we have missed Paul’s bigger purpose. We have reduced his call for oneness into patrolling borders for uniformity; we have traded the “radical character” of Christ’s body for a rigid hierarchy of gender and power.

influence of men like Patterson (and, ironically, his wife)

Adam’s rebellion was claiming God’s authority for himself, and Eve’s rebellion was submitting to Adam in place of God.

I understood Dorothy Patterson’s argument because I was part of Dorothy Patterson’s world.

For evangelicals these attitudes are connected: limiting women’s spiritual authority goes hand in hand with limiting women’s economic power.

A gender hierarchy in which women rank under men can be found in almost every era and among every people group. When the church denies women the ability to preach, lead, teach, and sometimes even work outside the home, the church is continuing a long historical tradition of subordinating women.

Patriarchy is created by people, not ordained by God.

This pattern of devaluing women’s work—whether the type of work or the monetary value of the work—is an example of patriarchy: a general system that values men and their contributions more than it values women and their contributions.

ziggurats