Aimee Byrd has been unceremoniously dumped from her gig at the Mortification of Spin, a podcast she co-hosted with Carl Trueman and Todd Pruitt, and expunged from the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals due to a dissatisfaction with her polemical publications.
Cracks surfaced between and her and the pack of Presbyterians after she published her book Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, which was criticized by many in reformed circles and in her own denomination, in part, as offering some helpful critiques while also promoting egalitarianish theology. This after she drew raised eyebrows on her previous book “Why Can’t We Be Friends? Avoidance Is Not Purity” was enough for other presbies to give her the squinty eye and for the board to put her on notice.
In a move that’s passive-aggressive even by OPC standards, the Board of Directors posted nine questions on their website by anonymous, unnamed concerned citizens that they wished for her to clarify, such as these three among others:
- Is there such a thing as biblical masculinity and biblical femininity? In what sense are these different?
- What does natural law or natural theology teach us (if anything) about the inherent ontological differences between men and women as those differences relate to authority and submission? If so, how might that affect our understanding of male and female roles in the church and society (apart from the limited question of ordination)?
- Given your consistent rebuttal of Biblicism in the book, what evidence or example in the mainstream historic tradition of the reformed church supports your conclusions about women teaching men in church settings?
Aimee responded in writing, choosing to answer one question, got some weird vibes from the shady behavior of the Reformation 21 peeps, and then declined to answer the rest given the anonymity of it all, pointing them instead to her book. Here she alleges most answers were contained, but also noted that the book itself was written to be narrow in scope and not answer off-topic queries and so did she not view the questions as particularly helpful or relevant.
In describing the end days she writes:
“During this time, I was informed by our producer that she was notified not to book new recordings at this time and that they will be airing reruns of the Mortification of Spin. Then I noticed that they’ve discontinued my credentials to log in to post blog articles. While no reference was made to my future participation in the podcast, I later received an email from the Director in which they thanked me for the work I contributed for them and said that they “will strive to be gracious upon my exit.” Technically, ACE has related to me as an independent contractor. That’s all I really know. “
After her neck was yanked by the proverbial hook, she was contacted by arch-egalitarian Scot Mcknight, further proof that she’s not trying to bring down the house on complementarianism, and was given a platform to briefly tell her side of the story and outline what went down. She also used the exposure to inform any readers she’s gone back to independent blogging, and that those sympathetic to her plight or wanting to learn more can check her out at her website.
