Drawing on decades of experience, including as a professor at Abilene Christian University and minister, Jack Reese, in At the Blue Hole: Elegy for a Church on the Edge (Eerdmans 2021), considers the rapid decline of the Churches of Christ and what might be done.
An unusually large number of people endorse the book in its opening pages — 25, mostly other luminaries in the Churches of Christ.
But not one woman. Zero.
One, not from the Churches of Christ, endorses on the back of the paperback edition along with three more men. Two more men endorse in internet marketing.
And in this Corner …
Women appear in the first chapter, two from a congregation today, the two expressing conflicting views.
Then two from a congregation in the Bible, with At the Blue Hole lamenting the “church in Philippi was slowly being torn apart because two strong and influential women were having a knock-down-drag-out.”
The Bible doesn’t say, however, that the two, Euodia and Syntyche, were having a knock-down-drag-out. It doesn’t say the church was being torn apart because of them.
Maybe they disagreed with each other. Maybe not. Maybe they were being encouraged to think like Paul or to stand firm. Or to be of one mind with everyone, as Paul encouraged all. Maybe Paul wanted to encourage them by name to continue thinking alike and for others to assist them with their work. The scripture is ambiguous.
At the Blue Hole repeats a common characterization of the two Phillipi women arguing and pejoratively embellishes further.
One does not have to go past the endorsements and first chapter for a theory to leap out regarding a major reason the Churches of Christ is unlikely to recover from rapid decline absent immediate change.
We’re #1!
Reese recoils at Malcom Gladwell, the popular author, referring to the Churches of Christ as “the most strict of Southern fundamentalist denominations” and “just about the most fundamentalist of fundamentalist Christians.”
To Reese, Gladwell is referring to us not recognizing “other Christian groups as authentically Christian.” The Churches of Christ once had such a reputation. Some places, still does.
He may be right, but the rest of Christianity is not some ecumenical party, as many Baptists, Roman Catholics, and others don’t recognize other Christian groups as authentically Christian. So in this respect we aren’t so different.
How are we “the most strict” and “the most fundamentalist”?
The Most …
We are nearly alone among Christian groups in completely — completely — prohibiting girls and women from speaking, leading, and actively serving in the worship service, as the vast majority of Churches of Christ congregations do. I estimate around 1-2% of Christianity has such a broad prohibition, most of which is Churches of Christ congregations.
Islam generally does the same in its worship service.
Some Christian denominations have females speaking and leading in the worship service in multiple ways, but bar them from preaching or ordination as pastor or priest.
Some denominations do not bar females from any role or function.
In the vast majority of Churches of Christ congregations, though, girls and women are generally completely barred from reading scripture out loud, taking up offering, leading singing, praying out loud, preaching, and more in the worship service. Barred from serving communion there. From giving communion remarks. From teaching baptized middle school boys, high school boys, and adult men in Sunday School. Barred from serving as elder. As deacon. Barred from praying out loud in Sunday School when men are there. Barred from teaching adult men in Bible classes on Wednesday night. Barred from…. You get the picture.
Mostly Ignored
Despite this extreme, the subject is largely ignored in At the Blue Hole.
The few times the issue is referenced, it’s terse, downplayed (called “women in leadership”), and in context of things like lauding one man for allowing a woman to discuss it, praising another for his silence on it, and categorizing it as a matter that shouldn’t cause church members who think it’s wrong to prohibit women from leading to stop worshiping alongside those who oppose allowing women to lead and vice versa.
The Incredible Shrinking Churches of Christ
The Churches of Christ stands out in additional ways the book largely doesn’t address: Pre-pandemic, Christianity Today reported that membership as a whole in U.S. Evangelical Christianity, of which the Churches of Christ is a part, is “holding steady.” But the Churches of Christ shrank rapidly in those times, including times and places other parts of Evangelical Christianity, such as the Assemblies of God, grew. Christianity Today also reported a recent “surprising uptick for mainline Protestants” as a whole at the same time the Churches of Christ’s decline accelerated even more. Mainline (such as United Methodist) has declined tremendously over decades, which researchers attribute to members being substantially older, on average, and having fewer kids.
Critically, At the Blue Hole recognizes studies indicate, absent major and immediate changes, about 10,000 of today’s 12,000 Churches of Christ congregations will shut down and membership will fall from about 1.1 million to 250,000 over the next 30 years.
Enjoy the Silence
As part of its central theme on what might be done now, At the Blue Hole praises the silence of a preacher from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, T.B. Larimore.
Larimore is a “champion of peace” for staying silent and not taking a position on issues like “women in leadership” and instrumental music, and he reflects “gentleness and humility,” Reese says.
Of course, silence favors the status quo.
Who pays the price for the kind of peace delivered by silence? Who paid through the 1900s, into the 1950s and 60s, and beyond?
Gentle & Open to Who?
David Lipscomb, the most influential person in the Churches of Christ for over 50 years in a formative time for the group, the late 19th and early 20th centuries, advocated widespread sex-discrimination against girls and women, demanding their silence, not just in church assemblies, but everywhere public.
“[A]ll public teaching and speaking on any subject at any place puts woman out of place, out of her God-given work,” Lipscomb taught those in the Churches of Christ.
“A marked gentleness of tone” and “a certain level of openness to differences of opinion” is how At the Blue Hole describes him.
The book lauds Lipscomb’s action, as the Gospel Advocate‘s editor, of publishing articles by Silena Holman that expressed a difference of opinion regarding women and says Lipscomb “responded to her respectfully.”
At the Blue Hole leaves out, though, that Lipscomb responded that he views his publishing her as publishing proof of women’s unfitness, untrustworthiness, and blameworthiness, saying,
if we will read … the article from sister Holman …, we can find a pretty good reason why the Lord did not suffer a woman to teach and lead in his church. When she wants a thing so, her strong emotional nature … will … have it that way ….
She cannot see that the Holy Spirit is telling, I suffered you to take the lead once, your strong emotional nature led you to violate God’s word and to shipwreck a world. I cannot again trust you to lead. …
Her unfitness to lead and teach arises from her strong emotional nature causing her to be easily deceived and to be ready to run after anything or body that might strike her fancy against reason and facts. This is still strongly woman’s characteristic, as the article of our sister plainly shows.
Lipscomb continues to influence the Churches of Christ.
If I Leave Here Tomorrow
“Women in church leadership” is listed in At the Blue Hole with other issues — like praise teams and instrumental music — that it advocates should not get in the way of a congregation’s unity.
If a congregation engages in race discrimination by prohibiting black people from speaking or from leadership or from marrying white people in the church, should such action get in the way of unity?
Would you stand up and sit down, smiling, singing, Sunday after Sunday, as you and those around you discriminate against black people? Or would you speak up and then leave if it doesn’t stop?
What about little girls and women? Would you stand up and sit down, smiling, singing, Sunday after Sunday, as you and those around you discriminate against girls and women? Or would you speak up and then leave if it doesn’t stop?
Deja Vu All Over Again
Remember that many Christians sincerely thought scripture requires them to engage in discrimination against black persons — segregated schools and churches, slavery, banning mixed-race marriages, more — through the centuries, into the 1950s and 60s and beyond. They called it “clear.”
Some today think scripture requires discrimination against girls and women, like some Christians thought then that scripture requires discrimination against black persons.
Who pays the price for such discrimination, silence, such “unity”? Inherent harm to girls, women, and black persons — long-term and permanent harm — by discrimination against them is well-documented.
Reaction to Action
At the Blue Hole has multiple helpful observations, highlighted by many endorsers and other reviewers. There’s praise aplenty on multiple aspects of the book in those endorsements and other reviews (links in the notes section below), so I will keep my review focused.
I don’t disagree with Reese’s urging towards love and unity and towards worshiping beside people with which you disagree regarding various beliefs.
Discriminating against females or black people in the church, though, is not simply believing differently.
Actions make for a different scenario. If the congregation is engaged in actions that discriminate against black people, for example — such as prohibiting them from speaking, leadership, marrying white people — then your presence, participation in the worship service, time, and money amounts to your complicity and participation in those discriminatory actions yourself, to your engaging in those actions yourself, along with your congregation.
Such discrimination inherently harms black people, adults and children. Harms others. Not love. Sin.
Saying Uncle
Such a church scenario is like having a racist uncle. You’re family. Love him, go out to dinner with him every week, hang out on Christmas, call him. Be with him. His beliefs shouldn’t stop you.
If dinner with the family itself involves racist actions, though, it’s different. Love and Christian unity don’t mean you join in racist actions yourself.
If he insists that black people in your family are prohibited from speaking at the table, including from leading the prayer, …
… and you continue to go to dinner with him every week …
… while you do things like avoid asking black people at the table to speak, you only ask white people to lead prayer, you lead part of the dinner conversation knowing black family members are prohibited from doing the same, you help plan the dinner, you help pay for the dinner, you smile and nod at the little black boys and girls at the table …
… then, it is you yourself who is joining in, engaging in, and supporting racist action.
That you do it to keep your uncle happy and to keep peace doesn’t make it not racist. That your uncle believes the Bible tells him to do this doesn’t make it not racist.
At the table and in the resulting harm discrimination causes, there’s no perceptible difference between you and your uncle.
Fool Me Once
Reese acknowledges, “What White Churches of Christ did over the years to marginalize and disempower Black people and Black churches was wrong. White church leaders were wrong. I was wrong. No excuses. No evasion.”
The better path, I think, both at the dinner table with your uncle and for those church members over the years, is to speak up against discrimination and to stop participating if it doesn’t end. Eat and worship with your uncle and those church members in other settings, without such discrimination. Don’t snub. But don’t join in the racist action.
Fool Me Twice
Same for at the communion table, the pulpit, and the church with those prohibiting females from speaking and leading.
You still love them. Still fellowship where you can. Just not going to participate in such action. Not going to participate in a worship assembly in which girls and women are prohibited from speaking in the worship assembly in any way, whether it is from reading scripture, from leading prayer, from preaching, or anything else.
Also, it’s like your and your uncle’s family members are leaving the table rapidly and new family members aren’t joining dinner. Pretty soon, if you don’t do something, it’ll be just you and your uncle.
Don’t Get Fooled Again
An increasing many in the Churches of Christ are speaking up and changing. They are studying scripture closely and concluding it does not require such sex discrimination, that we’ve been following a tradition of man, and that it’s a sin to prohibit females from functions and roles in the church. (see links in Sources section below). We can learn and change.
Indeed, while venerating the silence of the preacher T.B. Larimore as a central part of the book’s theme of unity, At the Blue Hole skips a critical part of Larimore’s story.
The Gospel Guardian reported in 1955 that Larimore “repented of his long years of indecision and ‘neutrality’ and wrote … he deeply regretted his unwillingness to declare himself during [a dispute over instrumental music]. He had made a grievous mistake, and he wished it were possible to repair the damage his silence had done.”
Like silence on racism, silence on discrimination against girls and women does great damage and is a grievous mistake. At the Blue Hole makes it. I made it for years. The vast majority of leaders in Churches of Christ today make it. But we can speak up and change.
Conclusion: For Tomorrow May Be Too Late
While I have focused my review on what I see as a major problem with At the Blue Hole, my criticism is meant to further God’s kingdom and all of our work in that regard. I appreciate Reese writing this book. It’s an important one. I encourage you to read it.
When reading it, I encourage you to consider its theme of silence and its failures on sex discrimination. I see them as holes of a different type, ones like we’ve seen before, ones of damage to people and the church.
At the Blue Hole recognizes the mistake of silence and inaction on discrimination against black persons. I wish it recognized the mistake of such silence and inaction relative to girls and women. I think that continuing to make such a mistake will render it impossible to repair the current damage.
Speaking up against discrimination against girls and women and stopping participating in it if it doesn’t end seems like the only way. Hard, yes. But for the little girls in the pews, the Churches of Christ as a whole, the body of Christ, and us all, it seems the only way.
When is the point of no return for damage done to the little girls in your pews by sex discrimination? Time passes quickly.
“He had made a grievous mistake, and he wished it were possible to repair the damage his silence had done.”
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Sources & Notes
Jack R. Reese, At the Blue Hole: Elegy for a Church on the Edge, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. (2021).
Some general sources:
Regarding the impact of sex discrimination on the Churches of Christ shrinking, see, e.g., Steve Gardner, “10 Churches of Christ Closing Monthly, Doubling Rate, Treatment of Girls and Women Factor,” Authentic Theology (December 11, 2019); Steve Gardner, “Church of Christ Decline Worsens, 2400 a Month Depart, Treatment of Women & Girls Factor,” Authentic Theology (Nov. 13, 2019); Steve Gardner, “The Code Blue Church of Christ: 2018 Report Shows Accelerated Membership Decline,” Authentic Theology (Nov. 14, 2018).
Regarding increasing many in the Churches of Christ studying scripture and coming to the conclusion such prohibitions are wrong: See, e.g., these articles and sources cited therein: Steve Gardner, “Female Elders in a Church of Christ: Interviews, One Year Later,” Authentic Theology (December 8, 2020); Steve Gardner, ““Women Serving God” by John Mark Hicks (Book Review),” Authentic Theology (October 1, 2020); Steve Gardner, “4 More Churches of Christ Open Speaking Roles to Women,” Authentic Theology (Nov. 26, 2019); Steve Gardner, “One of Largest Churches of Christ Opens Preaching Role to Women — And Some Questions,” Authentic Theology (Sept. 17, 2019); Steve Gardner, “Another 10 Churches of Christ Where Women Speak in the Assembly: Their Reasons & a Quiz,” Authentic Theology (April 24, 2019); Steve Gardner, “10 Churches of Christ Where Women Speak in the Assembly: List and Links (Part 1),” Authentic Theology (March 26, 2019); Steve Gardner, “10 Churches of Christ Where Women Speak in the Assembly: Female Elders (Part 2),” Authentic Theology (April 3, 2019); Steve Gardner, “10 Churches of Christ Where Women Speak in the Assembly: 1 Timothy 2:12, “Teach or Usurp Authority” (Part 3),” Authentic Theology (April 9, 2019); Steve Gardner, “Most Church-of-Christ Colleges No Longer Exclude Women From Leading in Worship Services: Violates 1 Timothy 2:12 “do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man”? (Part 4, Conclusion),” Authentic Theology (May 30, 2018); Steve Gardner, “(Part 3) Most Church-of-Christ Colleges No Longer Exclude Women From Leading in Worship Services: Does It Contradict 1 Cor 14:34-35, “Women Should Remain Silent …”?,” Authentic Theology (May 22, 2018); Steve Gardner, “20 Scripture Passages Telling Women to Speak, Teach, Lead, and Have Authority Over Men, in the Assembly and Elsewhere,” Authentic Theology (September 3, 2018); Wiley Clarkson, “A Directory of Gender Inclusive and Egalitarian Churches in the Church of Christ Heritage,” Where The Spirit Leads (last updated March 2021), last accessed January 21, 2022.
UPDATED: 2/2/22, 2:42 PM (eastern) (fixed grammar and syntax in first paragraph and added last phrase for clarity in the second of The Most section); 2/21/22 (Added “Not going to participate in a worship assembly in which …” sentence for clarity.)
~10,000 Churches of Christ congregations are expected to close & membership is expected to shrink from ~1.1 million to 250,000 in 30 yrs absent major change. Rapid decline.
“At the Blue Hole” (2021) by Jack Reese, former ACU professor, is one of the most significant books in decades on what to do about it. 30+ luminaries from the CoC, etc., endorse it.
Here’s my review, focusing on a major problem with the book.
Comments are welcome.
25 endorsers in opening pages, but not one woman: Opening 6 pages of hard-copy edition, unnumbered pages. See also https://www.jackreese.us/acclaim (adding 2 more men as endorsers, one of which wrote the foreword, to the 25 in the opening pages and the 4 on the back cover; for those counting, that’s 31, 30 men and one woman, with the one woman not from the Churches of Christ).
Unfortunately, the page numbering in the Kindle version does not correspond to the hard copy. After initially using page numbers stated in the Kindle version, I revised the below to refer to the hard-copy page numbers.
“two … today”: pp. 25-26.
“slowly being torn apart because two … women … having a knock-down-drag-out”: p. 26; cf. Philippians 4:1-3.
“repeats a somewhat-frequent assertion of two women arguing … pejoratively embellishes”: Phillipians 4 not necessarily two women disagreeing with one another: See, e.g., https://margmowczko.com/euodia-syntyche-philippians-quarrelling/; https://www.cbeinternational.org/resource/article/priscilla-papers-academic-journal/philippians-42-3-alternative-view-euodia; https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-28/commentary-on-philippians-41-9-3.
Here is Phil 4:1-3, from which some then conclude Euodia and Syntyche were arguing with one another. Possible, but by no means the only or even the most reasonable conclusion to draw from the text and Paul’s earlier urging for people to be of the mind. Where does it indicate that the two were having a “knock-down-drag-out”? Where does it indicate that the church in Philippi was being “torn apart” because of them? Read it for yourself; read all of Phil, too: “Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.”
“encouraged to … stand firm”: Phil 4:1
“encouraged all to be”: Phil 1:27-28, 2:1-5.
“special to Paul as his co-workers, and he wanted to encourage them by name and have others look to them for leadership and help them”: Phil 4:2-3
Regarding the impact of sex discrimination on the Churches of Christ shrinking, see, e.g., Steve Gardner, “10 Churches of Christ Closing Monthly, Doubling Rate, Treatment of Girls and Women Factor,” Authentic Theology (December 11, 2019); Steve Gardner, “Church of Christ Decline Worsens, 2400 a Month Depart, Treatment of Women & Girls Factor,” Authentic Theology (Nov. 13, 2019); Steve Gardner, “The Code Blue Church of Christ: 2018 Report Shows Accelerated Membership Decline,” Authentic Theology (Nov. 14, 2018).
Regarding unbiblical “unity” gained through silence, inaction, discrimination, and the like: Steve Gardner, “Unbiblical “Unity” on “Women’s Roles” in Churches of Christ: Jesus’s Prayer (Part 1),” Authentic Theology (Nov. 28, 2019); Steve Gardner, “Unbiblical “Unity” on “Women’s Roles” in Churches of Christ: Dangers and Harm (Part 2),” Authentic Theology (December 9, 2019).
“Gladwell …” : pp. 13-14.
“To Reese …”: pp. 13-15.
“near alone … 1-2% …”: See, e.g., Discussion on this point in Notes & Sources Section in Steve Gardner, “David Lipscomb, Church of Christ Foundational Leader: “All the Teaching of the Bible is Against Women Speaking in Public” (It Gets Worse),” Authentic Theology (April 12, 2018).
“few times”: around 3-5, exceedingly brief, e.g., pp. 25-26, 57 (Holman’s public advocacy for women, her lauding of him, and then lauding his silence on the issue), 103-104 (referring to female leaders present at Stone-Smith unity meeting in describing Stone’s and Smith’s unity efforts), 104-108 (unity), 161 (Lipscomb publishing), 192-193 (doctrinal issue, differentiating centered-set church that “doesn’t spend its time …”); a possible addition to this and possible exception is at p. 126 (referring to Holman as having “powerful words” and who “taught and transformed both men and women”), but it is unclear whether “powerful” refers to her words in her Woman’s Christian Temperance Union work or regarding women teaching in the church, whether powerful and transformed here refers to something positive, etc. (see p. 57); see also p. 152 (Scott “advocated for the education of women, a rare concern in those days.”).
Of course, women in “leadership” understates the scope of sex discrimination in the Churches of Christ. Calling it women in “leadership” when girls and women in the Churches of Christ are generally prohibited from speaking, actively serving, teaching, etc., at all in the worship service and more downplays the scope of sex discrimination. See, e.g., pp. 57, 107, 192.
By comparison, musical instruments and a cappella singing is mentioned much more — search in Kindle version for cappella yields 18 results, search for instrument yields 17 results relating to musical instruments.
“book largely doesn’t address”: Puts us in same category as others. See, e.g., pp. 15-17. Granberg-Michaelson, in the foreword, seems to recognize it in part, but also lumps together. p. xiii.
numerical decline, “plummeting”: pp. 15-17. For more on this, see Steve Gardner, “10 Churches of Christ Closing Monthly, Doubling Rate, Treatment of Girls and Women Factor,” Authentic Theology (December 11, 2019); Steve Gardner, “Church of Christ Decline Worsens, 2400 a Month Depart, Treatment of Women & Girls Factor,” Authentic Theology (Nov. 13, 2019); Steve Gardner, “The Code Blue Church of Christ: 2018 Report Shows Accelerated Membership Decline,” Authentic Theology (Nov. 14, 2018).
“At the Blue Hole recognizes …”: see, e.g., pp. 15-17.
Mainline (United Methodist, etc.) shrank significantly over prior decades, with researchers showing the main cause is members were, on average, older and had fewer kids and population shifts in geographies in which they were based (steel country, factory-based midwest, etc.) also contributed.
major denominations — Assemblies of God and the Church of God, for example — grew; Christianity Today reported … surprising uptick …”; ” Churches of Christ stands out: See, e.g., (and sourced cited therein): Steve Gardner, “Church of Christ Decline Worsens, 2400 a Month Depart, Treatment of Women & Girls Factor,” Authentic Theology (Nov. 13, 2019); Steve Gardner, “10 Churches of Christ Closing Monthly, Doubling Rate, Treatment of Girls and Women Factor,” Authentic Theology (December 11, 2019); Hi Nick, Yes, it’s Ryan P. Burge, “Evangelicals Show No Decline, Despite Trump and Nones,” Christianity Today (March 21, 2019) (“The 2018 General Social Survey reports American evangelicals holding steady amid growth of the unaffiliated—and a surprising uptick for mainline Protestants.”).
researchers showing that the Mainline … cause: Researchers showed long ago that the decline of the mainline denominations (e.g., United Methodist) was nearly all due to a difference in birth rates during the relevant time period (members started out older, geographic, economic, and other demographics were different, etc.). Among other things, they concluded, evangelical denominations’ recent growth “has little or no ideological content; its source is the greater number of young people raised in their tradition.” Cited in ibid.
Larimore is laudable, “champion of peace” for staying silent, not taking a position on “women in leadership,” instrumental music, and similar issues … Larimore … “gentleness and humility””: e.g., pp. 56-57, 58-59, 63.
The book reports that in 1897 Larimore said, among other things, “I shall simply do as I have always done: … carefully avoid all questions that “do gender strifes” among God’s people.” p. 59.
“David Lipscomb … advocated for widespread sex-discrimination against girls and women, strongly demanding their silence, not just in church assemblies, but everywhere public. “[A]ll public teaching and speaking on any subject at any place puts woman out of place, out of her God-given work,” …”: See, e.g., Steve Gardner, “David Lipscomb, Church of Christ Foundational Leader: “All the Teaching of the Bible is Against Women Speaking in Public” (It Gets Worse),” Authentic Theology (April 12, 2018) and sources cited therein.
“”A marked gentleness of tone” and “a certain level of openness to differences of opinion,” … Lipscomb.”: pp. 161. This contrasts with next noting that Lipscomb’s publication of Holman and that “his comments about her arguments were dismissive and somewhat patronizing.” pp. 161. Reese says Lipscomb “occupied a moderating position between constraint and accommodation.” p. 161. Cf. reprint of article.
“Lipscomb’s action, as editor of the Gospel Advocate, of publishing articles by Silena Holman that expressed a difference of opinion, her arguing for less discrimination against females.”: p. 161.
“Lipscomb explains why he published Holman. … “if we will read … the article from sister Holman …, as the article of our sister plainly shows.”” Gospel Advocate, October 10, 1888, page 6. See reprint of article.
Cf. Holman’s response to Lipscomb (“… He has reiterated again and again the unfitness of woman to lead. The Bible nowhere intimates that the mind of woman is inferior to that of man (and it is the mind that makes the leader) or that it is because of womans inferiority or unfitness that man is to take the lead. In all partnership business there is a senior partner. In the marriage relation, the Lord, for good and sufficient reasons, has seen fit to say that the man shall be the head of the family, and no woman should marry a man who is her inferior, or who is incapable of taking the lead. But that women are unfit to lead in the family is disproved by everybodys observation every day of the world. No one who has ever seen a weak inefficient or worthless man, supported by a stirring energetic woman, who, in addition, has to bring up a family, and guide her household, will say that a woman is unfit to lead in the family, though it is rather an imposition for her to have it to do. Again, some of the best work that has been given to the world by man, owes its perfection to the guidance and inspiration of some woman. As to her unfitness to lead in public matters, history and even the Bible itself disproves that. The Holy Spirit does not say that after woman “shipwrecked the world” He could not trust the leadership to her any more, because the Lord did after that trust the leadership to a woman. …”).
In reply, Lipscomb denies saying women are inferior “in talent or position” (my emphasis) but goes on at the same to say woman “has not the same talent, combination of faculties, moral, social, or physical” as man. Referring to raising children at home, he says “the mother is doubtless prohibited by God from all public work because it would interfere with this her special work and the important work for the world. … This God committed to women, and cut her off from all other works that would distract her from this work. Certainly this is not saying woman is inferior to man or has been assigned an inferior position. Still she is not suited for the work which has been assigned to man. …” (emphasis mine)
“… influential …”: Richard T. Hughes, The Churches of Christ (Student Edition), Westport, CT: Praeger (2001), p. 76.
“”Women in church leadership” is listed … with other issues — like praise teams and instrumental music — … should not get in the way of a congregation’s unity”: e.g., pp. 57, 104-107 (unity despite disagreement or differences in, e.g., “Pro-praise teams and anti-praise teams. Pro-women in church leadership and anti-women in church leadership.”); see also pp. 104, 107, 192, 210, 223-224
Christians who engaged in discrimination against black persons — segregated schools and churches, slavery, banning mixed-race marriages, more — thought through the centuries, into the 1950s and 60s and beyond, that scripture clearly requires it. They cited scripture.: see, e.g., Steve Gardner, “Interracial Marriage: Banned, Citing God’s Will, Until Just 50 Years Ago This Week,” Authentic Theology (June 17, 2017).
For links to other reviews, see list at bottom.
Regarding increasing many in the Churches of Christ studying scripture and coming to the conclusion such prohibitions are wrong: See, e.g., these articles and sources cited therein: Steve Gardner, “Female Elders in a Church of Christ: Interviews, One Year Later,” Authentic Theology (December 8, 2020); Steve Gardner, ““Women Serving God” by John Mark Hicks (Book Review),” Authentic Theology (October 1, 2020); Steve Gardner, “4 More Churches of Christ Open Speaking Roles to Women,” Authentic Theology (Nov. 26, 2019); Steve Gardner, “One of Largest Churches of Christ Opens Preaching Role to Women — And Some Questions,” Authentic Theology (Sept. 17, 2019); Steve Gardner, “Another 10 Churches of Christ Where Women Speak in the Assembly: Their Reasons & a Quiz,” Authentic Theology (April 24, 2019); Steve Gardner, “10 Churches of Christ Where Women Speak in the Assembly: List and Links (Part 1),” Authentic Theology (March 26, 2019); Steve Gardner, “10 Churches of Christ Where Women Speak in the Assembly: Female Elders (Part 2),” Authentic Theology (April 3, 2019); Steve Gardner, “10 Churches of Christ Where Women Speak in the Assembly: 1 Timothy 2:12, “Teach or Usurp Authority” (Part 3),” Authentic Theology (April 9, 2019); Steve Gardner, “Most Church-of-Christ Colleges No Longer Exclude Women From Leading in Worship Services: Violates 1 Timothy 2:12 “do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man”? (Part 4, Conclusion),” Authentic Theology (May 30, 2018); Steve Gardner, “(Part 3) Most Church-of-Christ Colleges No Longer Exclude Women From Leading in Worship Services: Does It Contradict 1 Cor 14:34-35, “Women Should Remain Silent …”?,” Authentic Theology (May 22, 2018); Steve Gardner, “20 Scripture Passages Telling Women to Speak, Teach, Lead, and Have Authority Over Men, in the Assembly and Elsewhere,” Authentic Theology (September 3, 2018); Wiley Clarkson, “A Directory of Gender Inclusive and Egalitarian Churches in the Church of Christ Heritage,” Where The Spirit Leads (last updated March 2021), last accessed January 21, 2022.
See also John Mark Hicks, Women Serving God: My Journey in Understanding Their Story in the Bible (Self-published, 2020).
Who pays the price? Girls and women in your pews. Daughters, wives. Harm due to sex discrimination is well-documented.: see, e.g., (and sources cited therein), Steve Gardner, “Church of Christ Practice Harms Girls Long-Term, Suggests 2018 Study,” Authentic Theology (November 28, 2018); Steve Gardner, “(Part 2) Church of Christ Practice Harms Girls Long-Term, Suggests 2018 Study: Negative Reactions,” Authentic Theology (January 30, 2019); Homan P, Burdette A. “When Religion Hurts: Structural Sexism and Health in Religious Congregations.” American Sociological Review. 2021;86(2):234-255. doi:10.1177/0003122421996686, (“”… among religious participants, women who attend sexist religious institutions report significantly worse self-rated health than do those who attend more inclusive congregations. … only women who attend inclusive … exhibit a health advantage relative to non-participants…. marginal to no… effects among men…. health benefits of religious participation do not extend to groups…excluded from power and status within their religious institutions.”); Ellison, Christopher G., John P. Bartkowski, and Kristin L. Anderson. 1999. “Are There Religious Variations in Domestic Violence?” Journal of Family Issues 20(1):87–113. (“men who hold much more conservative theological views than their partners are especially likely to perpetrate domestic violence.”); https://www.facebook.com/tufftaffy/posts/10101959843006411 (“Calling all Church of Christ people (current and former), … when someone (or a group of someones) from the church made you feel bad about your gender.”; 2100+ comments); https://www.proquest.com/openview/e07cf4d669e3c98626caebbaffa287b2/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y (“More than 100 African American women from Churches of Christ … data suggest that patriarchal leadership in churches of Christ undermines African American women’s self-concept and sense of well-being, and that androcentric theology and practices foster negative self-esteem and self-efficacy.”); https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-19760-001 (“Likewise, results indicated that as gender role ideology became more traditional, body shame, self-silencing behaviors, hostile sexism, and benevolent sexism increased.”); https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(15)00013-3/fulltext (“Especially predictive of the geographical distribution of partner violence are norms related to male authority over female behaviour (0·102, p<0·0001( …”); https://www.jstor.org/stable/20778531 (“… Christian fundamentalism was positively associated with both violence approval and acts of intimate partner violence …”); Melissa De Witte, “Who people believe rules in heaven influences their beliefs about who rules on Earth, Stanford scholars find,” Stanford News (Jan. 31, 2020), https://news.stanford.edu/2020/01/31/consequences-perceiving-god-white-man (“The researchers, led by Stanford psychologist Steven O. Roberts, conducted a series of studies with U.S. Christians and found that when people conceptualize God as a white man, they are more likely to perceive white male job candidates as more fit for leadership than black and female applicants, Stanford research has found.”); blogs.scientificamerican.com/psysociety/benevolent-sexism/ ; https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/life-after-50/202001/does-benevolent-sexism-cause-harm; https://wp.nyu.edu/steinhardt-appsych_opus/the-role-of-benevolent-sexism-in-gender-inequality/; https://www.apadivisions.org/division-36/publications/newsletters/religion/2014/10/conservative-christianity; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4045317/; https://www.ashleyeaster.com/blog/hidden-sexism (on so-called “benevolent” sexism).
“What White Churches of Christ did over the years to marginalize and disempower Black people and Black churches was wrong. White church leaders were wrong. I was wrong. No excuses. No evasion.”: p. 189.
“At the Blue Hole makes T.B. Larimore’s silence as peacemaking a central part of the book’s suggested path of unity”: e.g., pp. 49-74; 111; 161-162; 178-180; 205-206; 223-224.
The Gospel Guardian reported in 1955: F.Y. Tant, “Larimore and Tant,” The Gospel Guardian, Vol. 7, No. 20 (September 22, 1955), page 4 (this was published decades after Larimore’s death, by a person with familial interest in the subject, so without the ability for Larimore to deny it, the credibility and weight of the statement should be judged accordingly). See also Frank Richey, “Just Give Me a Fence to Sit On,” Truth Magazine, Volume LVI – Number 10 (October 2012), pp. 26-28.
Other reviews noted:
Review by Robert Cornwall (high-level, positive review; doesn’t mention the issue; “He reminds us that renewal of the churches is not an easy task, especially when conformity to a narrow pattern is required. That’s what happens when a community believes that they, and they alone, have restored the true church. When this is true there is no need to look back at the founding visions or to learn from the larger church. Nevertheless, choices have consequences. The good news is that there is a Blue Hole from which to draw life-giving water if only we will return to the spring that gives life and drink deeply from its life-giving waters. Jack Reese offers us a clear guide as to how to get there.”)
Review by Bob Turner (Thoughtful review; Turner notices the lack of female endorsers — “… the inside of the book features 25 endorsements. Not a single one comes from a woman. Elaine Heath’s endorsement on the back cover is the only voice of a woman. This seems problematic for a movement whose number one issue among younger people is the exclusion of women’s voices. That omission is unfortunate.”; “[O]n the whole, Jack Reese’s book is a welcome contribution to Stone-Campbell historical studies. I would recommend it more for its historical value than for its prescription for a way forward. Its lack of specificity about ways churches can truly affect the future is a real weakness. I can imagine this book being a great resource for a student who wants to learn more about Churches of Christ or a person on the edge of leaving Churches of Christ who needs to find a raw, authentic story that might inspire them to give it one last chance.”)
Review by Stanley E. Granberg (addresses Granberg’s thoughts on steps and what to do; doesn’t mention the issue; “Reese presents us with an informative and compelling telling of events in our communal past that were significant turning points, points at which our fellowship made choices that changed the trajectory of our history—sometimes for good, sometimes for worse. His challenge to us is to accept that we stand at another of those great turning points. We can continue down our same path, or, as Reese prompts us, we can draw upon the resources of our heritage that provide a reason to hope for a future better than the one we currently face.”)
Review by Jeremie Beller (in Christian Chronicle; high level, positive; doesn’t mention the issue; “The tension between unity and restoration is left partially unresolved. Reese believes the restoration of forms and structures has value, “but only if they are connected to the center, only if the how grows out of the why.”)
Review by Kent Fillinger (thoughtful; doesn’t mention the issue; focused more on statistics for comparison than review of whole book; “The Churches of Christ have only two small church-planting organizations, both started in about 2004. One of them, Mission Alive, has planted an average of 2.5 new churches per year. … The Churches of Christ almost have no vision for the mission of God in North America,” Mission Alive director Tod Vogt told me. He noted the churches have a “radically autonomous mindset” and that there is “virtually no collaboration or coordination” between the congregations in the fellowship.”)
Review by Brian Borger (brief; doesn’t mention the issue; “There is humility here in this memoir and story of a denomination in decline. And there is energetic hope, a call to return to Jesus.”)
Review by Adam Metz (doesn’t mention the issue; Turner’s and Metz’s are most thoughtful of the reviews, I thought; “Reese pulls the curtain back on some of our most dramatic flaws: an inherent racism that has been woefully ignored, an emphasis on church practices over core theological doctrines …, and an overreliance on reason to the neglect of the Holy Spirit. … [S]eems to me that the situation in the Churches of Christ is even more dire and complicated than Reese describes. … I think Reese may overstate the existing remnants of that founding DNA for many of us. For example, to say that “living generously” is a core part of our DNA because David Lipscomb ministered to people during the cholera epidemic seems more anecdotal than defining. … I … share his dire projections on where our heritage is headed. Like Reese, though, my faith in God sustains my optimism that God will continue to use this tradition to do great things. … Reese has offered members and leaders in the Churches of Christ a guide to foster dialogue regarding the future of this beloved tradition, and it is my hope that many people will provide serious and critical engagement for this elegy.”)
Picture is of my copy of the book.
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Many churches are cancelling their own members. It happened to me just this past weekend in the church I grew up in. I handed a semi-egalitarian book to a dear sister and someone noticed. (I wasn’t hiding anything). It blew up and I was sternly warned to not promote those views there.
The idea that there was grace for moral failings but not for doctrinal failings has driven this more than anything else. Until that changes nothing will really change.
Thank you for a stimulating January afternoon. I have been fairly silent in my agreement on most issues mentioned for sixty years!
As part of the Churches of Christ in Australia I imagine we may be considered somewhat liberal by the standards shared in this review. Our churches and our Conference Executive board have women in leadership roles, including eldership, which serves to highlight that this is potentially one area that’s not a particular cause of a sense of decline here – we need to examine elsewhere! I have not yet read the book, but I await its arrival – and will read with a different perspective than I would have without your review. I plan to hear Jack Reese speak, at our Churches of Christ State Conference in November. It will be interesting to see what impact his perspective has on our movement and our leaders here. Thanks for your review.
Thanks much Mike. That’s good to hear re your churches and board. I looked up your congregation’s website. Looks like a nice place to be! I appreciate your work!
With people in most U.S. Church of Christ congregations modeling and teaching sexism and sexist behavior through their actions in the assembly every single Sunday — modeling and teaching to little girls that discrimination against those little girls and their moms and other girls and women is “love” and is what God wants — it contributes to an overall warping of the concepts of love, image of God, Holy Spirit, callings, spiritual gifts, etc., and an overall warping of resulting actions. And such modeling and teaching every Sunday (and more!) is a constant reinforcement of that malformation. That warping and malformation impacts a lot of things.
As to decline, I think of ending such sexist behavior in the church (like ending prohibitions on women and girls relative to speaking in the assembly and relative to elder and other functions and roles in the church) as a necessary step to reversing decline of the Churches of Christ as a whole but not as the only step needed to do so. The impact of such warping lingers over those concepts and others, and the warping effect comes from other sources, too, impacting recovery from decline, the church’s work in the community, etc. I hope that the impact of such warping no longer lingers for you all!
I think Reese’s book is worth reading, and there’s several things there that stimulate thought, but his theme includes an encouragement toward people being silent on certain questions, which might be acting as peacekeeper for some part of a population but when our action or silence negatively impacts others in the church or outside the church, the status quo or being silent usually isn’t acting as a peacemaker or a doer of justice or lover of mercy or a humble walker with God, when those are part of our calling. There’s so much to consider and act on.
I’m glad folks in Australia chose not to be silent on prohibitions on girls and women in the church! May your examination elsewhere go well!