{"id":312,"date":"2019-08-01T11:35:18","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T16:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/lutheranwomensordination\/?page_id=312"},"modified":"2019-08-20T14:33:20","modified_gmt":"2019-08-20T19:33:20","slug":"elizabeth-eaton","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/lutheranwomensordination\/elizabeth-eaton\/","title":{"rendered":"Elizabeth Eaton"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.25.4″ background_color=”#dbc895″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25.4″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25.4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Title” _builder_version=”3.25.4″ header_font=”Georgia||||on||||” header_text_align=”center” header_text_color=”#000000″]

Elizabeth Eaton<\/span><\/h1>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Body” _builder_version=”3.25.4″ text_font=”Georgia||||||||” text_text_color=”#493a38″ text_font_size=”17px” link_font=”||||||||” ul_font=”||||||||” ol_font=”||||||||” quote_font=”||||||||”]
\"Bishop

Photo used with permission of the ELCA.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0The finalists for Presiding Bishop of the ELCA during the 2013 election included the incumbent \u2013 Mark Hanson \u2013 and a record-breaking three women. Going into the conference Hanson was the presumed winner, but in the final vote, Elizabeth Eaton won with 600 votes against Hanson\u2019s 287. Eaton\u2019s election was an affirmation of the ELCA\u2019s commitment to women\u2019s leadership within the church, as she became the first woman to be elected to this senior leadership position. Prior to her election as Presiding Bishop, Eaton served as the bishop of the Northeastern Ohio Synod since 2006.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Elected over twenty years after the election of the first female ELCA bishop, Eaton and others have attributed her election to multiple factors. First \u2013 as 2013 was the 25-year anniversary of the ELCA \u2013 members desired a change in leadership. April Larson, the first female ELCA bishop, described how many of the bishops acknowledged that it was time for change and hoped that the new Presiding Bishop would be a woman or a person of color. The election of a female Presiding Bishop demonstrated that the ELCA was continuing its commitment to social justice and equality. In that milestone year for the church, Eaton\u2019s election represented efforts in modernizing and equalizing the church for all members.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eaton\u2019s position as a moderate within the church also made her a desirable candidate during the period of unrest in the ELCA following the 2009 decision to allow openly gay clergy within the church. Unhappy with this decision, many conservatives began to leave the church and moved to the North American Lutheran Church (NALC), which doesn\u2019t allow gay clergy members. Eaton, who came out in support of the ELCA\u2019s decision, also made comments in support of the ability of church members to dissent. Eaton was the only of the candidates for Presiding Bishop who addressed the concerns of conservative church members who had decided to remain in the ELCA and affirmed their position within the church, saying, \u201cWe can disagree on decisions as long as we agree on the cross.\u201d As a centrist candidate, she represented an option for continued dialogue with more conservative members of the church instead of schism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking towards the future, Eaton advocates for a future of the church that continues to improve itself and become the inclusive church that many members desire. Within the church, Eaton has spoken often about changing the image of the church to no longer identify with one particular cultural expression, saying, \u201cWe are a church that is overwhelmingly European in a culture that is increasingly pluralistic (\u2026) We need to welcome the gifts of those who come from different places, that is a conversation we need to have as a church.\u201d As the Presiding Bishop, she has endorsed inter-religious dialogues and initiatives to embrace diversity within the church. Through these measures, Eaton has shown herself to be the symbol of change within the church that she was elected to be. She uses her position of power to push for a changing image of the church that is more inclusive, diverse, and social justice-oriented.<\/span><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_5,3_5″ custom_padding=”25px|||||” _builder_version=”3.25.4″][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”3.25.4″][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RoTm31HuxP0″ _builder_version=”3.25.4″ border_width_all=”2px” border_color_all=”#000000″ min_height=”227px” custom_margin=”81px||-1px|||”][\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”3.25.4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”References” _builder_version=”3.25.4″ text_font=”Georgia||||||||” text_text_color=”#493a38″ text_font_size=”16px” header_font=”Georgia||||||||” header_2_font=”Georgia||||||||” header_2_text_color=”#000000″]

References<\/h2>\n
\n

\u201cLutherans Take Surprise Step in Electing Female Presiding Bishop.\u201d Religion News Service<\/i> (blog), August 15, 2013. https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2013\/08\/15\/lutherans-take-surprise-step-in-electing-female-presiding-bishop\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresiding Bishop.\u201d ELCA.org. Accessed June 6, 2019. http:\/\/www.elca.org\/About\/Leadership\/Churchwide Officers\/Presiding Bishop<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Religion News Service. \u201cRev. Elizabeth Eaton, First Female Lutheran Bishop (ELCA) Elected.\u201d HuffPost, August 14, 2013. https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/elizabeth-eaton-first-female-bishop_n_3757665<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cRev. Elizabeth Eaton Speaks About Being First Female Lutheran Bishop.\u201d HuffPost. https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/rev-elizabeth-eaton-speaks-about-being-first-female-lutheran-bishop_n_5b5079c5e4b0cf38668f737e<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25.4″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25.4″][et_pb_toggle title=”Learn More” open_toggle_text_color=”#000000″ open_toggle_background_color=”#dbc895 ” closed_toggle_background_color=”#dbc895 ” icon_color=”#814509″ use_icon_font_size=”on” icon_font_size=”17px” admin_label=”Learn More” _builder_version=”3.25.4″ title_text_color=”#000000″ title_font=”Georgia|600|||||||” title_text_align=”center” title_font_size=”18px” closed_title_font=”Georgia||||||||” body_font=”Georgia||||||||” body_text_color=”#493a38″ body_font_size=”16px” border_width_all=”2px” border_color_all=”#814509″]

Videos on the ELCA’s YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n

Articles<\/a> published in the ELCA’s journal, Living Lutheran<\/em><\/p>\n

Eaton’s Twitter<\/a><\/p>[\/et_pb_toggle][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elizabeth Eaton \u00a0The finalists for Presiding Bishop of the ELCA during the 2013 election included the incumbent \u2013 Mark Hanson \u2013 and a record-breaking three women. Going into the conference Hanson was the presumed winner, but in the final vote, Elizabeth Eaton won with 600 votes against Hanson\u2019s 287. Eaton\u2019s election was an affirmation of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3065,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-312","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/lutheranwomensordination\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/lutheranwomensordination\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/lutheranwomensordination\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/lutheranwomensordination\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3065"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/lutheranwomensordination\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/lutheranwomensordination\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1507,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/lutheranwomensordination\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/312\/revisions\/1507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/lutheranwomensordination\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}