Women Excluded
Wherever offices of power and authority in the Church traditionally open only to men become open to women, it is not women, simpliciter, that come into view. It is not the Christian women, who sit, like Mary of Bethany, at the feet of Christ; it is not my solid, sensible Christian goodwife or the daughters she bore me in her image, that such liberations have in view, but a very different kind of woman, even if they do not explicitly seek to offend.
“Women” in general are always claimed to be the beneficiaries of this advancement, but that is manifest nonsense: it is only a particular kind of woman for whom such rule-changes open doors—the kind who are interested in having these doors opened for them, the kind who believe the power and authority once exclusively male will now become available to them as a matter of justice so that they may rule where once they served, the kind who believe these things are their right as the equals of men in all things that pertain to the offices of ministry. In grasping this equality, they leave behind all women who do not share their ambition to speak with the authority once viewed as peculiar to called-out men, putting them in the class of the not-fully-women, just as their secular counterparts do.
S. M. Hutchens is a Touchstone senior editor.
• Not a subscriber or wish to renew your subscription? Subscribe to Touchstone today for full online access. Over 30 years of publishing!
personal subscriptions
Purchase Print &
Online Subscription

Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
gift subscriptions
GIVE Print &
Online Subscription

Give six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for the reduced rate of $29.95. That's only $2.50 per month!
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
kindle subscription
OR get a subscription to Touchstone to read on your Kindle for only $1.99 per month! (This option is KINDLE ONLY and does not include either print or online.)
Your subscription goes a long way to ensure that Touchstone is able to continue its mission of publishing quality Christian articles and commentary.
more on Feminism from the online archives
more from the online archives
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor