Stingray: Female professor at Baptist Seminary fired -- for being female

Sheri Klouda was given a tenure-track position to teach Hebrew in Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s school of theology when she received her doctor of philosophy at the Fort Worth, Texas, campus in 2002. In 2004, she was told that, because she was a female, she was no longer on the tenure track because, according to Van McClain, chairman of Southwestern’s board of trustees, the seminary had returned to its “traditional, confessional and biblical position” that a woman should not instruct men in theology courses or in biblical languages.

Granted, the seminary allowed her to continue to teach a full 2 years after she was told that she would never make tenure and they supported her financially after they made her quit teaching, but their decision was wrong, both morally and Biblically.

My Experience with the “Conservatives”
A very strong word of disclaimer here. I lived in Ft. Worth and attended Broadway Baptist Church during the 1980s when the “conservatives” took over Southwestern and many other seminaries and colleges throughout the country. My pastor, Cecil Sherman, was the de facto leader of the “moderate” Baptists. A number of Southwestern professors and students were Sunday School teachers or friends of mine.

I got a bad taste in my mouth from the whole “conservative” takeover and it took me years to forgive the Southern Baptist Convention (my wife and I even were members of a Southern Baptist church for a couple of years after we were married). The takeover made a lot of news and I was regularly appalled to read lies by the “conservative” faction, such as the lie that my church did not read the Bible or pray during services and that my pastor did not believe in the literal miracles recorded in the Bible. After that last story came out, my pastor preached a sermon on miracles and left no doubt that he believed that the miracles recorded in the Bible were real and true. The lies that the “conservatives” disseminated remind me of how the Democrat party and the mainstream media operate. Forget the truth and try to confuse the masses with lies.

For what it’s worth, my mother’s family are longtime Baptists and I had several ancestors who held positions of prominence in Mississippi. In fact, it was one of my ancestors who was instrumental in pushing the pro-slavery Mississippi Baptists into seceding from the national Baptist denomination, thus forming the Southern Baptist denomination. The role of this particular ancestor (like many others, a slaveholder) is something that I consider a blot on my ancestry. Racism has vanished from the Southern Baptist Convention, but it was for far too long a stain on its ministry. Baptist churches until the 1960s were more than happy to raise money for missionaries to go to Africa but would deny local blacks entry into their churches. Go figure.

The Real Issue in the “Conservative” Takeover was Power, not Theology
Of course, the real issue was not theology, as the conservatives claimed, but pure raw power. Anyone who dared call them on their power grab was immediately labeled a liberal. At a convention meeting, the “conservatives” kept “moderates” out of a meeting by enlisting the aid of guards with guns. They took over the Baptist Standard, the weekly Baptist magazine, and fired everyone on the staff suspected of having sympathy for the “moderates.” When they took over the seminary, all of my professor friends had their careers trashed and were fired while my friends were encouraged to attend another seminary — all because they attended a “moderate” church. It was a bloodbath.

When they tried to take over my alma mater, Baylor University, they managed to fire several professors who were not deemed appropriate, including a Spanish professor I had who happened to be a Mormon. Fortunately, the “moderates” retained control over Baylor and they rehired the Spanish professor and ultimately made him chairman of the department. Never once did the professor try to proselytize us. If my faith were so weak that it could be damaged by having a Mormon Spanish professor, then how would my faith withstand the real world?

The Bible: Literally True
I wrote earlier that I had no theological differences with the “conservatives,” but I guess that there was one significant theological difference: they hold to a rigid, wooden, ultra-literal view on the Bible. Now, I hold to a very conservative, literal view of the Bible, but I recognize that the Bible contains history, narrative prose, poetry, parables, and prophesy and that each style of writing needs to be interpreted according to that style. When Jesus called himself a vine he did not mean that he was a literal vine. He was speaking figuratively. Articles that I have read from the new “conservative” leadership seem not to be able to separate poetic, figurative language from straight prose.

Women and the Early Church
I do hold to the view that women ought not to pastor churches but I also realize that there are a lot of good women pastors who stepped up to the plate because men failed to follow their calling. There are also a lot of excellent women teachers out there, such as Kay Arthur. I have learned much from her and others.

What about the role of women in the early church? Paul wrote the following in Romans 16:1-2:

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant [Greek: diakonos, or deaconess] of the church at Cenchreae, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.

Paul entrusted Phoebe to deliver his letter to the Romans. Not only that, but he asked the church in Rome, which surely included men, to help her perform her ministry in whatever way she needed. She was wealthy, so Paul wasn’t asking the Romans to take care of her physically; rather, he was telling the church in Rome to obey her as they would obey him. She was acting in Paul’s stead.

The Decline of Southern Baptists
I take no joy in reporting that there has been a steady membership decline in Southern Baptist Churches since the “conservative” takeover. They imposed a brand of legalism that many individuals and entire churches just would not stand for. Some churches have even dropped “Baptist” from their names. There is a revival going on in America, but it’s primarily in the non-denominational churches like my own, which typically gains 60 new members per month thru baptism or incoming members from other churches. There are a lot of ex-Baptists in my church, which I find to be very sad. They have fled the new Southern Baptist legalism for the freedom that Jesus Christ offers us all.

As for Sheri Klouda, my prayer is that she will forgive those who have done her great wrong and continue on with her excellence in teaching Hebrew to a more enlightened group of students.

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