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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Leaders in the United Methodist Church apparently have no problem with a transgender pastor leading one of their congregations, and in fact, they applauded the pastor's bravery in charting new territory within the denomination.

About a year ago, the female pastor of St. John's United Methodist Church in Baltimore changed her name from Ann Gordon to Drew Phoenix, had a sex change operation and proceeded with hormone treatments. On May 25, Phoenix was reappointed to another term as pastor of the congregation.

"The gender I was assigned at birth has never matched my own true authentic God-given gender identity, how I know myself," Phoenix, 48, said, according to The Baltimore Sun. "Fortunately today God's gift of medical science is enabling me to bring my physical body in alignment with my true gender."

At the annual gathering of the Baltimore-Washington Conference where Phoenix's reappointment was announced, the pastor reportedly received a standing ovation from fellow Methodists, and he/she said he hoped his situation would spark conversation about sexual identity so that younger clergy who come after him would have an easier time voicing their identity issues.

Phoenix's congregation is part of the Reconciling Ministries Network, which seeks the inclusion of all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, according to The Sun, and the 50-member church has seen an increase in attendance and financial donations since Phoenix/Gordon became pastor five years ago.

United Methodists as a denomination do not permit non-celibate homosexual clergy, but their Book of Discipline does not mention transgender people. Mark Tooley, director of United Methodist Action, a conservative group affiliated with the Institute on Religion and Democracy, said the decision to approve a transgender pastor "sets a troubling precedent."

"Once again, liberal church elites, presiding over dwindling churches, are making decisions without regard for historic Christian teaching or a wider consensus among the church's membership," Tooley said in a news release May 25. "Rev. Phoenix merits compassion for a lifelong struggle over gender identity issues, as related at the conference. But the church helps no one when it fails to faithfully transmit the Gospel of hope and transformation."

Tooley also said gender is intrinsically linked to God's order of creation as described in Genesis.

"The God whom we worship knew us as male or female before He created us. Gender is not a choice but a reality," he said.

During the annual conference in Washington, some ministers asked for a "ruling of law," which automatically refers the issue to the Judicial Court, the denomination's highest legal authority, which meets in October and will decide whether transgender people are eligible for appointment as pastors.

United Methodist Action plans to introduce legislation on the topic at the Methodist General Conference in Texas next year, according to The Washington Times.

"We hope The United Methodist Church will act, where the leadership of the Baltimore-Washington Conference has failed, by establishing clear ethical and theological guidelines about the role of gender in God's creation," Tooley said.

A Baptist church in Decatur, Ga., with ties to both the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) will call a woman as its pastor later this month, according to the church website.

The website reports that FBC will call Julie Pennington-Russell as its new pastor. Pennington-Russell presently serves as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, a position she has held since 1998.

FBC of Decatur is affiliated with both the SBC and CBF, but this latest move demonstrates that the congregation holds theological views that are decidedly in step with the moderate CBF. The CBF is a quasi-denominational splinter group of moderates that have left the SBC in recent years in light of the denomination’s conservative resurgence.

In 2000, the SBC revised its confession of faith, The Baptist Faith and Message, to affirm the traditional, biblical teaching on gender roles in the home and church. R. Albert Mohler Jr., who serves as a board member for The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW), points out in a commentary on Pennington-Russell’s call to Decatur, that the Southern Baptist Convention is a decidedly complementarian denomination.

Mohler, who serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., was one of the architects of the revised confession of faith.

“The Southern Baptist Convention has made its convictions on the issue clear. The adoption of the revised edition of The Baptist Faith & Message in 2000 elevates the issue to confessional status,” Mohler writes.

“This is a natural consequence of the denomination's commitment to biblical inerrancy. The Bible clearly calls for male leadership in the church -- and particularly in the pulpit. Southern Baptists have chosen to affirm a complementarian understanding of gender roles and leadership, seeing these principles as clearly set forth in the Bible.

“The culture is on the side of those who support women pastors. We live in an egalitarian age. At the same time, that support seems to be more about talk than action. Until this development in Decatur, no historic moderate church affiliated with the SBC had called a woman as pastor.”

In a brief listing of its core beliefs, FBC Decatur makes clear its position on women in the ministry: “We accept women and men as equally called of God for ministry as laity and clergy.”

The 141-year old Atlanta area congregation touts itself “different from many Baptist churches” in that it is non-confessional and accepts diverse theological viewpoints: “We acknowledge the Bible as our guide for faith and practice but reject any creedal statement of belief as necessary for our basis of authority, fellowship, and common spiritual life.” The church allows members to designate financial support for either SBC or CBF causes.

Mohler points out that Pennington-Russell’s call to the Decatur pulpit is both an historical moment and a clear statement by the church despite claims to the contrary.

“…the church claimed that the move was not a way of ‘making a statement,’ Mohler writes.

“That claim will not hold up. The church points to the proposed pastor's qualifications and gifts, but if the church's pastor search committee had chosen a man as their proposed candidate, the development would not have received nationwide news coverage. The church is making a statement.”

View FBC Decatur’s full announcement.

See additional analysis by Mohler on this development.