Best Supporting Actress · Episode 4 of 10 · 23 min
Equal, But — The Invention of Complementarianism
In Danvers, Massachusetts in 1987 an old arrangement got a new word: equal in value, different in role. The episode gives the complementarian case at full strength, then the egalitarian answer, the Bible translation wars, and the 2016 Trinity controversy that revealed the doctrine's priorities.
Who's who
- Wayne GrudemTheologian, Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood co-founder, ESV general editor
- John PiperBaptist pastor and CBMW co-founder
- George W. Knight IIIScholar whose 1977 book framed women as equal but subordinate
- Dorothy PattersonHomemaking professor and CBMW council member
- Mary KassianCBMW council member who claims a share in coining complementarian
- Catherine Clark KroegerFounding president of Christians for Biblical Equality
- Aimee ByrdAuthor who challenged complementarianism from inside
Where it happens
- Danvers, Massachusetts1987 meeting that drafted the founding statement
- Wheaton, IllinoisWhere the Danvers Statement was published in 1988
Timeline
- December 1987Leaders meet at Danvers to draft the founding statement of CBMW
- November 1988The Danvers Statement is published and "complementarian" is coined
- 1990Christians for Biblical Equality publishes its counter-statement
- 2001Crossway publishes the English Standard Version
- 2002TNIV announced; over 100 evangelical leaders sign a Statement of Concern
- June 2016Challenge to the Eternal Subordination of the Son sparks an intra-complementarian war
Still debated
The meaning of the Greek word kephale (head) and of authentein remain unresolved among scholars, as does whether Junia was an apostle or merely well known to them. Whether the Eternal Subordination of the Son was ever heterodox is disputed, and no formal judgment was rendered.