Catherine Clark Kroeger

Catherine Clark Kroeger (December 12, 1925 – February 14, 2011) was an American writer, professor, New Testament scholar, and a leading figure within the biblical egalitarian movement. She founded the worldwide organization Christians for Biblical Equality (CBE), and its papers are housed at her family home. As a speaker, Kroeger traveled the globe opposing violence and the abuse of women, while also advancing the biblical basis for the shared leadership and authority of males and females.

Personal life Born Catherine Clark, daughter of Homer and Elizabeth Clark, in St. Paul, Minnesota, she graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1947. Then she earned an MA and a PhD in Classical Studies from the University of Minnesota. She was married to her husband of 60 years, Richard Clark Kroeger Jr., a Presbyterian pastor. They served together in ten pastorates in five states. In their latter years they resided on Cape Cod in Brewster, Massachusetts. Richard Clark Kroeger Jr. died 9 November 2010, Catherine Clark Kroeger on 14 February 2011.

Leadership Besides having founded Christians for Biblical Equality, she established Peace and Safety in the Christian Home (PASCH) For a quarter of a century she maintained strong links with scholars in the UK, collaborating with Elaine Storkey and Mary Evans, and was much sought after as a speaker at British conventions.

Teaching Kroeger's scholarly interests included women in ancient religion, human sexuality and biblical mandate, women of the Bible, women in the early church, Africans in the Bible and early church, Christian response to domestic abuse and the social world of the early church. She led many study tours into ancient world locations that still contain evidence of the active role of women in the early church. These included explorations of the catacombs, edifices, stone inscriptions, and other relics which she saw as evidence that in the early post-Resurrection era, the Christian church's respect and trust for women far exceeded their ecclesiastical status in later centuries, including the present.

Beginning in 1990, Kroeger became a ranked adjunct professor of classical and ministry studies at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary where she taught courses and mentored students and candidates for graduate degrees. She also served as Protestant chaplain and lecturer in the Department of Religion at Hamilton College. Citing Grudem, Marvin Hunn of Dallas Theological Seminary uses Kroeger as an example of "Bad Research Method," specifically of "extensive inaccuracy, perhaps dishonesty." Albert Wolters, in a review of the Kroeger's book I Suffer Not A Woman notes that the "book is precisely the sort of thing that has too often given evangelical scholarship a bad name." He claims that the Kroeger's put their claims in a popular-level book in order to avoid the scrutiny of scholars and concludes that "its argumentation is a travesty of sound scholarship."

Publications She authored, co-authored or edited thirteen books, including The IVP Women's Bible Commentary.

Study Bible for Women, (Oxford University Press, Refugio del Abuso: Sandidad y Esperanza Para Mujeres Abusadas (with Nancy Nason-Clark; Grace Nelson, 2005) Refuge From Abuse: Hope and Healing for the Abused Christian Woman (with Nancy Nason-Clark; InterVarsity Press, 2004); Also available in Portuguese IVPress Women's Bible Commentary, (Downers Grove, 2002) No Place for Abuse: Biblical and Practical Resources to Counteract Domestic Violence (with Nancy Nason-Clark; InterVarsity Press, 2001, 2010) Healing the Hurting: Giving Hope and Help to Abused Women (with James R. Beck; Baker Books, 1998) Women, Abuse, and the Bible: How Scripture Can Be Used to Hurt or to Heal (with James R. Beck; Baker Books, 1996) The Goddess Revival, cowritten with Aida Besançon Spencer, Donna F. G. Hailson and William David Spencer (Baker, 1995) The Goddess Revival was a 1996 Christianity Today Book Award winner I Suffer Not a Woman: Rethinking 1 Timothy 2:11-15 in Light of Ancient Evidence (with Richard Clark Kroeger; Baker Book House, 1992) NRSV Study Bible for Women New Testament, co-authored with Elaine Storkey and Mary Evans (Baker Books, 1985) "Does Belief in Women's Equality Lead to an Acceptance of Homosexual Practice?" Priscilla Papers, Spring 2004 "Pandemonium and Silence at Corinth" (with Richard Kroeger),The Reformed Journal, June 1978 The Women's Study Bible (ed.) Oxford University Press, USA (September 15, 2009) 0195291255 Beyond Abuse in the Christian Home: Raising Voices for Change (ed.), Nancy Nason-Clark & Barbara Fisher-Townsend. Wipf & Stock, 2008. 978-1556350863