Read Part One HERE
Here is my second post on Dr John R. Rice. He and his wife were the parents of six daughters.
One of their daughters was named Jimmie Elizabeth. She has made the following comment:
"Women are more often led into spiritual error than men. That is the reason God commanded her not to usurp authority over man, so she can be protected by him, from false doctrine.... The Scriptures says a woman must ignore her feelings about the will of God and do what her husband says. She is to obey her husband as if he were God Himself. She can be as certain of God's will, when her husband speaks, as if God had spoken from heaven."
Dr John Rice has written the book; "Bobbed hair, bossy wives and women preachers."
Molly T. Marshall, has written the following in relation to the above book.
"Ï was a Master of Divinity Student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1973 to 1975. As regularly occurred with women students, I had been admitted to the School of Religious Education. Yet, I enrolled in all M.Div. courses because I had some burning theological questions."
"I then had to talk my way into the School of Theology with the Dean of the RE School. He was not easy to persuade; however he approved the transfer. I was one of only a handful of women, even though in the early '70s mainly seminaries were beginning to welcome many women."
"One day I was in the library looking for resources to assist in my quest to learn about what the Bible really teaches about the role of women in ministry. I stumbled across a nefarious concoction of an over-achieving fundamentalist, John R. Rice. I was incensed at the title: Bobbed hair, Bossy Wives and Women Preachers. Of course, I had experienced gender discrimination all my life as a Southern Baptist - at my home church, in college, in churches I had served as youth minister - but the sheer contempt of this book startled me."
"In his book Rice asked three questions:
1. Is is a sin for women to cut their hair? Answer: Yes.
2. Must a wife be subject to, obedient to her husband, ruled by him? The Answer: Yes.
3. Does God ever call or consent for women to be preachers, pastors or evangelists? The Answer: No."
"So where do we find ourselves now less than 75 years since the re-printing of Rice's signature volume? It depends upon which Baptist pathway you have followed, of course, yet the patriarchal bias of national and ecclesial culture remains deeply entrenched."
"We continue to hear new forms of Rice's arguments, clothed now in the dress of the "dignity of women." We hear the male projections of how an attractive female pastor would simply be a distraction in the pulpit; how an ungainly pregnancy would be awkward when doing sacramental things like baptising; how women's voices do not sound authoritative etc etc."
"The unwavering accent on the submission of women results in a tacit understanding of fundamental inequality between male and female. Rice argued that as God is to Christ, so is the man to the woman. This not only underscores the eternal subordination of women but is heretical in Trinitarian construction."
"I have engaged an old text, yet its arguments are still around. The fear of strong women remains a toxic part of Baptist culture and the wider social landscape. We still have much work to do. It is time to sharpen our hermeneutical skills and forthrightly confront the lingering misogyny among those of Rice's ilk. He has many kin."
Here is my second post on Dr John R. Rice. He and his wife were the parents of six daughters.
One of their daughters was named Jimmie Elizabeth. She has made the following comment:
"Women are more often led into spiritual error than men. That is the reason God commanded her not to usurp authority over man, so she can be protected by him, from false doctrine.... The Scriptures says a woman must ignore her feelings about the will of God and do what her husband says. She is to obey her husband as if he were God Himself. She can be as certain of God's will, when her husband speaks, as if God had spoken from heaven."
Dr John Rice has written the book; "Bobbed hair, bossy wives and women preachers."
Molly T. Marshall, has written the following in relation to the above book.
"Ï was a Master of Divinity Student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1973 to 1975. As regularly occurred with women students, I had been admitted to the School of Religious Education. Yet, I enrolled in all M.Div. courses because I had some burning theological questions."
"I then had to talk my way into the School of Theology with the Dean of the RE School. He was not easy to persuade; however he approved the transfer. I was one of only a handful of women, even though in the early '70s mainly seminaries were beginning to welcome many women."
"One day I was in the library looking for resources to assist in my quest to learn about what the Bible really teaches about the role of women in ministry. I stumbled across a nefarious concoction of an over-achieving fundamentalist, John R. Rice. I was incensed at the title: Bobbed hair, Bossy Wives and Women Preachers. Of course, I had experienced gender discrimination all my life as a Southern Baptist - at my home church, in college, in churches I had served as youth minister - but the sheer contempt of this book startled me."
"In his book Rice asked three questions:
1. Is is a sin for women to cut their hair? Answer: Yes.
2. Must a wife be subject to, obedient to her husband, ruled by him? The Answer: Yes.
3. Does God ever call or consent for women to be preachers, pastors or evangelists? The Answer: No."
"So where do we find ourselves now less than 75 years since the re-printing of Rice's signature volume? It depends upon which Baptist pathway you have followed, of course, yet the patriarchal bias of national and ecclesial culture remains deeply entrenched."
"We continue to hear new forms of Rice's arguments, clothed now in the dress of the "dignity of women." We hear the male projections of how an attractive female pastor would simply be a distraction in the pulpit; how an ungainly pregnancy would be awkward when doing sacramental things like baptising; how women's voices do not sound authoritative etc etc."
"The unwavering accent on the submission of women results in a tacit understanding of fundamental inequality between male and female. Rice argued that as God is to Christ, so is the man to the woman. This not only underscores the eternal subordination of women but is heretical in Trinitarian construction."
"I have engaged an old text, yet its arguments are still around. The fear of strong women remains a toxic part of Baptist culture and the wider social landscape. We still have much work to do. It is time to sharpen our hermeneutical skills and forthrightly confront the lingering misogyny among those of Rice's ilk. He has many kin."
Read Part Six HERE
Dr. John R.Rice's daughter Jimmie Elizabeth has made an idol of her husband by declaring him to be infallible in his speaking!!
ReplyDeleteMolly T. Marshall has uncovered the truth about the Baptist culture which does not seem to have gone beyond what Evangelist John Rice preached in his book "Bobbed hair, Bossy Wives and Women Preachers."