2

THE HISTORICAL CONNECTION

BETWEEN LIBERALISM AND

THE ENDORSEMENT OF WOMEN’S

ORDINATION IN THE CHURCH

When we look at what happened in the last half of the twentieth cen-

tury, quite a clear connection can be seen between theological liberalism
and the endorsement of women’s ordination. In an important sociolog-
ical study published by Harvard University Press, Mark Chaves traces
the history of women’s ordination in various denominations in the
United States.^1 From Chaves’s study, we can observe a pattern among
the mainstream Protestant denominations whose leadership is domi-
nated by theological liberals (that is, by those who reject the idea that
the entire Bible is the written Word of God and is truthful in all it
affirms).^2 Chaves notes the dates when ordination of women was
approved in each of these denominations:

Methodist Church 1956

Presbyterian Church (USA) 1956 (north), 1964 (south)

American Lutheran Church 1970

(^1) See Mark Chaves, Ordaining Women (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997).
(^2) A more precise statement of a clear dividing line between liberals and evangelicals is found in
the statement of faith of the Evangelical Theological Society, which says, “The Bible alone, and
the Bible in its entirety, is the Word of God written and is therefore inerrant in the autographs”
(that is, in the original manuscripts) (available online at http://www.etsjets.org)..)