More Dissenters You Need to Know About!

In addition to the venerable list of people who featured in David Brooks’ article on The Dissenters Trying to Save Evangelicalism from Itself, I have a few other dissenters that I’d like to add to the list of American Evangelicals trying to save the movement from auto-anthropophagy (i.e., cannibalizing oneself).

Aimee Byrd. My friend and co-host of our show Birds of a Feather. Once upon a time, Aimee had a voice in the Reformed evangelical world, but she kicked over a hornet’s nest when she complained about using the Trinity to bolster male authority in marriage and questioned whether “biblical manhood and womanhood” was either biblical or benevolent. So she got ejected like a Reggae Band at a GOP Rally. Aimee remains committed to discipleship for laypeople, esp. laywomen in the church, and she is trying to reset the way we think about men and women together as partners in the faith.

Esau McCaulley. Esau McCaulley is an Anglican priest and assistant professor of New Testament at Wheaton College. His first book Sharing in the Son’s Inheritance was published by T & T Clark in 2019. His second book Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope was published by IVP academic in 2020 and is rich in insights for the broader white church. Esau is also a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. Esau brings piety and sanity to discussions about race relations in the US context. He has a great video series coming out soon with N.T. Wright on Ethnicity, Justice, and the People of God.

Jarvis Williams. Jarvis J. Williams is a terrific Pauline scholar and is an associate professor at SBTS. Jarvis has published popular books and articles on race, racism, and reconciliation, most notable is, Redemptive Kingdom Diversity: A Biblical Theology of the People of God (Baker Academic, September 2021). Jarvis is proof that some folks with conservative views of Scripture and gender are still concerned about finding a more biblical approach to racial reconciliation.

Lynn Cohick. Prof. Lynn Cohick, another good friend of mine, is Provost and Dean at Northern Seminary. She has published several biblical commentaries and written on women in the ancient world, including, women in the early church. All of us Aussies cannot get enough of Lynn! All her stuff on women in the early church is great. Make sure you check out her commentary on Ephesians. You can also listen to Lynn on The Alabaster Jar podcast.

Okay, that’s four more, who else did I miss?