In this remarkably perceptive study, Lisa Weaver Swartz shows us precisely how male power is perpetuated and embodied in white evangelical institutions. She describes this process in captivating detail, both at the complementarian stronghold of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and at egalitarian Asbury Seminary, and the result is an altogether fresh, sometimes surprising, and always deeply illuminating examination of gender, power, and American evangelicalism.
~Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
"Meticulously researched and beautifully written, this book takes readers into the hallways and classrooms of places that shape – through what is said and what is practiced – the lives of evangelical pastors. Both the differences between the seminaries and their similarities may surprise you. How they create gendered religious worlds is worth knowing about."
~Nancy Ammerman, author of Baptist Battles: Social Change and Religious Conflict in the Southern Baptist Convention
"In a brilliant and compelling narrative, Lisa Weaver-Swartz shows how patriarchy persists and adapts even in spaces supportive of women in ministry. Her research explains why women defend complementarianism as well as why the gender-blindness of egalitarianism fails. Regardless of your theology, you should read this book. I promise it will help you better understand the plight of evangelical women."
~Beth Allison Barr, author of The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth
