Craig Keener, in his workshop, pointed out the need for interpretation and looking at context. He asked us if we should obey all the commands in the Bible. What about: “Go to Troas and get the cloak” (2 Ti 4:13) or “Take up an offering for the church in Jerusalem.” No, we […]
Craig Keener’s “Marriage: A Biblical Model of Submission”
Keener discussed Aristotle’s “household codes,” a set of values widely regarded in Paul’s day which instructed men to rule over their wives, children and slaves. Paul, in Ephesians 5:18, sets forth his primary charge: “Be filled with the Spirit.” Then he offers practical “how-tos” by adapting the household […]
Workshop: Opposite Sexes or Neighboring Sexes? An agenda for Gender Reconciliation
Presenter: Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen, Ph.D.
Men and women are more like neighboring sexes than opposite sexes. We can only achieve a more just and healthy model for gender and family relations if personal and structural changes are made. The health and happiness […]
The NBC Today Show reported on recent research this morning that said that 25 percent of American families have wives that earn more than their husbands. This trend is only going to increase since women have recently been graduating from college in greater numbers than men. Although more men age 25 and up […]
Facts about divorce in America:
1) Over 50% of first marriages end in divorce.
2) Over 60% of second marriages end in divorce.
3) About half of the 1.2 million marriages each year are between couples where one or both have been married before.
4) The average […]
Would God create a system that doesn’t work? He apparently allows ways of living that are less than the best because of the hardness (sinfulness) of people’s hearts (Matthew 19:8). Maybe that is why God has (perhaps heavy-heartedly) allowed patriarchalism to run rampant. But the egalitarian argument that patriarchalism is a result […]
I don’t believe there is much in the way of happy one-way submission in the world amongst couples. Christian hierarchicalists, if they get around to it, try to emphasize that Christian men are to lay down their lives for their wives, but heavens, never submit to them. On the rare occasion that he […]
Relationships that are stuck in a consistently complementary pattern at best tend to be boring and distant and at worst may disintegrate when the same patterns of relating do not adapt to the changing needs of the partners and their tasks.
– Diana Garland, Family Ministry: A Comprehensive Guide
According to Diana Garland in her Family Ministry: A Comprehensive Guide, InterVarsity Press, c1999, the definition of a companionship marriage is one where the marriage partners seek to emphasize achieving deep intimacy with each other through individual growth and self-actualization and excellent communication sharing so that their emotional needs and personal goals can be met. […]
Evangelicals believe that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired Word of God that is the final authority for faith and practice. Serious differences appear, however, in translating what the Bible says into practice. Hierarchicalists believe that the Bible says that God ordains separate roles for men and women as a part of the […]