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The Divorce of a Pastor’s Wife in 1860 Texas

ByBeth Allison Barr

From the Anxious Bench Archives I went to a perfect wedding last weekend. It was deep in the rural heart of Central Texas. Wide open fields dotted with cattle and the occasional John Deer tractor were broken by scattered farm houses. The roads were narrow and dusty; population signs for the small towns counted inhabitants…

Christians Must Face The Reality Of Rape Culture
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Christians Must Face The Reality Of Rape Culture

ByBeth Allison Barr

I am so pleased to welcome guest blogger Leslie Hahner, PhD, to The Anxious Bench today. Leslie is a brilliant thinker, writer, and professor. I know this because we have been in an interdisciplinary writing group together since 2011. She has two recently published books, To Become an American: Immigrants and Americanization Campaigns of the…

My First Sermon: The Faith of a Woman
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My First Sermon: The Faith of a Woman

ByBeth Allison Barr

I teach and research sermons. Two weeks ago, on September 11, I had the privilege of preaching my first sermon at Truett seminary. I am so thankful for seminaries like Truett which affirm and actively support women in ministry. Although my sermon text stands as I originally wrote it (including the section I just jotted…

Here We Go Again: Willow Creek and Pastoral Accountability
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Here We Go Again: Willow Creek and Pastoral Accountability

ByBeth Allison Barr

I was sitting on a picnic bench outside of the Navajo Nation capital when I read Scot McKnight’s tweet about Willow Creek. His comment that, “mismanagement, powermongering, threatening, and offering money for silence” should be themes “central to church leadership discussions” in seminaries really caught my attention. If you have followed my blogs for a…

Paige Patterson Is My Fault, Too
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Paige Patterson Is My Fault, Too

ByBeth Allison Barr

For years, I attended complementarian churches. I kept telling myself that maybe things would change. I kept telling myself that I, as a woman who taught and had a career, set a positive example. I kept telling myself that complementarianism wasn’t misogyny. I kept telling myself that no church was perfect. I kept telling myself…

Is There Hope for Evangelical Women?
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Is There Hope for Evangelical Women?

ByBeth Allison Barr

My daughter and I were walking our new puppy when my phone buzzed. It was a twitter notification from my fellow blogger Chris Gehrz. He had tweeted about Beth Moore’s open letter. I stopped dead and started reading.This was a mistake. We had only had our new puppy a few days and hadn’t yet convinced…