The more that I consider this quote from Voddie Baucham, the more I am amazed at his unfounded claim regarding my apologetics workshop, “The Development and Practice of Patriarchy: Cure for Cultural Decline or New Gnostic Disease,” that I presented in early March, 2008.
This, coupled with the release of Family Driven Faith,and planting Grace Family Baptist Church, set off a chain of SBC events that would culminate in the SBTC Youth Ministry Forum, and (some would argue) the recent “Patriarchy” rant at xxxxxxxxx Seminary by Cynthia Kunsman. [Blog host note: Link to the complete video HERE.]
Just to be abundantly clear about the content of my workshop and to be certain that I’d not forgotten any material that may have referenced Voddie Baucham or his book, I just completed a more extensive review of the transcript of the workshop itself, the powerpoint presentation and the bibliography. My findings are detailed below for anyone so interested.
Baucham's name appears nowhere in the materials for this workshop, his name and his book are never mentioned in the presentation, and neither he nor his book are included in the bibliography at all. I had not even seen the book quoted prior to the workshop, so how could I reference it?
If my workshop was a reaction to his book, why is his name not even mentioned? If anything, my workshop was a reaction to Doug Phillips childish behavior that culminated in 2003 from within primarily Presbyterian circles, not Baptist ones. Visit the patriarchy timeline that I also included with the lecture handout that I distributed to those in attendance at the workshop. Baucham’s book is not listed there, either.
I'd never heard of Baucham until I was well into preparation of the workshop, trying to figure out how I would fit an encyclopedia of information into the timeframe. Though I did watch “The Return of the Daughters" video in either late October or early November of 2007 and even commented on my husband’s strong, negative reaction to what he described as Voddie Baucham’s attitude of property ownership regarding his daughter HERE, I never so much as read a quote from or content related reference to his book “Family Driven Faith” until I ordered my own copy in September of 2008. Here’s the record of my Amazon book order.
I did visit Baucham’s website after viewing the Botkin’s video, specifically because my husband wanted to know who he was. The Botkin sisters introduced him as a quite notable and famous apologist, and since it was the first time that either of us had ever heard of him, I checked his website to look at his CV/bio or whatever he has posted on his website. I read no content there at all and did not revisit the site until I was asked to do so in August or September of 2008. I only ordered his book because I started writing more about the Family Integrated Church (FIC), and I had someone contact me, specifically asking me to comment on an Mp3 download of one of Baucham’s FIC elitist sermons on his site.I would also like to add that I was never coached at any point during the development process of preparing my patriarchy “rant.” Perhaps I should have allowed the SBC to coach me and I could have avoided later abuse from the SBC who strong-armed the apologetics organization, communicating to me that I’d threatened the employment of a seminary president.
If anyone is that interested, I’ve detailed the process I went through, noting the significant timing concerning the development of the lecture. I’ve also pulled every name that I referenced during the talk, both from the transcript and the powerpoint presentation. Many of those affiliated with Vision Forum are listed, but Baucham’s name does not appear among them. I would have been happy to have included his work as well as that of R. C. Sproul, Jr., but there was so much other material from Vision Forum itself that I had neither time nor opportunity to include Baucham’s work (other than the aforementioned video) as a reference. He was not a consideration, as the FIC concept was well established before most people had ever heard of Baucham.
Lecture Preparation Process
I did not need Voddie Baucham’s book to inspire the negative opinion I hold concerning the spiritually abusive doctrines and practices of Doug Phillips, the FIC and many others affiliated with Vision Forum. I lived in San Antonio for seven years, arriving there just a few months prior to Doug Phillips. I attended the same church that he did, Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church, for a few years prior to the founding his own church. When he did finally declare his Sunday morning “homeschool support meetings” to be a formal church, several families and my peers at Grace OPC left to attend Phillips’ Boerne Christian Assembly. I held quite strong opinions about patriarchy and the elitist religion of homeschooling for almost a decade prior to the publishing of the Baucham book. Three years and a few months prior to the publishing of his book, my own evaluation of this cultic form of Christianity was published.
I was invited to present a workshop on Vision Forum’s style of patriarchy in June of 2007. I turned in an outline and an early bibliography to the apologetics organization two months later, and it was reviewed by three board members. The first version of my powerpoint presentation (which incidently contained the names of Bruce Ware, Russell Moore and CBMW) was reviewed by the group in August. The presentation was reviewed by more than ten people, including many Calvinists, pastors and apologetics ministries. I also contacted two Reformed ministries by phone (they did not have time to do a full review) to inquire about my approach to the Federal Vision material. In late August of 2007, I prepared a summary of the first chapter of Kevin Giles book, “Jesus and the Father,” sending it to the apologetics organization and several ministers that I respect to inquire whether they believed it to be a cogent resource and reference.
In February of 2008, I contacted the apologetics organization to inquire about certain sensitive elements of the talk including the possible exclusion of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary faculty names, the term “emotional incest” and thought reform theory of Robert Lifton. I was told that if the information was well documented and properly approached/defined, it could and should be included.
Summary of Persons and Organizations
Cited in Presentation Content
(See online bibliography also.)
Influences on Patriarchy
Calvinism (not as an example of cultic doctrine itself)
Mark Noll, Janet Fishburn & Steven Kellior
William Techumseh Sherman & Ulysses S. Grant
Stan Gundry & John R. Rice
Steve Wilkins & Doug Wilson
Robert Lewis Dabney, Doug Phillips & Vision Forum
Benjamin Morgan Palmer
Kevin Giles
Federal Visionists & James Jordan
Bill Gothard
Robert Lifton
CBMW, Vision Forum, the Botkins & Stacy McDonald
Nathaniel Darnell’s blog (VF intern)
Basic Beliefs of Patriarchy
Bruce Ware, Denny Burk, SBTS & ETS
Wayne Grudem, Calvin & Turretin
Russell Moore
Phillip Lancaster
Pelagius
John MacArthur
James McDonald
David B. Hart
Doctrines and Practices within Patriarchy
Michael Kruse & Aristotle (“Book 1 of Politics”)
HSLDA & Scott Brown
Jonathan Lindvall
Don Veinot
Implications of Patriarchy
Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International
Paul Martin, Jeff VanVonderan, Pia Mellody & Robin Phillips
Bessel Van der Kolk & Daniel Amen
.
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