Biblical Support for Positions
For those of you reading my blog and wondering what on earth is this poor guy so concerned about, please read the Biblical Support for Positions put out by the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, which lays out in a brief, outlined way both the egalitarian and complementarian views of what the Bible says to support their positions, that women are equal to men versus being helpers only under men. For example, complementarians (men and women are complementary to each other and not equal) interpret the result of the Fall on women in Genesis 3:16, “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you,” (TNIV) as being prescriptive, the way it ought to be. Egalitarians would interpret the same verse as being descriptive, that is, the unfortunate result of the Fall — that such ruling behavior of husbands over their wives is actually sin that needs to be corrected.
Most protestant denominations have both views represented within them, even if the denomination hierarchy has made a pronouncement on the subject as to what the official position is. The place of women is a particularly hot topic within Evangelical circles, the more conservative end of protestant church world. Fortunately, there are many Evangelical theologians who hold the egalitarian view.
To get an up-to-date overview of Evangelical egalitarian theology, I recommend the recent (late 2004) book, Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity without Hierarchy, edited by Ronald W. Pierce and Rebecca Merrill Groothuis. I especially appreciate Dr Gordon D. Fee’s chapter, “Hermeneutics and the Gender Debate” in which he discusses the tension points in Evangelical hermeneutics, especially two areas of concern in which some Evangelicals tend to “create theology by implication rather than on the basis of clear and explicit statements in Scripture,” and secondly, to “turn some ad hoc biblical imperatives into a form of Christian law requiring observance.” Christians need to be careful about adopting theologies that supposedly articulate “what all Christians in all places and at all times should believe,” because such theologies must avoid “ambiguity and diverse witness. Where there is ambiguity and diversity of witness, it would seem that what is being ‘taught’ is Christian truth that is being accommodated to that culture and its structures.”
This book is not written for a general audience, but for those who can read and dig out the meanings from academic writings such as these.