• Denny Burk is the President of the Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood. He joined the faculty of Boyce College in 2008, where he currently serves as Professor of Biblical Studies. He also serves as one of the preaching pastors at Kenwood Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He has written extensively about the Bible's teaching on sexuality and gender, including Male and Female He Created Them (Christian Focus, 2023), Transforming Homosexuality (P&R, 2015), and What Is the Meaning of Sex? (Crossway, 2013). He has also authored a commentary on the pastoral epistles (Crossway, 2017) and has written articles that have appeared in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Tyndale Bulletin, Bulletin for Biblical Research, and the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. He is married and has four children.

ARTICLES 52

  • The Family and Cultural Renewal Conference

    Albert Mohler, Denny Burk, and Ryan Anderson will be speaking at the Family and Cultural Renewal Conference on the campus of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. It is a short, two-hour event but will be...

    Denny Burk  /  September 11, 2025  /  CBMW  / 

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  • A Tribute to John MacArthur (1939-2025)

    “I am a Christian, therefore I am a complementarian. I believe the Bible, therefore I am a complementarian.” -John MacArthur Earlier this evening we all received the sad news that Pastor John MacArthur had passed...

    Denny Burk  /  July 15, 2025  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism, Marriage

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  • Do Egalitarians Need Safe Spaces?

    The April 2024 issue of Christianity Today includes three cover stories addressing ongoing differences between complementarians and egalitarians. Titled “Division of Labor,” the cover asks whether egalitarians and complementarians are really as opposed to one...

    Denny Burk  /  April 29, 2024  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism, Eikon

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  • Should Christians attend “gay weddings”?

    I have been writing and speaking about gender and sexuality for over decade and a half. Whenever I talk about transgenderism, one of the first practical questions I hear concerns the use of pronouns. Whenever...

    Denny Burk  /  February 1, 2024  /  CBMW  /  Homosexuality, LGBT

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  • Andy Stanley’s Version of Christianity

    I just finished listening to Pastor Andy Stanley’s Sunday morning sermon to North Point Community Church. I have to say that it is one of the most subversively anti-Christian messages that I have ever heard....

    Denny Burk  /  October 2, 2023  /  CBMW  /  Homosexuality

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  • Misunderstood Mutuality: Responding to Ronald W. Pierce and Elizabeth A. Kay, “Mutuality in Marriage and Singleness”

    Ronald Pierce and Elizabeth Kay have penned a chapter on 1 Corinthians 7:1-40 that they believe fills an important gap in the “evangelical gender debate” (108). They argue that this text is “Paul’s sweeping call”...

    Denny Burk  /  June 22, 2023  /  CBMW  /  Eikon

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  • Eikon 5.1 Editorial

      This issue of Eikon is devoted almost entirely to a chapter-by-chapter review of the third edition of Discovering Biblical Equality (DBE). Our reviews reveal that this third edition marks a significant departure from previous...

    Denny Burk  /  June 22, 2023  /  CBMW  /  Eikon

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  • Book Review: “Women and the Gender of God”

    Editor’s note: The following essay appears in the Fall 2023 issue of Eikon. Amy Peeler. Women and the Gender of God. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman Publishing Company, 2022. Feminist theologians have long wrestled with the...

    Denny Burk  /  January 18, 2023  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism, Eikon

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  • Why Nashville and Why Now?

    Editor’s note: The following essay appears in the Fall 2022 issue of Eikon. When I left the office of CBMW on the last Monday of August 2017, I did not yet know what we were...

    Denny Burk  /  November 17, 2022  /  CBMW  /  Eikon

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  • Report says Revoice Embraces Radical Gender Ideology

    When organizers announced the program for the first Revoice conference in 2018, the controversy surrounding the meeting was sharp and protracted. It was a conference appealing to so-called Side-B “gay Christians,” and it was founded...

    Denny Burk  /  October 25, 2022  /  CBMW  /  Homosexuality, LGBT, The Nashville Statement, Transgenderism

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  • The Ancient Paths Affirm Complementarian Truths

    The landmark work Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood has a gem of a chapter tracing the history of women in various ministries throughout church history. For a short essay, it covers a lot of ground....

    Denny Burk  /  July 14, 2022  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism

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  • Wise Advice About Authority in the Home and Church

    Jonathan Leeman has a really helpful article dealing with the proper use of pastoral and husbandly authority. This is really insightful stuff, and I commend it to you. There’s a Satanic version of authority and...

    Denny Burk  /  June 1, 2022  /  CBMW  /  Authority

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  • Why Christians Resist Transgender Speech-Codes

    I write this post to explain briefly why Christians are resisting the totalitarian speech codes of transgender propagandists. It’s not because we hate transgender people. On the contrary, we love them, and love always rejoices...

    Denny Burk  /  March 23, 2022  /  CBMW  /  LGBT, The Nashville Statement, Transgenderism

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  • The Difference between the Apple and the Worm

    As I have observed popular debates about complementarianism over the years, I have noticed how people often confuse what the doctrine is with other associations that have little or nothing to do with the teaching....

    Denny Burk  /  February 7, 2022  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism, Danvers

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  • Is Complementarianism a Man-Made Doctrine?

    Editor’s note: The following essay appears in the Spring 2021 issue of Eikon. In 2019, I contributed an essay to this journal titled “Mere Complementarianism.”[1] I wrote the article in part to confront an idea...

    Denny Burk  /  June 8, 2021  /  CBMW  /  Eikon

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  • Is Complementarianism a Man-Made Doctrine?

    In 2019, I wrote an essay for Eikon about “Mere Complementarianism.” I wrote the essay in part to confront an idea that seemed to be gaining traction within evangelical discussions about gender. A growing chorus...

    Denny Burk  /  April 8, 2021  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism, Danvers, LGBT

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  • PCA Report Names Sin While Not Being Named by It

    Editor’s note: The following essay appears in the Fall 2020 issue of Eikon. The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) has been facing a great deal of internal controversy over the last couple of years because...

    Denny Burk  /  November 20, 2020  /  CBMW  /  Eikon

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  • What does “act like men” mean in 1 Corinthians 16:13?

    In her new book Recovering from Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, Aimee Byrd takes me and Owen Strachan to task for our understanding of 1 Corinthians 16:13. The verse reads as follows: “Be watchful, stand firm...

    Denny Burk  /  June 10, 2020  /  CBMW  /  Eikon

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  • Polyamory and the Overton Window

    If you had asked me ten years ago whether evangelicals would ever give up ground on the issue of homosexuality, I would have said “no way!” Sure, the evangelical movement has always had its “progressive...

    Denny Burk  /  February 28, 2020  /  CBMW  /  Homosexuality, LGBT, Polyamory

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  • Engaging a Viral Interview with N. T. Wright about Women in Ministry

    A video interview with N. T. Wright recently went viral on Facebook (watch it below). In it, Wright is asked about women in ministry. It is clear that the interviewer and the audience are eager...

    Denny Burk  /  February 25, 2020  /  CBMW  /  1 Timothy 2, Complementarianism, Women in Ministry

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  • Mere Complementarianism

    I have noticed of late a growing chorus of what we might call “ex-complementarians” entering the fray of the evangelical gender debate. These folks are not identifying as egalitarians, but neither are they identifying as...

    Denny Burk  /  November 20, 2019  /  CBMW  /  Eikon

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  • Does Ephesians 5 teach mutual submission?

    “Submit to one another in the fear of Christ, wives, to your own husbands as to the Lord.” -Ephesians 5:21-22 In Ephesians 5:22-25, Paul directs wives to “submit” to their husbands, and husbands to love...

    Denny Burk  /  August 21, 2019  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism, Ephesians 5

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  • What’s in a name? The meaning and origin of “complementarianism”

    Editor’s Note: This article was originally posted at DennyBurk.com under the title, “Complementarianism? What’s in a name?” Over the last several weeks, the evangelical interwebs have been astir with debates about women preaching and complementarianism....

    Denny Burk  /  August 1, 2019  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism

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  • Introducing Eikon

    The hallmark of late modern Western culture is that it has forgotten itself. It is largely post-Christian and has not retained God in its knowledge. Failure to see God as He is means that man...

    Denny Burk  /  June 5, 2019  /  CBMW  /  Eikon

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  • Must women really keep silent in the churches?

    The interpretation of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 has proven to be more than a little controversial over the years. The reason for that is due in no small part to the clash that this text brings...

    Denny Burk  /  April 12, 2019  /  Series, Women in the Local Church  /  Complementarianism, Women in Ministry

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  • Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary adopts the Nashville Statement as a confessional standard.

    The Baptist Press reports that the Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has adopted The Nashville Statement as a confessional standard. We will have more to say about this in the near future, but for now here’s...

    Denny Burk  /  April 11, 2019  /  Nashville Statement and LGBT issues, Series  / 

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  • A Word to the Younger Women

    Editor’s Note: This post is the fourth part of a series. Previous posts include: “Men and Women in Household of God,” “A Word to the Older Men,” and “A Word to the Older Women.” Paul’s...

    Denny Burk  /  October 18, 2018  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism

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  • A Word to the Older Women

    Editor’s Note: This post is the third part of a series. Other posts can be read here: “Men and Women in Household of God,” “A Word to the Older Men,” and “A Word to the...

    Denny Burk  /  October 17, 2018  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism

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  • A Word to the Older Men

    Editor’s Note: This post is the second part of a series. Other can be read here: “Men and Women in Household of God,” “A Word to the Older Women,” and “A Word to the Younger...

    Denny Burk  /  October 16, 2018  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism

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  • Men and Women in the Household of God

    Editor’s Note: This post is an introduction to a series. Posts in this series include: “A Word to the Older Men,” “A Word to the Older Women,” “A Word to the Younger Women,” and “A...

    Denny Burk  /  October 15, 2018  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism

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  • The Nashville Statement confronts heresy, and that’s why we needed it.

    Alister McGrath defines heresy with these words, “A heresy is a failed attempt at orthodoxy, whose fault lies not in its willingness to explore possibilities or press conceptual boundaries, but in its unwillingness to accept...

    Denny Burk  /  September 10, 2018  /  Nashville Statement and LGBT issues, Series  /  Homosexuality, LGBT, The Nashville Statement, Transgenderism

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  • Symposium: Not a culture war document but a church document (Denny Burk)

    [Editor’s note: This post is part of a symposium on the one-year anniversary of the Nashville Statement, which was released by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood on August 25, 2017 after a meeting in...

    Denny Burk  /  August 28, 2018  /  Nashville Statement and LGBT issues, Series  /  The Nashville Statement

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  • A Time for Moral Clarity

    Evangelicals have been facing a moment of truth concerning abuse and misconduct in our own ranks. Recently, attention has been focused on Southwestern Seminary and its president. The controversy centers on past remarks about pastoral...

    Denny Burk  /  May 24, 2018  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism, Divorce & Remarriage

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  • A manifesto not for the world but for the church

    Mark Hemingway has a fascinating profile of Russell Moore over at The Weekly Standard. The piece focuses on the fallout among evangelicals from the 2016 election, but he includes a small bit about The Nashville...

    Denny Burk  /  March 21, 2018  /  Nashville Statement and LGBT issues, Series  /  The Nashville Statement

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  • What the debate about female seminary professors is NOT about

    DesiringGod.org posted the podcast heard around the evangelical world earlier this week. In the podcast, John Piper responds to the following question from a listener: “Should women be hired as seminary professors? What is your...

    Denny Burk  /  January 27, 2018  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism

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  • A mere complementarian reading of the most contested verse in the evangelical gender debate—1 Timothy 2:12

    Editor’s note: This article was originally posted at DennyBurk.com; used here with permission. Evangelicals seem to be more divided than ever about the issue of gender roles in the home and in the church. On...

    Denny Burk  /  January 23, 2018  /  CBMW  /  1 Timothy 2

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  • John Piper answers, “Did Public Controversy over the Nashville Statement Hurt the Cause?”

    On the most recent episode of “Ask Pastor John,” John Piper responds to the following question: “Did Public Controversy over the Nashville Statement Hurt the Cause?” The short answer is no, but Piper’s explication is really...

    Denny Burk  /  November 27, 2017  /  CBMW  /  The Nashville Statement

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  • Responding to CT’s editorial against the Nashville Statement

    Mark Galli has penned an editorial criticizing the Nashville Statement in the November issue of Christianity Today. He raises a number of concerns and claims that the statement “ended up confusing some issues and has...

    Denny Burk  /  October 30, 2017  /  CBMW  /  The Nashville Statement

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  • Joe Rigney: Sola Scriptura, the Natural Law, and Sexual Ethics

    In my book What Is the Meaning of Sex?, I made the case for a hybrid deontological/teleological approach to sexual ethics. I wish the case that I made there were half as good as the...

    Denny Burk  /  September 29, 2017  /  CBMW  /  The Nashville Statement

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  • Why the Nashville Statement now, and what about article 10?

    As The Nashville Statement began to trend today on Twitter, we began to see a lot of support gathering for the statement. We also began to see a great deal of criticism and more than...

    Denny Burk  /  August 30, 2017  /  CBMW  /  The Nashville Statement

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  • CBMW Announcement: Colin Smothers named Executive Director of CBMW

    I am pleased to announce that the board of CBMW has voted to appoint Colin Smothers to be Executive Director of CBMW. Smothers succeeds Grant Castleberry, who announced his resignation yesterday. CBMW’s board chairman Erik...

    Denny Burk  /  June 30, 2017  /  Public Square  /  News and Announcements

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  • Godspeed and Semper fi, Grant Castleberry.

    When the board asked me to serve as president of CBMW a year ago, there were a number of reasons why I agreed to serve. It wasn’t merely that I believed strongly in the mission...

    Denny Burk  /  June 30, 2017  /  Public Square  / 

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  • What the New York Times gets wrong about complementarianism

    Tim Keller argues that one of the first rules of polemics is this: “Never attribute an opinion to your opponent that he himself does not own.” Even if the view in question is a necessary...

    Denny Burk  /  April 20, 2017  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism, Current Events

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  • Pastors and Women in Ministry

    At the 2017 Gospel Coalition meeting last week, there was a fascinating panel discussion about pastors and women in ministry. It’s a discussion about how complementarian pastors can encourage and strengthen the vital ministries of...

    Denny Burk  /  April 13, 2017  /  CBMW  /  Complementarianism, Ministry, Women in Ministry

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  • New issue of JBMW and thanks to outgoing editor, Dr. Jason Duesing

    The most recent issue of The Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood has just been released. It includes my statement concerning the future of CBMW, which you can read here. The full table of contents...

    Denny Burk  /  March 15, 2017  /   /  News and Announcements

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  • New issue of JBMW and thanks to outgoing editor, Dr. Jason Duesing

    The most recent issue of The Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood has just been released. It includes my statement concerning the future of CBMW, which you can read here. The full table of contents...

    Denny Burk  /  March 15, 2017  /  CBMW  /  News and Announcements

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  • My Vision for the Future of CBMW

    By Denny Burk, CBMW President Last Summer, the CBMW board chairman invited me to consider coming on board as the new president of the organization. As I began praying about this unexpected opportunity, my thoughts...

    Denny Burk  /  March 15, 2017  /  CBMW  /  News and Announcements, The Nashville Statement

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  • Asking the Right Questions about Intersex Athletes — Part 2

    By Denny Burk Yesterday, we looked at a controversy about an Olympic athlete who is reported to suffer from an intersex condition. Today, we acknowledge that from a Christian perspective, there are larger issues for...

    Denny Burk  /  August 23, 2016  /  Public Square  /  The Nashville Statement

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  • Asking the Right Questions about Intersex Athletes — Part 1

    By Denny Burk As the Olympics wound up last week, there were numerous reports about an Olympic runner whose sex was a point of controversy. It is reported that this athlete has an intersex condition...

    Denny Burk  /  August 22, 2016  /  Public Square  /  The Nashville Statement

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  • My Vision for the Future of CBMW

    By Denny Burk Last month, the CBMW board chairman invited me to consider coming on board as the new president of the organization. As I began praying about this unexpected opportunity, my thoughts turned very...

    Denny Burk  /  July 20, 2016  /  Public Square  / 

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  • https://cbmw.org/1970/01/01/47741-2/

    Interpreters have long debated the sense in which Christ Jesus “becomes” wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption “for us” in 1 Corinthians 1:30. 1 Corinthians 1:30 ἐξ αὐτοῦ δὲ ὑμεῖς ἐστε ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, ὃς ἐγενήθη...

    Denny Burk  /  January 1, 1970  /  Articles  / 

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