I remember when I saw Jen Wilkin speak on stage at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in 2019. She was flanked by Russell Moore and J.D. Greear—two men who looked like they’d been summoned to a feminist inquisition. Wilkin sat poised, confident, scolding the SBC for what she called the "weaponization" of complementarian theology.
The two men beside her nodded like chastened schoolboys who’d just been caught doodling in their theology textbooks. Heads down, tails tucked. It was embarrassing.
Wilkin’s complaint?
That complementarianism—the biblical doctrine that God designed distinct roles for men and women in the church and home—had become a hotbed of abuse and oppression. And her solution is a reimagined vision of gender roles that looks suspiciously like the very egalitarianism Scripture forbids. This wasn’t gentle critique—it was an indictment, and nobody on that stage dared to disagree.
But this wasn’t a one-off. Jen Wilkin has made a career out of taking potshots at biblical patriarchy while rebranding it with softer lighting and Instagram-worthy quotes. And for some reason, evangelicalism keeps giving her the mic.