Brown, who is best known for his activism against abortion, died July 8 after a long battle with cancer. Brown served as a member of the board of reference for the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW). CBMW Executive Director David Kotter points out that Brown’s defense of unborn children grew out of his view of men and women as being created in the image of God.

"We rejoice that Harold O.J. Brown has gone to see the face of his beloved Savior, celebrate his enduring legacy of biblical engagement of the prevailing culture, and feel a deep sense of loss at the passing of a towering complementarian intellectual," Kotter said.

"Brown's defense of unborn children and care for women in crisis is widely known and continues to grow in effectiveness. We must remember that this work flowed naturally from his understanding of God's beautiful design of men and women."

Brown served as a professor as well as a mentor to many at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Reformed Theological Seminary. He was an ordained Congregationalist pastor and a prolific evangelical writer.

He authored numerous books, including The Protest of a Troubled Protestant, Christianity and the Class Struggle, Death Before Birth, The Reconstruction of the Republic and Heresies: The Image of Christ in the Mirror of Heresy and Orthodoxy from the Apostles to the Present, among many others.

Mike Kruger, academic dean of Reformed Theological Seminary, told Christianity Today that Brown was "one of the brightest thinkers that this generation of Christians has seen. He has been a monumental influence over the last 30 years in American evangelicalism."

After earning four degrees from Harvard University and Harvard Divinity School in biochemistry and church history, Brown pursued further education in Europe.

"His legacy will be felt not just in the broader public he's met, but [also through] the people he's trained to be the next generation of Christian leaders," said Kruger.

Kotter recalled a personal encounter with Brown during his time as a student at Trinity that demonstrated the veteran theologian’s warm, pastoral heart.

"I was studying over lunch in an empty cafeteria just a few days before Christmas," Kotter said. "Hearing the rattle of silverware on a tray, I looked up to see Harold O.J. Brown, clad in an ancient Harvard Crimson sweatshirt, approaching my isolated table. He asked for permission to join me, though we had never met personally before.

"As I shifted my attention from studying to eating, he gently and pastorally asked me questions about my studies, plans and relationship with God. Everything that he said was both intriguing and encouraging. It is amazing that of all the important scholarly topics he was qualified to discuss, he chose to focus his attention on individual people. For one day many years ago, I was that person and will never forget encountering the heart of Dr. Brown."

Brown is the second death in the past few weeks of a prominent evangelical leader who was clear in his complementarian convictions; Jerry Falwell, who died May 15, also served on CBMW’s board of reference.

"With the recent loss of Jerry Falwell and Harold OJ Brown, both members of the Board of Reference of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, we sense an urgent call for scholars and pastors to take on this mantle and continue engaging our culture with the truth of God's Word about manhood and womanhood," Kotter said.

To read more about Brown’s contribution to evangelicalism in general and to the pro-life movement in particular, please see CT’s article.

Gender-News: How did you first become aware of the gender debate within evangelicalism and at what point did you begin to think about translating some basic complementarian works into Arabic?

Yohanna Katanacho: Dr. Wayne Grudem taught me when I was a student at Trinity International University (1996-1999) in the master of divinity program. His clear and prayerful teaching inspired me in more than one way. I was very impressed with his prayerful attitude and humility. He used to close his eyes and lift up a quick prayer before answering any question.

I tried to know Dr. Grudem better and explore the reasons behind his passion for supporting the complementarian position and not the egalitarian one. The more I knew him the more I liked the idea of making his works available in Arabic. I expressed my feelings to Dr. Grudem who insightfully perceived that this is part of God’s plan for my life. Then he asked me to translate the Danvers Statement and the second chapter of Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood ("Fifty Crucial Questions").

GN: Have you translated other theological works?

Katanacho: After finishing the translation and making it available to Arab speakers, I was asked to participate in translating Dr. Grudem’s Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Now I gladly use the translated works in teaching undergraduates at Bethlehem Bible College.

GN: How is the gender issue perceived and debated in the Arab-speaking world as opposed to the way it is perceived and debated in the West?

Katanacho: It is worth noting that in the Arab world the issues are different. While Dr. Grudem affirms the complementarian position in a context that has an egalitarian perspective, we in the Arab world aver the same biblical position in an Islamic context. Radical Islam has marginalized women and oppressed them. Within my cultural conceptual grid, the complementarian biblical position is a liberating force! Interestingly, in one of my classes, a prominent Arab Israeli pastor accepted the complementarian teaching and as a result decided to help the women in his church to serve the Lord more effectively. He decided to get them involved in playing musical instruments and participating in leading the worship as well as making sure that they are involved in serving God.

GN: In what way do you hope to see God use the Arabic translation of the Danvers Statement and 50 Crucial Questions?

Katanacho: The global church has to take into consideration the Islamic world, [which includes] more than one billion people. The complementarian biblical position in the western world is considered conservative. In the Islamic world we consider the same position as therapeutic and invigorating. Muslim women who convert to Christianity see it as just. Most Arab Christians as well as Muslim followers of Christ perceive it as the only acceptable alternative. The pertinent Arabic translation can contribute to impacting the progress of the Kingdom of God among our beloved brothers and sisters in the Islamic world. No doubt, more works are needed and I pray that the one who started a good work will produce many more good works.

View the Arabic translation of the Danvers Statement.

View the Arabic edition of 50 Crucial Questions.

The board of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) recently appointed church leader and former businessman David Kotter as the organization’s new executive director.

Randy Stinson, who has served as executive director of CBMW since 2000, will continue as president of the organization and will maintain its vision. Last August, Stinson was appointed dean of the School of Leadership and Church Ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

"David Kotter’s life experiences, gifts, and skills, are providentially suited for his new role with CBMW," Stinson said. "I have spent many hours with him and his family and can attest to the fact that he will bring godly leadership and credibility to this organization.

"I am confident that his business background coupled with his pastor’s heart is exactly what CBMW needs to increase our effectiveness and broaden our rapidly growing influence."

Kotter received an engineering degree from the University of Illinois in 1987 and an MBA in 1989, and master of divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 1999 and a master of arts degrees in New Testament from Trinity in 2000.

From 1984-1989, Kotter worked as a financial specialist for the Ford Motor Company, and from 1994-1996, he was finance director for Cadiz Electronica in Cadiz, Spain, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford.

From 1999 to the present, Kotter has served as pastor of discipleship ministries at CrossWay Community Church in Bristol, Wis., a church he helped plant. At CrossWay Church, Kotter oversees men’s and women’s ministries, biblical counseling and small groups. Periodically, he also preaches and teaches in the church.

Kotter says he graduated from seminary in 1999 with the intent of remaining in full-time ministry in a local church setting for the rest of his life, but God had different plans. Biblical teaching on gender at CrossWay Church over the years opened Kotter’s eyes to the critical nature of the issue and prepared him to consider the CBMW position.

"I also saw the tragic effects of people who were not informed on biblical manhood and womanhood, and the effects it had had in their lives whether married or single," he said. "I can see how God prepared me for this position over many years."

The gender issue is one that has its most profound impact—both positive and negative—at the level of the local church, Kotter points out. Encouraging pastors while keeping an active hand in biblical scholarship continue to be CBMW’s primary tasks, he said.

"It seems to me there are new fronts that need to be advanced. There are many areas of opportunity related to strengthening pastors who might be complementarians, yet they have churches that are significantly influenced by an egalitarian culture," he said. "We want to strengthen that pastor’s hand and give him the resources for clear biblical teaching. We also want to encourage him to invest in his associate pastor or successor to equip the next generation of church leaders.

"I also want to see a new generation of young scholars who will take up this standard, because CBMW Council members have carried it for decades, but unless we see some strong scholars emerge who are in their thirties and forties, it will be difficult to teach persuasively on biblical truths on gender and respond to the ongoing challenges to male leadership in the church."

Kotter says the health of families is a major factor in play in the gender debate. Kotter and his wife Ana have three children, Joshua, Caleb and Lydia.

"The consequences for families of unclear or unbiblical teaching on this issue are painful and can last for generations," he said.

Even more fundamentally, the purity of the Gospel as it is depicted by the home and the church and the authority of Scripture are at stake in the gender debate, he said.

"At the core of this is the authority of God’s Word," Kotter said. "Is there propositional truth in Paul’s epistles? The authority of the Word is critically important. This authority is undermined when we don’t get the gender issue right in the home or in the church.

"Further, Jesus Christ eternally submits to the Father, and he is also the Head and Savior of the church. Therefore, it is worth the effort to represent Christ well in the church and home through joyful, intelligent submission and loving, sacrificial headship."

Like other debates throughout church history, the gender issue is one that may be resolved by fidelity to the Scripture, Kotter said. He describes CBMW as "a service organization helping churches to bring the truth of God’s Word to bear on issues of gender," and says that once the gender issue is settled, there will be no more need for CBMW.

"This issue is one of a spot or a wrinkle on the bride of Christ that is being worked out of the church. There are many controversies like this in the history of the church that are not being argued any more. They have been resolved," Kotter said.

"I would love to be the last executive director and see this issue resolved in the church. Obviously, that is in God’s hands. But I think it is important at CBMW to have the mindset that we are here to serve the church by solving a specific problem and when that problem is solved—and it will be whether in my lifetime or a successor’s lifetime—and the church will be presented to Jesus Christ, holy and without blemish, a perfect bride."

In a guest editorial, Russell D. Moore opens the JBMW with an article provocatively titled, "O.J. Simpson Is Not a Complementarian: Male Headship and Violence against Women." After defining male headship, Moore calls on the church to hold the line on church discipline against wife beaters. Moore is dean of the School of Theology and senior vice president for academic administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

"Male violence against women and children is a real problem n our culture—and in our churches," he writes. "Our first responsibility is not just at the level of social justice but at the level of ecclesial justice. We must teach from our pulpits, our Sunday school classes, and our Vacation Bible Schools that women are to be cherished, honored, and protected by men.

"Church discipline against wife beaters must be clear and consistent. We must also stand with women against predatory men in areas of abandonment, divorce, and neglect. We must train up men, through godly mentoring as well as through biblical instruction, who will know that the model of a husband is a man who crucifies his selfish materialism, his libidinal fantasies, and his wrathful temper tantrums in order to care lovingly for a wife."

Jason Hall gives a thorough review to egalitarian scholar Kevin Giles’ book Jesus and the Father: Modern Evangelicals Reinvent the Doctrine of the Trinity. Giles’ 2002 work, published by InterVarsity Press, argues that arguments in favor of the eternal subordination of Jesus Christ the Son to God the Father, is akin to the Arian heresy.

Hall shows that Giles understates the nature of the Arian heresy in applying it to contemporary arguments, made by many complementarians, that there exists an asymmetrical relationship between the Father and Son within the Godhead. Hall serves as director of communications at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C.

"Giles believes that the most fundamental characteristic of an Arian is one who subordinates the Son in role, authority and being," Hall writes. "This (view) betrays a stilted view of Arianism that is rhetorically designed to advance his book’s argument, rather than designed to be most true to historical theology. The most fundamental characteristic of the Arian heresy, the one that the Nicene Creed was crafted to dismiss, is the notion that the Son is a creature and therefore unlike the Divine Father in substantial ways."

The journal includes several other articles and an annotated bibliography for Gender-related articles published in 2006. Other essayists include Bruce Ashford ("Worldview, Anthropology, and Gender: A Call to Broaden the Parameters of the Discussion"), Wayne Walden ("Ephesians 5:21 in Translation"), P.G. Nelson ("Inscription to a High Priestess at Ephesus"), Robert Bjerkaas ("And Adam Called His Wife’s Name Eve: A Study in Authentic Biblical Manhood") and Andrew M. Davis ("Fathers and Sons in Deuteronomy 6: An Essential Link in Redemptive History").

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