Why Women Belong in Seminary: Challenging John Piper’s Complementarian Logic - w/ Bonnie Lewis

Voxology

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 29 January 2018

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this gripping episode, Mike Erre and Tim Stafford welcome back scholar and teacher Bonnie Lewis to confront John Piper’s recent claims that seminaries should only hire male faculty. This conversation dives deep into entrenched complementarian beliefs and the implications for women in theology, church leadership, and spiritual formation. Drawing on Bonnie’s personal experience in seminary, this episode dismantles the idea that women can't or shouldn't teach men and highlights the need for diverse voices in pastoral training.

Key Takeaways:
• Seminary Formation vs. Church Formation – Why the claim that seminary is the primary space for pastoral development misses the critical role of the local church.
• Living the Contradiction – Bonnie details the hypocrisy in seminaries that allow women to attend but discourage them from pursuing pastoral education or teaching.
• A Clear Biblical Counterexample – Priscilla and Aquila’s mentorship of Apollos in Acts stands in direct contradiction to Piper’s argument that women can’t teach future pastors.
• The Emotional Cost of Exclusion – Bonnie shares the toll that institutional resistance and cultural pressure placed on her mental and spiritual health.
• Why We All Lose Without Women Leaders – How excluding women from seminary instruction impoverishes the pastoral formation of men and marginalizes the unique ways women experience and communicate God’s work.

Guest Highlights:
Bonnie Lewis – Writer, speaker, theologian, and long-time friend of the podcast. Bonnie shares her experience navigating seminaries as a female theologian, the regret of not pursuing a Master of Divinity due to external pressures, and why she now advocates for women to fully pursue and own their call to ministry.

Resources Mentioned:
• Acts 18 – The story of Priscilla and Aquila teaching Apollos
• Genesis 3 & 1 Timothy 2 – Passages often used in complementarian theology
• Fuller Theological Seminary – The institution where Bonnie pursued her M.A. in Theology
• John Piper’s Q&A Article – “Should Women Be Seminary Professors?” (DesiringGod.org)

Let’s keep challenging the systems that misrepresent the mission of Jesus. Subscribe to Voxology, leave us a review, and continue the conversation by following us on social media.

As always, we encourage and welcome discussion. Feel free to email your questions to [email protected], and join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube: VOXOLOGY TV
Check out our merch store on ETSY
Learn more at: VoxologyPodcast.com
Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify
Support us on Patreon

Follow us on Instagram: @voxologypodcast
"Like" us on Facebook
Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford
Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to [email protected], and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.

Our Merch Store! ETSY

Learn more about the Voxology Podcast

Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify

Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio

Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Brothers and sisters, it's a big day.
0:14.5	It is a big day today.
0:16.7	We have brought the heavy guns.
0:20.4	We have brought out of hiding.
0:23.4	Payday.
0:23.8	In the Texas compound in which she lives now.
0:28.0	Our friend Bonnie Lewis is with us today for an epic takedown of John Piper.
0:34.7	We are so very excited.
0:37.3	Now, Bonnie, hello. What? All right, so,
0:40.7	so Andy, you're in Pacific Coast time. Yes. Right? So it is eight o'clock.
0:46.8	Yep. Bonnie, you're where? In Austin. So central. 10 o'clock. That's not near Chip and
0:52.8	Joanna Gaines. I had no idea there were other cities in Texas other than Waco.
0:57.0	How do you feel about that?
0:58.0	I feel great about it.
0:59.0	It's kind of close and I always text Cici when we go to Waco.
1:03.0	Oh, you do?
1:04.0	Yeah, she's so excited about it.
1:06.0	Is there like a fixer upper tour where you can like you know like an actual physical map you can drive
1:11.0	around and look at all the houses they've done doing the fixer upper tour with two kids in
1:15.8	toes sounds horrible is there but is that a thing is that a real thing i think it is i haven't done it
1:21.7	but like people all over the world there so i'm assuming it is okay wow that's um that's weird okay uh and what's the what's the world there. So I'm assuming it is. Okay. Wow. That's, that's weird. Okay. And what's the,
1:30.7	what's the weather there today in Austin? It's like 58 or so. Nice. Nice. Not bad. All right.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Voxology, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Voxology and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.