Ordained Inequality: How a Quiet Movement Redefined Women’s Roles in Christianity.
Behind closed doors, a small group of leaders shaped a movement that would reach into churches, homes, and seminaries across America — redefining women’s roles for generations to come. Ordained Inequality is an investigative podcast uncovering how the rise of complementarian theology — and organizations like the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood — quietly but powerfully redrew the lines for women in Christianity. Ordained Inequality traces the origins, influence, and real-life consequences of a theology that claimed to honor women while systematically limiting their voices. This podcast peels back the polished language of “equal in value, different in role” to expose the cultural, institutional, and personal cost behind the rhetoric. This isn’t just history. It’s the story of real women — silenced, shaped, and sometimes shattered — by a movement they were told was for their good. Produced by Knotty Spies Inc. Narrated by Shannon Patterson.
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Episodes
Tuesday May 27, 2025
Tuesday May 27, 2025
What happens when theology doesn’t stay in the pulpit—but moves into the living room? In this episode, we follow complementarian doctrine from the page to the home, where “servant leadership” often translates into control, and submission becomes a spiritual mandate for silence. We examine how marriage books, sermons, and counseling models have used Scripture to justify hierarchy—and sometimes even excuse abuse. We’ll also unpack what Paul really meant in Ephesians 5, and how the gospel reframes power, not reinforces it. Because Christlike love doesn’t demand authority. It lays it down.
Tuesday Jun 03, 2025
Tuesday Jun 03, 2025
“God’s design.”
It sounds holy. But it became a leash.
In this episode, we trace how a phrase meant to honor creation became a tool to control it—shaping churches, homes, and the women inside them.
What if “God’s design” was never God’s at all?
Friday Jun 13, 2025
Friday Jun 13, 2025
When complementarian leaders tied male authority to the Trinity itself, the fallout was fierce. This episode unpacks the rise of Eternal Subordination of the Son (ESS), the theological mutiny it sparked, and what’s really at stake when power rewrites doctrine. Because if the Son is eternally subordinate… is He still fully God?