Best Supporting Actress · Episode 3 of 10 · 22 min
The Takeover — How the SBC Purged Women from the Pulpit
In Houston in 1979 a precinct-style plan captured the Southern Baptist Convention, America's largest Protestant denomination. Within a generation, a denomination whose churches had ordained women since 1964 wrote them out of the pulpit. The resolutions, seminary purges and appointment-power strategy form a template of institutional capture.
Who's who
- Paul PresslerTexas appeals-court judge and chief strategist of the conservative resurgence
- Paige Patterson+1 more episodeCo-architect of the movement; later seminary and SBC president
- Adrian RogersMemphis pastor elected SBC president in 1979
- Addie Davis+1 more episodeFirst woman ordained by a Southern Baptist congregation
- Molly MarshallFirst woman hired to teach theology at Southern Seminary; resigned in 1994
- Sheri KloudaHebrew scholar denied tenure at Southwestern Seminary
- Albert Mohler+1 more episodeSouthern Seminary president who proposed the Truth and Unity Amendment
- Randall LolleySoutheastern Seminary president who resigned in protest
Where it happens
- Houston, Texas+5 more episodes1979 SBC meeting where Adrian Rogers was elected
- Atlanta, Georgia+10 more episodesModerates formed the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship here in 1991
- Salt Lake City, Utah+1 more episode1998 meeting added the wifely submission article
- Orlando, Florida+1 more episodeSite of the 2000 and 2026 SBC votes on women's roles
Timeline
- June 1979Adrian Rogers elected SBC president at Houston, launching the conservative strategy
- June 1984Messengers pass the women-in-ministry resolution, 4,793 to 3,460
- May 1991About 6,000 moderates form the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
- June 1998Baptist Faith & Message adds an article on a wife's submission
- June 2000BFM 2000 limits the office of pastor to men
- June 2026Truth and Unity Amendment passes its first constitutional vote, 6,028 to 2,026
Still debated
Whether inerrancy or gender roles drove the movement is argued; the likely answer is that inerrancy was both the sincere banner and the mechanism. Whether it was a legitimate resurgence or a takeover by appointment power, and what the SBC would have become otherwise, are left open.
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