statement like to argue that the women's vote is the cause of today's social corruption? Since the "spirit of the age" is still male-supremacist, and the suppression of women (in cheerful fulfillment of the prediction in Genesis 3:16) is the natural stance of all heathen cultures, I fail entirely to see how our practicing the implications of Galatians 3:28 could be rationally thought of as conformity to the spirit of the age.

	~~Conculsions~~		==Conclusions==

	One can only hope as the subject continues to unfold in the public forum of evangelical scholarship, that the promise of Isaiah 55:10 and 11, that God sovereignly supervises the effectiveness of His Word as He wills, will be increasingly made real in the life of Christ's Church. Reformation-minded saints must continue to pray that the light of God's Word will eventually reform the traditionalist vision into a closer conformity to the whole of Scripture. In this way "the noble Biblical vision of sexual complementarity" may be seen to be fully compatible with that life in Christ in which "there is neither male nor female" but only redeemed children of God growing more and more into the grace of mutual submission, and exercising freely the gifts with which God has wisely graced them.		One can only hope as the subject continues to unfold in the public forum of evangelical scholarship, that the promise of Isaiah 55:10 and 11, that God sovereignly supervises the effectiveness of His Word as He wills, will be increasingly made real in the life of Christ's Church. Reformation-minded saints must continue to pray that the light of God's Word will eventually reform the traditionalist vision into a closer conformity to the whole of Scripture. In this way "the noble Biblical vision of sexual complementarity" may be seen to be fully compatible with that life in Christ in which "there is neither male nor female" but only redeemed children of God growing more and more into the grace of mutual submission, and exercising freely the gifts with which God has wisely graced them.

BrantleyRider at 21:11, 11 March 2025

2025-03-11T21:11:13Z

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BrantleyRider: /* About the Author */

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About the Author

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	'''R. K. McGregor Wright, Th.M., Ph.D.'''		'''R. K. McGregor Wright, Th.M., Ph.D.'''

	'''Aquila and Priscilla House Evangelical Study Center'''		'''Aquila and Priscilla House Evangelical Study Center'''

BrantleyRider at 19:05, 11 March 2025

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	==About the Author==		==About the Author==

	R. K. McGregor Wright, Th.M., Ph.D.		'''R. K. McGregor Wright, Th.M., Ph.D.'''
	Aquila and Priscilla House Evangelical Study Center		'''Aquila and Priscilla House Evangelical Study Center'''

	[[Robert K. McGregor Wright]] is, with [[Julia Castle]], co-director of the [[Aquila and Priscilla House Evangelical Study Center]]. He studied at [[London Bible College]] and received the B.D. from [[wikipedia:London University\|London University]] in 1968, after several years as a high school teacher in Australia. He studied with [[Francis Schaeffer]] at [[L'Abri]] in 1969, following which he came to [[Trinity Evangelical Divinity School]] (Th.M., 1971) where he met and married [[Julia Castle]]. After several years working in Christian publishing companies, they came to [[wikipedia:Denver, Colorado\|Denver]] and have ministered there together since 1976, including as founding directors of Friendship International, a ministry of [[Bear Valley ~~Baptist~~ Church (Lakewood, Colorado)]], from 1978 to 1985, and now through the study center. Ministries of the study center include preaching and teaching in local churches and providing classes relevant to laypeople in the evangelical church in America today, including developing a Christian worldview, cults, and other apologetic and theological issues. Bob's interests are teaching and writing on apologetics, new religions, and historical theology. He completed his Ph.D. in 1989 in the joint doctoral program of [[wikipedia:Denver University\|Denver University]] and [[Iliff School of Theology]] in the area of historical theology with a thesis on the High Priesthood of Christ in the theology of [[John Owen]], a puritan leader of the seventeenth century.		[[Robert K. McGregor Wright]] is, with [[Julia Castle]], co-director of the [[Aquila and Priscilla House Evangelical Study Center]]. He studied at [[London Bible College]] and received the B.D. from [[wikipedia:London University\|London University]] in 1968, after several years as a high school teacher in Australia. He studied with [[Francis Schaeffer]] at [[L'Abri]] in 1969, following which he came to [[Trinity Evangelical Divinity School]] (Th.M., 1971) where he met and married [[Julia Castle]]. After several years working in Christian publishing companies, they came to [[wikipedia:Denver, Colorado\|Denver]] and have ministered there together since 1976, including as founding directors of [[Friendship International (ministry)]], a ministry of [[Bear Valley Church (Lakewood, Colorado)\|Bear Valley Baptist Church]], from 1978 to 1985, and now through the study center. Ministries of the study center include preaching and teaching in local churches and providing classes relevant to laypeople in the evangelical church in America today, including developing a Christian worldview, cults, and other apologetic and theological issues. Bob's interests are teaching and writing on apologetics, new religions, and historical theology. He completed his Ph.D. in 1989 in the joint doctoral program of [[wikipedia:Denver University\|Denver University]] and [[Iliff School of Theology]] in the area of historical theology with a thesis on the High Priesthood of Christ in the theology of [[John Owen]], a puritan leader of the seventeenth century.

	==The Occasion==		==The Occasion==

	The center-spread of the January 13 [[Christianity Today]] in 1988 contained a paid advertisement for a newly-formed "[[Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood]]" together with a reprint of their principles of rationale and purpose. This Council has been formed in reaction to the successful spread of biblical egalitarianism in recent years. It represents precisely the kind of conservative reaction which one would have expected to the recent questioning among evangelicals of traditionalist stances on feminism, gender roles and the idea of equality among men and women in matters of Christian ministry and opportunity. Indeed, the surprise is that something like the Danvers Statement did not appear long ago. Two reasons may be given for this late appearance.		The center-spread of the January 13 [[Christianity Today]] in 1988 contained a paid advertisement for a newly-formed "[[Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood]]" together with a reprint of their principles of rationale and purpose. This Council has been formed in reaction to the successful spread of biblical egalitarianism in recent years. It represents precisely the kind of conservative reaction which one would have expected to the recent questioning among evangelicals of traditionalist stances on feminism, gender roles and the idea of equality among men and women in matters of Christian ministry and opportunity. Indeed, the surprise is that something like the [[Danvers Statement]] did not appear long ago. Two reasons may be given for this late appearance.

	First, the subject is highly divisive. It is a type of controversy which touches individuals very deeply in their views of themselves and of others, and so threatens to alter patterns of life not seriously questioned before. The original hope of the traditionalists was that, since their position was so "obviously" the teaching of Scripture, only someone giving up the inerrancy of the Bible would be open to change on this sort of issue. This evaluation turned out to be premature, however, and the last fifteen years have demonstrated that inerrantists have been willing to reform their adherence to traditionalism in the direction of a more fully Biblical view of our freedom in Christ.		First, the subject is highly divisive. It is a type of controversy which touches individuals very deeply in their views of themselves and of others, and so threatens to alter patterns of life not seriously questioned before. The original hope of the traditionalists was that, since their position was so "obviously" the teaching of Scripture, only someone giving up the inerrancy of the Bible would be open to change on this sort of issue. This evaluation turned out to be premature, however, and the last fifteen years have demonstrated that inerrantists have been willing to reform their adherence to traditionalism in the direction of a more fully Biblical view of our freedom in Christ.

BrantleyRider: Created page with "'''A Response to the Danvers Statement''' is an article authored by R.K. McGregor Wright in February 1989 in the 4th volume of the Journal for Biblical Equality published by Christians for Biblical Equality International advocating for the egalitarian position in opposition to the complementarian position of the Danvers Statement created by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. ==About the Author==..."

2025-03-11T18:40:52Z

Created page with "'''A Response to the Danvers Statement''' is an article authored by R.K. McGregor Wright in February 1989 in the 4th volume of the Journal for Biblical Equality published by Christians for Biblical Equality International advocating for the egalitarian position in opposition to the complementarian position of the Danvers Statement created by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. ==About the Author==..."

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