thirtyoneblog

So I was reading in the newspaper that Southwestern Seminary had requested that Sheri Klouda’s lawsuit against the school be dismissed, and their motion was denied yesterday. I think that judge did the right thing.

This whole issue fascinates me, and for reasons having very little to do with Baptist theology. In case you have been under a rock (or more likely, in case you have had better things to do than follow this whole saga), Sheri Klouda taught Hebrew at Southwestern until last year. At that time, she was dismissed because the new administration believed that her position was in direct contradiction to their interpretation of Scripture. Notice I said “their interpretation.” They think, as do most fundamantal Baptists, that women should not teach men in matters of theology. Whether that is right or not, I’ll save for another conversation. I have some other beefs with the whole matter.

She was hired by the same school that fired her. Why would they hire her to a tenure-track position only to dismiss her later? Am I to believe that Baptists under Paige Patterson all of a sudden believe something different than they did in 2002? Southwestern has always been very fundamentalist, very old-school Baptist. Patterson is the grandaddy of all fundamentalists, but at the same time I hardly think that he turned the seminary on its ear. Why did this all of a sudden become an issue with only one possible solution?

She came to the school to accept a well-paying, tenured position as a professor of Hebrew. Her husband is disabled and unable to work. That means she’s the breadwinner. She took this job intending on its supporting her family. They bought a house in the DFW area, a nice house commensurate with her salary. Nothing wrong with that; I don’t think that seminary professors (or pastors, or anyone else related to the ministry) must take a vow of poverty. She was fired without any severance, or any help financially. She now has a different job in a different city, to which they moved. They can’t sell the first house. Her family is in financial crisis, all because of this. That, people, is just wrong. How Christian is that, to turn your back on someone that way?

I also have to wonder that, even if in fact God intended for women not to teach men the Bible, how teaching Hebrew constitutes teaching the Bible. Hebrew is a language, not theology. It’s related in some ways, yes, but I don’t think it’s the same thing. Sheri Klouda was teaching a language, not teaching her interpretation of God’s word. That’s sort of a digression, but I have pondered this for a while now.

I would love to read the transcript of that hearing. From what I have been able to gather, the seminary made every argument under the sun for the dismissal, including separation of church and state. I fail to see the connection.

I’ll probably continue to follow this issue and see what becomes of it. People need to be held accountable. You have to pay the fiddler if you want to dance.