King James's Version

"Now," he says, "I'm hearing from the other side. And I say, 'Where were you when we needed you?' We had just wanted to be gender-accurate."

Alexander-Moegerle says he's appalled that anyone would object to such things as changing "brothers" to "brothers and sisters," especially if the original Greek and Hebrew words were themselves inclusive.

"It is so benign, so harmless," he says, "and for Dobson to go off the deep end, well, we see the power play, the arrogance. It's all on display."

Now people in the academic world are speaking out in defense of the translators. Aida Besançon Spencer, a professor of New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, blasted Dobson in a recent article titled "Power Play" in Christian Century, a liberal Christian magazine. "It appears," she wrote, "that the hidden agenda [of Dobson's May meeting] was to enable a certain type of men to 'lord it over' others. How could some Christians have the breathtaking arrogance, not to mention the power, to require other Christian organizations to publish only their point of view?"

Describing herself as a "biblical feminist," Spencer speculates that Dobson and his allies may be driven by feelings of "inadequacy" as men. "And it's also fear," she says. "There are lots of things happening in society, a lot of changes. They're picking a group as the scapegoat. I guess they've picked feminists."

A question still nagging at the Christian world is exactly who has an "agenda" in this dispute. Dobson accused the translators of having one. But Rubingh, asked whether it appears that it's really Dobson's forces, not the translators, who have an agenda, replies, "That's your statement, but I'm not going to deny it. They certainly do have an agenda."

Alexander-Moegerle says Dobson's actions come as no surprise to him. Dobson has always been a sexist, he says, pointing to several examples in his recent book James Dobson's War on America. He recalls Dobson telling him, "Don't breathe that feminist stuff too deeply."

But it all may backfire on Dobson.
"Mark Taylor is his friend," says Alexander-Moegerle, "and it's significant for him to say he feels 'bullied.' And Christianity Today--those people are his friends. This may be the beginning of a major earthquake under Jim's feet in his own community."

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