Regent College Podcast Dr. Beth Allison Barr: The Rise of the Pastor's Wife and the Diminishment of Women's Ordination
In our second in this mini-series on Women in Theology, we sit down with a powerhouse in the world of the History of Christianity, Dr. Beth Allison Barr. In her return to the podcast, Beth discusses her new book, Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman's Path to Ministry. Starting with Peter’s wife and walking through early church, Medieval, and Reformation history, we explore the evolving and shifting roles of women in the church. We also examine the roots and implications of contemporary complementarian theology and its influence on the rise of the pastor’s wife as a position of power in the church. Beth focuses on the history within her tradition, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), and reveals the sobering reality of unaddressed clergy abuse which coincided with the revocation of women’s ordination in the SBC in the 1980s.
Beth’s book is releasing on March 18, 2025 and will be available in the Regent Bookstore as well as other good bookstores.
Note: This episode references clergy abuse and domestic violence. Please take care and determine whether this is beneficial listening for you today.
Bio
Dr. Beth Allison Barr is the James Vardaman Endowed Professor of History at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Her research focuses on women and religion in medieval and early modern England, with particular attention to vernacular sermons and devotional literature. In her work, she also examines how the advent of Protestantism affected women in Christianity and explores medieval perceptions of women in religious literature across the Reformation era.
Publications
Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman's Path to Ministry (2025)
The Making of Biblical Womanhood (2021)
The Pastoral Care of Women in Late Medieval England (2008)
Previous Podcast Appearances
The Cost of Forgetting Women in Church History (April 2024)
Regent College Podcast
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