Ruth Tucker

About 15 years ago I read Women in the Maze by Ruth Tucker. It was one of about 5 books which I read at the time which supported women's equality in the church. I gave or lent out all of those books and only remember them when I come across a related story. This is what happened today.

I discovered a new blog called Parchment and Pen and sat and read few posts. I then took a look at the contributors and saw Ruth Tucker's name in the sidebar. Ruth had been teaching at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids until recently when she was forced to leave under very unpleasant circumstances. This story was publicized last summer and I read it at the time but did not have time to post about it.

It is a detailed account of gender discrimination in the church and seminary and leads to other issues such as whether one should expose wrong-doing in the church. Her different sites and posts dealing with the issue of when to go public are thought-provoking and insightful.

The wrong doing that most concerns me also relates to gender discrimination. However, the people most maligned are for the most part men. These are the translators of the TNIV Bible translation, which has been accused of creating a translation which allows God's image to be distorted. Or in the words of the executive director of the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, as reported on this blog,

Christians should respond by purchasing Bibles that reflect an essentially literal translation. Will we read translations that reflect the most accurate depiction of God or will we read translations that provide room for His image to be distorted? The application may be right from the text, but it is not applications or ideas that are inspired. It is words.

I guess this post has wondered a bit from one topic to another, but the issue of when and how to speak out is a tough one and deserves reflection.