By Kathy L. Gilbert
The Flyer, January March 2009, Volume 40, Number 1
General Commission on the Status and Role of Women in The United Methodist Church
In less than 10 years, women have been called to the helm at five UM seminaries. What impact will their presence have on training clergy leaders?
Five women who lead United Methodist-related seminaries are making giant leaps in dismantling the “sin of sexism” and educating men and women for faithful leadership in the world and the church.
Women have slowly emerged as leaders in seminary education in The United Methodist Church. Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, now retired, was named dean of Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C., in 1983. Maxine Beach was named dean of Drew Theological School, Madison, N.J., in 2000. Mary Elizabeth Moore became the fifth woman to head a United Methodist seminary when she became dean of Boston University in January 2009.
Each of these women say United Methodist seminaries are making strides in recruiting and equipping women, but they also pointed to challenges yet to be overcome.
“When God calls you to this ministry, either you respond favorably to God or you don’t,” says Wendy J. Deichmann Edwards, who last October became the first woman president of United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio. “If you say yes, you have to trust that God will make it possible to address the challenges specific to women, in the role of presidency.”
Her being named the first woman president of a free-standing United Methodist seminary (i.e., not aligned with a larger university) signals a step forward in “dismantling the institutional and social sin of sexism,” Edwards adds.
“Female leaders in the pulpit, ecumenical arenas and the academy are becoming more common, but women still constitute a significant minority of top educational leaders,” according to Jan Love, dean of the Candler School of Theology.
Beach of Drew Theological School says that not all seminaries are prepared for women as students and leaders.
“There are still concerns about whether women can raise money and if they are strong enough to make the hard decisions,” she admits. “The United Methodist Church’s seminaries have been way behind in hiring women to run their schools.”
Unique Gifts
Still, unlike many faith groups around the world, The United Methodist church understands, appreciates and affirms that God calls women to ministry, says Love.
“As United Methodists, we need to realize that we are in a small minority among the entire world of the Christian faithful,” she said. “Most Christian churches in the United States and across the globe do not embrace the concerns, perspectives, gifts and talents of women.”
In 2005, Beauty Maenzanise became dean of the faculty of theology at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe. She told a gathering of United Methodist women scholars in 2006 that the challenge of the global church is to empower women in a society that just wants women to support men and that often treats women as second-class citizens. A significant part of her role, she adds, is to identify and support more women for the ordained ministry and as leaders in theological education.
Moore agrees that is an important part of her work as well. “Hidden sexism still permeates theology, church and world, [in the seminary community],” she says. “We need to realize that women are gifted human beings with much to offer.”
“As women, we will not always agree with one another or support particular positions that we each as individuals hold,” Love adds. “But that’s the fun of having a critical mass of women in leadership. We can be ourselves and exercise the fullness of our particular talents and perspectives.”
Theological education
Edwards says the purpose of seminary education is to prepare men and women for leadership and that such education should include a balance of theological and biblical knowledge, practical ministry