📖 Biblical Definition
Late twentieth-century evangelical movement applying second-wave-feminist categories to evangelical theology and church practice. The movement argues for (1) the ordination of women to the eldership-pastorate; (2) the elimination of male headship in marriage and church; (3) the egalitarian reading of biblical passages on the sexes (1 Corinthians 11:3; 14:34-35; 1 Timothy 2:11-15; Ephesians 5:22-33; Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 3:1-7) as culturally bound first-century accommodations rather than enduring creation-order requirements. Principal organizational expression: Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE), founded 1987 by Catherine Clark Kroeger and others. Principal theological architects: Roger Nicole, Catherine Clark Kroeger, Stanley Grenz, William Webb, the broader CBE academic community. The Reformed-confessional and historic-orthodox response is comprehensive rejection. Paul grounds male leadership in creation order (1 Timothy 2:13, For Adam was first formed, then Eve), not in cultural contingency; the trajectory hermeneutic that treats the household codes as a culturally bound first-century settlement transcended by the gospel cannot survive the explicit Pauline grounding. The Reformed-confessional response (the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood founded 1987 as the institutional counterpart to CBE; Wayne Grudem and John Piper's Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, 1991) articulates the historic complementarian position. The patriarchal-Reformed reader stands with the historic-confessional position: male eldership, husbandly headship, ordered complementarity grounded in creation, the household codes as enduring apostolic teaching.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Late 20th-c. evangelical movement applying second-wave-feminist categories to theology; argues for women's ordination, elimination of male headship; CBE (1987) the principal organizational expression; rejected by historic-confessional complementarianism.
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EVANGELICAL FEMINISM, n. (contemporary theological movement; late 20th c.) Applies second-wave-feminist categories to evangelical theology and church practice. Arguments: women's ordination to eldership-pastorate; elimination of male headship in marriage and church; egalitarian reading of biblical sex-passages as culturally bound first-century accommodations. Principal expression: Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE), founded 1987. Architects: Roger Nicole, Catherine Clark Kroeger, Stanley Grenz, William Webb, Scot McKnight. Reformed-confessional rejection: Paul grounds male leadership in creation order (1 Timothy 2:13), not cultural contingency; the trajectory hermeneutic cannot survive the explicit creation-order grounding. CBMW (Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, founded 1987) the institutional counterpart; Grudem and Piper's Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (1991).
📖 Key Scripture
1 Timothy 2:11-13 — "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve."
1 Corinthians 11:8-9 — "For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man."
Ephesians 5:22-25 — "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church... Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it."
Titus 2:4-5 — "That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Evangelical feminism applies second-wave-feminist categories to theology; argues for women's ordination and elimination of male headship; rejected by Reformed-confessional and historic-orthodox tradition grounded in creation order.
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Evangelical feminism's central methodological move is the so-called trajectory hermeneutic: the biblical passages on the sexes are treated as a culturally bound first-century accommodation to surrounding patriarchal norms, with the gospel's trajectory understood as moving in principle toward the egalitarian abolition of male headship and male-only eldership. The methodological move fails because Paul explicitly grounds male leadership in creation order, not cultural contingency. For Adam was first formed, then Eve (1 Timothy 2:13) and the head of the woman is the man (1 Corinthians 11:3) appeal to the pre-Fall creation structure, not to first-century cultural conditions. The trajectory hermeneutic requires Paul to mean the opposite of what he says.
The Reformed-confessional and historic-orthodox tradition holds the male-eldership and husbandly-headship doctrines as enduring creation-order requirements, not culturally bound first-century settlements. The Westminster Confession of Faith, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Canons of Dort, the Belgic Confession, the Three Forms of Unity, and the entire confessional Reformed tradition presuppose male-only eldership. The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW, founded 1987) has been the principal institutional defender of the historic-orthodox complementarian position against evangelical feminism. The patriarchal-Reformed reader stands firmly with the historic-confessional teaching against the egalitarian innovation.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Late 20th-c. evangelical movement; CBE 1987; trajectory hermeneutic; rejected by CBMW and historic-confessional complementarianism.
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['English', '—', 'Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE)', 'founded 1987']
['English', '—', 'trajectory hermeneutic', 'core methodological move']
['English', '—', 'Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW)', 'founded 1987 as institutional counterpart']
Usage
"Evangelical feminism: applies second-wave-feminist categories to evangelical theology."
"Arguments: women's ordination, elimination of male headship."
"Rejected by Reformed-confessional complementarianism; CBMW the institutional counterpart."