A word from a seminarian . . . Beth Moore, the Great Goddess: Rushing’s feminine archetypes and the “Go home” controversy

Abstract

Society employs feminine archetypes to construct rigid standards and expectations for women. The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) uses interpretation of selected biblical texts to construct the feminine archetype of “the submissive woman,” a tactic not unlike the patriarchal subversion of the Great Goddess myth. The SBC expects women to submit to the authority of men and to teachings that exclude women from holding leadership positions. This article examines the ongoing debate over the role of women within the SBC, using the statements of John MacArthur and Beth Moore as artifact and exemplar, including a comparison of their competing interpretations of the New Testament figure Phoebe.