Men, Women and God

Men, Women and God (MWG) was founded in the United Kingdom in 1984 in order to study and promote gender equality from a Christian perspective.^[1]

It arose out of a perceived need to encourage women to recognise and develop their gifts within the church and the wider society. It was launched with a conference in London in October 1985, sponsored by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity and the Evangelical Alliance and attended by 450 people. Kathy Keay was the conference organiser and founder member and the Revd John Stott, emeritus rector of All Souls Church, acted as the conference host. Simultaneously launched was the book What's Right with Feminism written by the keynote speaker Elaine Storkey, philosopher and social theologian.^[2]

The organisation's first publication Men, Women and God, edited by Kathy Keay, became key study material for a network of groups in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. An analysis of biblical passages in Woman in the Bible by Hebrew Scholar, Mary Evans was also pivotal. Two years later, an American branch of the organisation was established under the leadership of two theologians, Catherine Clark Kroeger and Gretchen Gabelein Hull. In 1988 this formally organised into a North American group, Christians for Biblical Equality, which has drawn together many evangelical scholars. Annual conferences attract theologians, psychologists and laypeople from across the United States. The group engages in research and in active campaigning for women's leadership within the church and society. The main ongoing publication for both CBE is the Priscilla Papers which now has a global readership and has won many awards.^{[citation needed]} The newsletter for MWG is Split Image. Catherine Kroeger, Mary Evans and Elaine Storkey worked together to edit the Women's Study New Testament. Kroeger and Evans later co-authored the Women's Study Bible. CBE and MWG came together to host an international conference in Durham, England in 2004. At this time a deepening concern to galvanise the church against issues of domestic violence led to the establishment in 2005 of a new initiative, Peace and Safety in the Christian Home (PASCHE), by Catherine Clark Kroeger. Men, Women and God has continued to work in the United Kingdom in conjunction with other Christian organisations which focus on gender equality, including those campaigning for women bishops in the Church of England.

References

1. ^ Men, Women and God website
2. ^ Elaine Storkey's website