Drawing from Martin Luther's theology of the cross and Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life, Dr. Gerhardt argues that the church should/must offer a theological response to the gendercide of women and girls. She acknowledges that the church's primary goal is the preaching of the gospel, but the gospel does not turn a blind eye to this sin because it "violates the integrity and humanity of God's creation."[92] Thus, we care for the oppressed because we have been justified and are saved by faith alone but by a faith that is never alone. The Cross and Gendercide is very different from many secular books on this subject which stop short at political action and education. While those efforts are helpful, only the gospel has the power to heal a life devastated by abuse. This was a tough read because of the subject matter, but I appreciated Gerhardt's wake-up call. She does pen some strong words for the traditional hierarchical view of gender. While I would not go quite as far, I wonder whether certain attitudes toward women have caused the church-at-large to minimize and ignore abuse and, by its inaction, become complicit to the abuse? I think it would be worth considering Gerhardt's criticism with humility.
Love into Light isn't a counseling book for those dealing with same-sex attraction (SSA), but "an appeal to the church to rethink the way we talk about SSA." [15] It starts out with a strong declaration of the gospel and then moves into areas such as how the heart relates to homosexuality, change, what the Word says, identification/labels, celibacy/marriage, the place of Christian community, and outreach. This book doesn't minimize the gravity of sin, but neither does it minimize the life-changing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I highly recommend this book and rank it with Rosaria Butterfield's Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. For information on the book and other related resources : Love Into Light ministry site.
The book consists of four position papers, two egalitarian and two complementarian. For each paper, the other three contributors offer brief responses. The arguments are theologically academic and deal primarily with the interpretation of scriptural passages, but this is really where the debate lies. Although much of the discussion about the original languages went over my head, I was able to follow the line of thinking for both sides. I also appreciated the respectful tone of the responses. This spirit would be worth emulating in gender discussions, which often produce more heat than light. The contributors stuck to the issues at hand and addressed the arguments presented. There were no personal digs or emotional appeals. In fact, they consider one another friends as well as fellow believers and academic colleagues.
For the sake of intellectual integrity, I wanted to learn about the egalitarian position from primary sources rather than making assumptions out of ignorance. In the end, I still find myself on the complimentarian side of the fence, probably somewhere between Drs. Blomberg and Schriener. I would characterize Dr. Schriener as more conservative than Dr. Blomberg but more moderate than other positions in the wide spectrum of the comp. camp. I found this rather reassuring. There are times when I hear/read statements from my side of the aisle that make me wonder about complementarianism in the way Elizabeth Bennett did about Mr. Darcy, "I hear such different accounts of you as puzzle me exceedingly." Two Views on Women in Ministry helped clarify my own position, and the absence of a lock-step complementarian definition was also bit of a relief. Because this debate is over scriptural interpretation, I doubt uniformity will be reached on this issue unless a sort of gender "papacy" is instituted. Respectful dialogue, as found in this book, is a much better alternative.
I have the Two Views on Women in Ministry on my Kindle to read as I'd like to understand the arguments for both sides. I was on the fence with where I stood until I did a study on 1 Timothy earlier this year and came down on the complementarian side. I still am interested in understanding how egalitarians arrive at their view from Scripture so glad to hear your thoughts on this book.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Debi. I enjoyed reading Two Views and learned a lot even though my position hasn't changed very much. I wish there was more irenic dialogue about this and other issues.
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