Southern Baptist Seminary President Says Women Are Called to Preach if They Like
The Southern Baptist Convention has changed and continues to change. It can no longer be considered a theologically conservative denomination. It has all but completely surrendered to the progressive agenda of social justice, feminism, and LGBTQ inclusion.
Danny Akin is the president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, a Southern Baptist school. Akin has been under fire in recent years over his affirmation of social justice issues and the enabling of those under his leadership to teach such things as identity politics, intersectionality, and Critical Race Theory.
In the wake of a recent controversy involving John MacArthur and Beth Moore, Danny Akin took to twitter to express his opposition to MacArthur while affirming female preachers. At a recent conference at MacArthur's church, MacArthur was asked about Beth Moore where he sharply responded "go home," and followed up with "There is no case that can be made biblically for a woman preacher. Period. Paragraph. End of discussion."
This sparked outrage from soft-handed complementarian (in name only) leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention who spend the majority of their careers harboring and protecting false teachers from criticism. MacArthur is right -- there is no case than can be made for a female preacher. Period. The "office" of the elder is not what is being referred to in 1 Corinthians 14:34 -- it's the function.
Danny Akin, however, disagrees. Women can preach. No big deal. We're all called to do so. Responding to a tweet from SBC president, JD Greear, Akin writes,
Yeah. No.
Interestingly, Akin was caught on audio recording a while back calling Beth Moore "stupid" for announcing publicly she'd be preaching at a Sunday Morning service. You see, Danny Akin knows Beth Moore shouldn't be preaching. He knows it's not just about the "office" of the elder -- and he will say that privately. But these guys have a public image to maintain and a worldly culture to cater to and appease.
While many Southern Baptist leaders and pastors will agree with MacArthur behind the scenes, in public, they're all on an image campaign. It's what the whole social justice movement has been about.
Sadly, this is the misinformation being taught at Southern Baptist seminaries now. How women must remain silent at church translates to women preaching in front of mix audiences at Southern Baptist Churches requires more than just hermeneutical acrobatics -- it requires an entire circus.
Sadly, a circus is what the Southern Baptist Convention has become.