June 11, 2025

Debating Women’s Ordination and Pastors’ Wives

Evangelicals hold different opinions on the validity of women serving as pastors and church leaders. Almost always, they hold those opinions with sincerity and good faith, making genuine attempts to search the Scriptures and filter out personal and cultural biases.

This means walking something of a tightrope whenever CT reviews books like Beth Allison Barr’s Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as Woman’s Path to Ministry, which take a strong and unapologetic stand on one side or another. I often feel compelled to remind readers that CT doesn’t regard itself as a cheerleader for either complementarian or egalitarian viewpoints. We strive to honor both, report fairly on divisions between them, and (whenever possible) map out areas of common ground.

Book reviews on the topic remain especially tricky. You have to pick someone to review the book, and that someone might lean one way or another, so you always run the risk of alienating everyone who leans the other way. In this case, I sought out a moderate, winsome voice who straddles some of the familiar categories: Kelley Mathews, who holds a theology degree from a broadly complementarian institution (Dallas Theological Seminary) but writes to encourage and equip women in ministry roles. (Mathews coauthored the book 40 Questions About Women in Ministry.)

In her review, she invites readers to take Barr’s historical expertise seriously, even if they remain opposed to seeing women in the pulpit.

“Ordination, of course, remains one of the sticking points for churches that limit women’s participation in leadership,” Mathews writes. “But Barr offers helpful context: ‘For the first thousand years of Western church history, ordination tied a particular function (think pastoring) to a particular office (bishop, priest, deacon, abbess, etc.). While ordination could include administering the sacrament, it didn’t have to.’

“But around 1100, church leaders modified the definition of ordination, connecting it more directly with sacred authority, including the ability to preside over the sacraments. Within another 200 years, the path to priesthood had become limited to ordained men.

“After the Protestant Reformation, pastors abandoned Catholic sacramental practices but retained the hierarchical structure of all-male spiritual authority. Ordination remained a confirmation of God’s call upon men, because only men, it was argued, could have spiritual authority. Protestant women were left with little more than marriage as a means to spiritual influence.

“When Protestant pastors began marrying, the role of pastor’s wife was born. Early on, these pastor couples modeled a variety of approaches. Some former nuns married former monks, both using their theological training to minister together (think Martin Luther and Katharina von Bora). Some wives continued their work independent of their husbands’ pastoral careers. It took centuries for the ‘traditional’ pastor’s wife model to become the norm. And ordination, having been redefined from its original meaning, remained out of reach for most women.”

Sacred Songs in a Spotify Age

In high school, my group of friends had a few Friday evening rituals. One of my favorites involved piling into someone’s car and driving out to the nearest Newbury Comics, a Boston-based music retailer that had launched a new location closer to our rural neck of the woods. The store had an edgier, indie-friendly feel, and I loved browsing the racks with the hope of discovering artists far off the radar of MTV and the big record labels.

Today, with the popularity of streaming platforms like Spotify, fewer people experience the serendipity of thumbing through little plastic album cases for something that catches the eye. In a recent book, Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist, journalist Liz Pelly investigates how algorithmic models harnessed by streaming giants have changed the way we make and hear music.

In a review for CT, the writer Anna Broadway—known for examining singleness in her own life and among Christians across the globe—asks whether the church has a role in rebuilding a thriving music culture.

Here’s a sample from her review: “At the end of Mood Machine, Pelly writes, ‘To address the root causes of our ailing music culture, we need to have deeper conversations about why music matters, why universal access to music matters, and what systemic political and economic realities currently prevent so many people from engaging deeply with music.’

“Surely such a conversation ought to include more of the places where music thrives. Her conclusion lists some very interesting examples, especially of library-hosted music collections. But it’s worth considering others from the Christian music scene. Pelly might have reckoned with how Josh Garrels gives so much music away. Or she might have highlighted The Porter’s Gate, an arts collective responsible for a steady output of new songs, almost entirely digital, through an unusually large team of collaborators. How have these Christian musicians survived what seems like such risky generosity and collaboration?

“By the same token, Christians could stand to heed the problems Pelly so meticulously chronicles. Many schools have ended or reduced music education in the classroom. But years ago, I attended a church whose worship minister believed the local church could help fill this gap, perhaps by teaching people how to sing parts. The church I presently attend (and play piano for) also supports broader cultural efforts to preserve and reclaim Indigenous languages by including some translated songs in our worship.

“Churches can provide space to practice or perform as well. The Lutheran church where I worship rents its space to multiple community choirs for rehearsal. Others sometimes come to play one of the many pianos in the building—either for practice or just for fun. Historically, church support of musicians has also given some the financial stability to produce other work. Individual Christians have an important role too.”

Matt Reynolds

Senior Editor, Books

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