Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity Without Hierarchy

Discussions surrounding the roles of men and women—whether in the church, the home or society at large—never seem to end, often generating more heat than light. Such debate is still important, though, because this issue directly affects every member of Christ’s body. What we believe the Bible teaches on these matters shapes nearly all we do in the church. In addition, these questions deserve further thought and reflection because neither side has won the day.

In an effort to further discussion, Ronald W. Pierce and Rebecca Merrill Groothuis, with the aid of Gordon D. Fee, have assembled a distinguished array of twenty-six evangelical scholars firmly committed to the authority of Scripture to explore the whole range of issues—historical, biblical, theological, hermeneutical and practical. While dispelling many of the myths surrounding biblical equality, they offer a sound, reasoned case that affirms the complementarity of the sexes without requiring a hierarchy of roles.

Contributors include Ruth A. Tucker, Janette Hassey, Richard S. Hess, Linda L. Belleville, Aída Besançon Spencer, Craig S. Keener, I. Howard Marshall, Peter H. Davids, Walter L. Liefeld, Stanley J. Grenz, Kevin Giles, Roger Nicole, William J. Webb, Sulia Mason, Karen Mason, Joan Burgess Winfrey, Judith K. Balswick, Jack O. Balswick, Cynthia Neal Kimball, Mimi Haddad, Alvera Mickelsen, R. K. McGregor Wright and Alice P. Mathews.

Here is a fresh, positive defense of biblical equality that is at once scholarly and practical, irenic and yet spirited, up-to-date and cognizant of opposing positions.

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Women Caught in the Conflict: The Culture War Between Traditionalism and Feminism

One crucial component of the culture wars we face is the relationship of feminism to traditional teachings on gender. Some claim that biblical teaching is foursquare behind the view that the differences between men and women mean that God has ordained women to be subordinate to men in key areas of life. To think otherwise is to defect to “feminism,”which is a recent invention of patently non-Christian thinking. The “feminist agenda”must be opposed by all conservative Christians as a menace to home and society.

Groothuis challenges this viewpoint with clear thinking about the historical, cultural and logical dimensions of the culture war in relation to gender questions. Readers will find that feminism did not pop up for the first time in the 1960s, and that not all feminism is secular, pagan or anti-Christian in orientation. There was a strong Christian feminism that grew out of the evangelical revivals of the 19th century. Further, biblical egalitarians today (sometimes called biblical feminists) are far closer in their thinking to evangelical traditionalists than they are to secular feminists.

Neither is traditionalism simply “what the Bible clearly teaches.” Traditionalist teachings have been influenced by implicit cultural assumptions that are not directly taken from Scripture.

The strength of Groothius’s unique contribution in this book is that she puts the present gender debate into a richer and deeper context of history, culture and logic. Although she does not here present a complete case for biblical equality (this she does in her second book, Good News for Women), she does make distinctions and develop arguments that help clarify a debate that is often clouded by name-calling, ignorance and illogic.

• A 1995 Christianity Today book award winner!

• “Intellectually integrated . . . makes a convincing case that much of the modern controversy over women’s equality is rooted in unbiblical cultural presuppositions. . . Astonishingly articulate . . . penetrating logic . . . Her respectful, listening attitude toward those modernists and ‘traditionalists’she disagrees with also does much to strengthen her cause.”Cornerstone

• “Succeed[s] admirably . . . one of the most important [books] on women’s issues in my library.”Priscilla Papers

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Good News for Women: A Biblical Picture of Gender Equality

“Most evangelical discussion of the gender issue has been spent in feverish debate over the exegetical intricacies of the traditional prooftexts,”writes Groothuis. And though faithful exegesis is certainly crucial, a “myopic fixation on a handful of controversial biblical texts will not ultimately resolve the gender debate.”

In Good News for Women Groothuis looks at the “big picture”—the overall outline of biblical teaching on relationships between men and women. This provides the foundation for examining the passages specifically relating to gender issues.

Written with the razor-sharp insight that prompted critical acclaim for her first book, Good News for Women shows that:

• the broad sweep of biblical thought aligns more readily with gender equality than with gender hierarchy
• traditionalist prooftexts do not present an open-and-shut case in favor of universal male authority
• the traditionalist agenda on gender issues is neither helpful nor healthy for Christian women today

This book is a sequel to Women Caught in the Conflict which Christianity Today selected as one of the best books of 1994. It is an important book for

• seminary students working through their theology and philosophy of ministry
• pastors and other Christian leaders who are looking for a logical and biblical perspective on the gender wars that rage around us
• non-Christians who have rejected or dismissed Christianity because they take it to be anti-woman and reactionary
• anyone who desires to develop an informed and rational viewpoint on men, women, ministry and marriage

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