Editor’s Reflections �
In the introduction to their important
new book, Beyond Abuse in the Christian
Home, the editors, CBE founder Catherine
Clark Kroeger, Nancy Nason-Clark, and
Barbara Fisher-Townsend, underscore the
tensions raised when abuse is uncovered
in Christian quarters:
Honest investigation disclosed that the
rate of abuse among Christians was no less
than that in the general population—even though it was often
cleverly concealed. The insidious evil lurked in all denominational and non-denominational groups, in all ethnic and racial
groups, in all socio-economic and political groups; and yet
its very presence was so often denied, minimized, or ignored
by the church of Jesus Christ. . . . Our theology of the family,
sometimes based upon the dictates of self-styled gurus rather
than upon the actual biblical precepts, raised a multitude of
questions. How could a bruised and battered wife be likened
to the bride of Christ? What would happen to the reputation of
the church if news got out of violence within a member’s family? How could an endangered victim be placed in a safe location if that meant separating a married couple? Without violating the mandates of Scripture, could a survivor be provided
with food, shelter, monetary assistance, or prayer support?1
When reality clashes with Christian ideals and, often, particularly, with our self-image as Christ’s faithful church predicated
upon those ideals, we are shaken. We question our ability to
self-perceive, and our sense of wellbeing within God’s approval
is threatened. How can such evil occur in lives we are convinced
have been committed to the gentle Christ we claim to serve?
Editor • William David Spencer
Associate Editor / Graphic Designer • Deb Beatty Mel
Editorial Consultant • Aída Besançon Spencer
President / Publisher • Mimi Haddad
President Emerita • Catherine Clark Kroeger
Editors Emerita • Carol Thiessen† & Gretchen Gaebelein Hull
On the Cover • A Rose Over the Qidron Valley
by Jonathan Camery-Hoggatt
A similar tension can be perceived within Islam. In the November 2008 issue of Christianity Today, senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, Dalia
Mogahed, reported:
Muslim women and men, surprisingly, hold similar views
about Shari’ah. In Jordan, most Muslim women and men
say it should play a role in legislation. Muslim women want
and think they deserve equal rights: the right to vote without
interference from their families, the right to work at any job
they are qualified for, and even the right to serve in senior
levels of government. In short, Muslim women don’t regard
Shari’ah as impeding their rights; they may in fact see it as a
road to progress. . . . Our research in Iraq shows 83 percent
of Iraqi women say they do not want a division between state
and religion, and most want religious leaders to take a part in
family law.2
However, not everyone living under Shari’ah is so enthusiastic.
Roya Hakakian in her book Journey from the Land of No well
remembers the levying of Shari’ah:
We were the first generation ever to be frisked at the school
gates every morning by peer volunteers who called themselves “Members of the Islamic Society,” an arm of the SAVAMA, the new secret police stationed in schools. Rosy-faced
students waited in line to have their cheeks rubbed to ensure
their blush was natural. Girls with long eyelashes had to pull
at them to prove they were real. Those with books other than
school texts were interrogated, their books confiscated. . . . We
were in exile in our own city. We were girls, living in a female
ghetto. Instead of yellow armbands, we wore the sign of our
inferiority on our heads. We switched sidewalks when we saw
Board of Reference: Miriam Adeney, Carl E. Armerding, Myron S.
Augsburger, Raymond J. Bakke, Anthony Campolo, Lois McKinney
Douglas, Gordon D. Fee, Richard Foster, John R. Franke, W. Ward
Gasque, J. Lee Grady, Rebecca Merrill Groothuis, Vernon Grounds,
David Joel Hamilton, Roberta Hestenes, Gretchen Gaebelein Hull,
Donald Joy, Robbie Joy, Craig S. Keener, John R. Kohlenberger III,
David Mains, Kari Torjesen Malcolm, Brenda Salter McNeil, Alvera
Mickelsen, Roger Nicole, Virgil Olson, LaDonna Osborn, T. L. Osborn,
John E. Phelan, Kay F. Rader, Paul A. Rader, Ronald J. Sider, Aída
Besançon Spencer, William David Spencer, Ruth A. Tucker, Mary
Stewart Van Leeuwen, Timothy Weber, Jeanette S. G. Yep
Board of Directors: Gwen Dewey, Martine Extermann, Vince
Huffaker, KeumJu (Jewel) Hyun, John Kohlenberger III, Catherine
Clark Kroeger, Ruby Lindblad, Tom McCarthy, Virginia Patterson,
Nancy Graf Peters, Sara Robertson, Arbutus Sider
Priscilla Papers (issn 0898-753x) is published quarterly by Christians for Biblical Equality, © 2009.
122 West Franklin Avenue, Suite 218, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2451. For address changes and other information, phone: 612-872-6898;
fax: 612-872-6891; or e-mail: [email protected]. CBE is on the Web at www.cbeinternational.org.
Priscilla Papers is indexed by Christians for Biblical Equality, the Christian Periodical Index (CPI), American Theological Library Association’s (ATLA) New Testament
Abstracts (NTA), and Religious & Theological Abstracts (R&TA). In addition, Priscilla Papers is licensed with EBSCO Publishing’s full-text informational library products.
  •  Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 23, No. 1 ◆ Winter 2009
men approaching. Beaches, family parks, movie theaters had
all been segregated. In the back of every bus, a sign read: SISTERS MUST SIT ONLY IN THIS AREA!3
of patriarchy in the New Testament, underscoring once more the
Christian need to continue to build on freedom of Christ and not
slip back into the attitude that Jesus abhorred, wherein we “lord”
(kurieuō) it over one another (Luke 22:24–27). An accomplished
One classmate who complained by writing an essay of protest in
poet who is new to our pages but familiar to many others, H.
a school class was imprisoned, branded with a hot iron, and subEdgar Hix, gives us three outstanding poems. The first treats our
jected to other forms of violent emotional and physical abuse.4
theme of the clash of religious ideals and practice, and the next
Again, the ideal and the reality can be in disturbing tension.
two celebrate a Christian woman who imConfucianism is known to value mopacted his life with her righteous use of
ow can such evil occur in lives we are
nogamous marriage, seeing it as “the
leadership. Finally, we offer two percepconvinced have been committed to
rule . . . both as to union with but one
tive book reviews: the first by an expert in
the gentle Christ we claim to serve?
wife and as to permanence of marriage.”5
addressing abuse, Professor Steven Tracy
But, Mencius taught that within that moof Phoenix Seminary; and the second by
nogamy the wife was to be placed in subjection, being warned by
Bethel College Assistant Professor Elizabeth McLaughlin.
her mother, “You are going to your home. You must be respectful.
Our hope for this issue is that it encourage all of us to conYou must be careful. Do not disobey your husband!”6 There, she
tinue to hold the unifying of our faith and practice under close
must contend with the double standard of her husband holding
scrutiny, each of us striving to be as consistently just and loving
concubines, often her younger sister,7 the charge not to remarry
as the pure “Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or
if her husband dies,8 and shame if she divorces and remarries.9
shadow of change” (Jas. 1:17).
She herself could face divorce by her husband for “disobedience
to parents-in-law, failure to bear a son, adultery, jealousy of her
Blessings,
husband, leprosy, garrulity, theft.” But, should she herself initiate
divorce, her “husband and his father or elder brother are sole and
final judges,” determining whether he divorces her, or whether he
and his father (or elder brother) grant their “consent” for her to
Notes
divorce him.10 Despite the Doctrine of the Mean’s ideal of “perfect
contentment,” wherein “a happy union with wife and children is
1. Catherine Clark Kroeger, Nancy Nason-Clark, Barbara Fisherlike the music of lutes and harps!” tension is built into a relationTownsend, eds., Beyond Abuse in the Christian Home: Raising Voices for
ship where a man is admonished, “thus may you regulate your
Change (Eugene, Ore: Wipf & Stock, 2008), xvi.
2. Warren Larson, “Islam According to Gallup,” Christianity Today
family and enjoy the delights of wife and children!”11 A union
52, no 11 (Nov. 2008), 40.
under domination of one party, as marriage was in Confucian3. Roya Hakakian, Journey from the Land of No (New York, N.Y.:
ism, led to a variety of abuses from foot-binding of children to
Crown, 2004), 212–13.
punishment of non-complying spouses.
4. Hakakian, Journey from the Land of No, 218–19.
In this issue, we look at the plight of women caught in the
5. Yi King (appendix 6, section 2.32), cited in Miles Menander Dawson, The Basic Teachings of Confucius (New York, N.Y.: New Home Litension between what is wholesome, life-affirming, and mutually
brary, 1942), 151.
beneficial in faith in conflict with more repressive teaching and its
6. Li Ki 3.2.2.2, Dawson, The Basic Teachings of Confucius, 143.
sometimes abusive results. Our focus, of course, is on the Chris7. Dawson, The Basic Teachings of Confucius, 144.
tian involvement in this dilemma, including the compounded
8. According to the Li Ki (10.3.7), cited in Dawson, The Basic Teachproblems occurring when Christian leaders are influenced by
ings of Confucius, 146.
patriarchal ideas within Islamic and Confucian philosophy and
9. Dawson, The Basic Teachings of Confucius, 149.
10. According to The Elder Tai’s Record of Rites (book 80), cited in
practice that reinforce repressive tendencies toward women.
Dawson,
The Basic Teachings of Confucius, 150–51.
Talbot School of Theology Professor Sheryl Takagi Silzer of
11. According to The Doctrine of the Mean (15:2–3), cited in Dawson,
Wycliffe Bible Translators begins with a poignant memoir of fifty
The Basic Teachings of Confucius, 139.
years of struggle to free her Christian faith from the negative
impact of her Confucian background. A scholar who remains
DISCLAIMER: Final selection of all material published by CBE in
anonymous follows with a thought-provoking discussion of the
Priscilla Papers is entirely up to the discretion of the editor, consultimpact on Christian identity of Islamic attitudes and their poing theologians, and CBE’s executive. Please note that each author
tentially deleterious effect on women in the Christian church. I
is solely legally responsible for the content and the accuracy of facts,
contribute an interview with two Christians from India, highcitations, references, and quotations rendered and properly attriblighting the contrast they have seen between Christian freedom
uted in the article appearing under his or her name. Neither Chrisfor women and more restrictive Muslim attitudes in countries in
tians for Biblical Equality, nor the editor, nor the editorial team is
which they have lived, worked, and ministered. Professor Alan
responsible or legally liable for any content or any statements made
Johnson of Wheaton College and Graduate School, longtime
by any author, but the legal responsibility is solely that author’s once
champion of women in ministry, expertly examines the “demise”
an article appears in print in Priscilla Papers.
H
Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 23, No. 1 ◆ Winter 2009  •