by
Sylvia Dooling
A little more than five years ago, Voices of Orthodox Women was born out of a growing concern by large numbers of women in the church about resources, curriculum, conferences and programs that were being designed, written and produced by some of our denominational leaders. More specifically, we were (and remain) troubled by materials that promote and advocate radical feminist philosophy in place of the historic Reformed faith of our church.
Our strategy has been several-fold. We have promoted prayer for our denomination and its leaders; we have encouraged like-minded individuals and groups to voice their opinions in a gracious and faithful way; we have attempted to educate the people of our church relative to the theological aberrations of radical feminist philosophy; and we have called for accountability by our denomination’s leaders to Scriptural and confessional authority.
Relative to this strategy, we have particularly focused our attention on Presbyterian Women (PW) because it is the organization that connects with and influences the greatest number of women in our denomination.
Among other things, we have reviewed and evaluated the Horizons Bible study that is so widely used by PW circles in local congregations. Because, from year to year, we have found the materials in these studies to be so uneven, we have offered several different responses:
Occasionally, we have found the material to be so well written that we have enthusiastically encouraged its use;
Sometimes we have found the materials flawed but “redeemable,” and have offered on-line supplements to round them out;
On one occasion, we concluded that the study was so flawed that we recommended that PW Circles find alternative curricula;
Whatever our opinion, we have consistently encouraged the women of the church to consult with their pastors, their church’s Christian Education Committee, and their church’s session before adopting any curriculum. VOW is unequivocally committed to the notion that it is session’s responsibility to vet all curriculum used in the Christian Education program of each and every particular congregation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Last year, even though we had a few minor concerns VOW recommended that Presbyterian Women use the Horizons study of Ephesians (No Longer Strangers) by Kay E. Huggins. In our opinion, Ms. Huggins’ work was generally faithful to the scriptures, built up the body of Christ, and raised important issues that are worthy of careful exploration.
Very soon, Horizons will publish its curriculum for 2003-2004 entitled The Face Looks Familiar: Remembering Unnamed Women in Scripture, and we have begun to receive inquiries from PW groups around the nation relative to its merit. However, because we have not yet been privy to the final edition of this particular study, we are not prepared to offer an evaluation.
On the other hand, VOW was asked by Presbyterian Women to be one of the groups to preview and critique the first draft of “Faces.” It was an invitation that we readily accepted, and the group that we tasked to do this work invested hundreds of hours to make sure that it was done well.
Although one of the criteria for our participation in this process was the promise not to reveal any of the specifics of the study, I can tell you that the first draft of “Faces” raised some profound concerns among our reviewers. Further, if the material has not been radically rewritten, we can predict that it may prove to be unusable by the women of the VOW network.
Therefore, we are advising that you wait to make any final decision about using the Horizons study for this year until you can evaluate it yourself.
VOW will study the material just as soon as it is available, and we will publish our own evaluation. In your own evaluation process, we encourage you to read our recommendations thoughtfully, and to consult with the session of your own particular congregation.
It has never been VOW’s expectation that everyone in the church will agree with us. That however notwithstanding, we are committed to the idea that all curricula produced by our denomination including all Horizons Bible Studies should uphold and affirm the confessional and other constitutional standards of our church.
So, please, join us in carefully and thoughtfully evaluating “Faces” before you decide to teach it to your sisters in Christ.