The Making of Biblical Womanhood is a powerful book for two good reasons. First, Allison Barr knows what she’s talking about. She specializes in medieval history, women’s history, and church history in her role as associate professor of history and associate dean of the Graduate School at Baylor U. Second, she’s invested. This is a personal story about her escape from complementarianism.

The central claim in this book is that evangelical America’s vision of “biblical womanhood” isn’t … well … biblical. Neither is it grounded in church history. She tackles some of the challenging texts like 1 Timothy 2:15 with a historical view: how did medieval Christians preach these verses? The answer might surprise (and inspire) you.

In her conclusion, Barr bluntly names names:

We can no longer deny a link between complementarianism and abuse. So much evidence now exists that John Piper, Al Mohler, and Russell Moore have gone on the defensives, trying to proclaim how their “Christian patriarchy” is different. … Does this model hurt everyone? Of course not. It just hurt the thirty or more women who made allegations against Bill Gothard. It just hurt the victims who filed a class-action suit against Sovereign Grace Ministries for creating an environment in which, they alleged, the sexual abuse of children flourished. It just hurt the seven hundred victims of sexual abuse linked to Southern Baptist churches over a period of twenty years. It just hurt women like me. (207)

If “biblical womanhood” isn’t biblical or historically grounded, and if it provides a context that facilitates abusive practices, is it not time to give up defending it?

Barr, Beth Allison. The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth. Brazos Press, 2021.