“There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” – Galatians 3:28
This is perhaps my most ill-advised project, and yet one that I have wanted to tackle for a while.
In my final years of seminary, I became fixated on understanding the current landscape of Christian theological discourse. In particular, the way that the Church discusses gender and sexuality seems to be self-defeating to the point that something must be fundamentally flawed at the root of these discussions. Conservative ideology clashes with progressivism, and very little productive biblical interpretation is embarked upon to find any sort of reconciliation point for Christian Ethics.
Even now, prominent voices in the Evangelical movement such as Ed Stetzer have come forward to say that views on LGBTQ rights in the Church are not subject to debate. This comes from a foundational belief that, “creation accounts [in scripture,] set the theological foundation for understanding God’s purposes for gender, marriage, and sexuality.”[1] Indeed, arguments regarding traditional views of human sexuality, and by extension gender and marriage, tend to focus upon three pillars. Firstly, the natural and God ordained institute of heterosexual, monogamous, marriage. Secondly, the inerrancy of scripture. Thirdly, the cultural practice of masculinity and femininity as cross cultural, yet culturally distinct.
Entire books are written to address each of these topics on their own. Yet, as I have taken it upon myself to read conservative theology texts (when I think they sound interesting,) I notice that there is very little in them (or in progressive texts,) that is even trying to address the opposite viewpoint at their own level. Perhaps we have an inherent understanding that the ground between us has grown too large, that the chances of finding any sort of reconciliation that does not deny the rights and dignity of queer folk on one side and the desires for orthodoxy on the other are very slim… More optimistically, however, I think we just have a very vague understanding of the theological foundations that bring folks to one conclusion or the other.
It is with this in mind that I launch this new project. Decoding Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Complementarianism is designed to go, chapter by chapter, through the foundational text of the modern complementarian movement, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism. As a staunch advocate for Egalitarianism, I am one such “evangelical feminist,” as is referred to in the title. I am, likewise, a person committed to orthodoxy, even as I advocate for LGTBQ inclusion and all sorts of other liberal positions. According to this book, that second statement makes the first one a lie, but this book says a lot of things I do not agree with, so I’m not going to let that stop me.
My goal with this project is not to be mean-spirited or libelous, but to honestly evaluate each chapter as I read them. Where I see thoughts worth entertaining, I shall entertain them, and where I see something born of Hell and Capital I will treat it as such. I do not promise perfect analysis, I do not promise to be above my own convictions and biases, but I do aspire to be thoughtful and honest at every turn.
This project is going to take a while, and I am not constraining myself to any timeline. This book is long and takes strange turns. At one point John Piper takes a long time talking about how muscular women are sinful, but also that he finds them incredibly attractive (I will talk about that at length when we get there.) I will release articles when they’re done, and not a moment sooner. In the short term, I will be writing an analysis of the Preface to the 2016 edition in the very near future.
Till then, be well, be safe, and tell someone you love them.
[1] Ed Stetzer. “Can Faithful Christians Agree To Disagree on Sexuality?” available at: https://churchleaders.com/voices/512232-agree-to-disagree-christian-sexuality-gender.html
Teach us to Number our Days 