A Review of A Year of Biblical Womanhood

The first thing you need to understand, before I say anything else, is this: Rachel Held Evans loves the Bible.

This point is important, because many Christians, upon learning that she is (gasp!) an egalitarian, (shock!) votes Democrat, and (horrors!) supports gay rights, tend to assume that she therefore must not take the Bible very seriously. This impression was only exacerbated when Evans announced some time back that she was going to undertake a "year of biblical womanhood" where, taking a cue from A. J. Jacobs' book, A Year of Living Biblically, she resolved to spend a year living according the Bible's instructions regarding women as literally as possible. Some Christians who do indeed hold to what they call "literal" interpretations of Scripture were convinced that Evans' purpose in undertaking this project was to make fun of them, and even to make "a mockery of God and Scripture" itself (as one of her critics is quoted as saying on p. 285).
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Translation Accuracy or Political Correctness?

One doesn't have to look for very long in any discussion on "favorite Bible translations" before two things happen, usually right on the heels of each other.

1. The discussion turns to whether or not the translation is gender inclusive (even if that precise term isn't always used, the topic comes up. Include any relevant similar term in this point).
2. Translations that go too far (in the opinion of some) in their attempt to be gender inclusive are quickly accused of doing so in order to be "politically correct" (note that this term is pretty much always used pejoratively, and usually communicates a change made out of fear of offending some group or another).

This pattern demonstrated itself in a recent post over at Kurt Willem's blog, in which he discussed on his own recent preference-shift toward the CEB, while also praising the now-defunct TNIV. An early comment suggested that "the NIV has become victim of political correctness run amok." In this particular case, the only gender-related comments were related to language for God the Father (he wants to retain the gender-specificity of the Greek there), and this was quickly cleared up, as the NIV — and the TNIV and the CEB — all retain such gender-specificity in reference to the persons of the Trinity. Still, the question of gender-inclusion had already been raised in Willem's own remarks, and now the discussion was engaged in earnest.
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REPOST - Top Ten Reasons Why Men Should Not Be Ordained

This post is the final one I'll be doing to tie in with "A Week of Mutuality," hosted by Rachel Held Evans this week (the week of June 4-10) at her blog, rachelheldevans.com. You can head to this link to learn more about the project. I had to think long and hard about this one, since I've already posted this list twice previously on the blog, and was reluctant to post it for a third time, as I don't think just posting and reposting the same material is a good way to keep a blog fresh and interesting. However, this week has already proven to be an exception, and I ultimately came to the conclusion that I needed to post the whole thing one more time, taking the opportunity to put the list in some context while providing a fitting closure to the week.
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REPOST - The Importance of Sharing Stories

This post was originally written in observance of International Women's Day in 2008. As with all reposts for this "Week of Mutuality" event, I have updated the material somewhat.

One thing (among many) that I learned from David Scholer was the observance that it seems "especially true" that feminists thrive on sharing personal stories, as he says when he relates his own story of work on behalf of women in church ministry, as he wrote it for Christian Feminism Today back in 2006.
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REPOST - All Translation is Interpretation

When I wrote Monday's post, I argued for a different "starting point" for discussing women in ministry than 1 Timothy 2:11-12. I left open-ended the question of "so what, then, do we do with this passage?" This post, originally written in 2006, is one attempt at an answer. As with all reposts for this "Week of Mutuality" event, I have updated the material somewhat.


When I was a student, briefly, at a Presbyterian seminary in Kentucky, my professor of exegesis constantly repeated the mantra, "all translation is interpretation." I have often found this to be true as I've learned more about Biblical studies and interpretation, but in few areas as obviously as in issues relating to gender equality.
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Starting Points

"When looking to interpret difficult passages, clear passages should help illuminate unclear ones."

How many of you have heard this bit of advice when being taught how to read the Bible? Maybe it's just my seminary education talking, but I know I've heard it an awful lot. There are definitely ways in which this is good advice. Unfortunately, I've learned over the years that determining precisely which passages are the "clear" ones that help with which other "unclear" passages is, itself, an act of interpretation. Indeed, it's a very important act of interpretation, as the passage you choose as your "starting point" has implications for a great deal of not only how you come to understand what the Bible teaches, but consequently in how you live out your walk with Jesus and the Church.
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What is Biblical?

Many years ago, when I was writing and preaching my first sermons in preparation for church ministry, a common theme was to encourage my audience to read the Bible more. I would look around me and see a common lack of Biblical literacy. For example, whenever a Bible category would come up on Jeopardy!, the contestants on the show would routinely struggle with questions that I considered "basic" questions (knowing the answers certainly wouldn't have impressed any of my seminary professors!).
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A Case Against "Masculine Christianity"

What says "masculine"
better than the
Old Spice guy?

In what is only the latest in a long series of comments by Christian leaders advocating for the supremacy of men over and against women, John Piper has recently explicitly said that he believes that "God has given Christianity a masculine feel." Now, when he says such a thing, I do not imagine that he would actually say that he believes men are "superior" to women. The usual complementarian line, which I understand Piper to embrace, says that the genders are equal, but that they merely have different God-given roles. That said, it's difficult to read a belief in a "masculine Christianity" without feeling like a belief in male superiority is actually at play, whether Piper acknowledges it or not.
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Faith vs. Science: The Ongoing & Unnecessary Battle

Between two churches, a seminary, and just generally being interested in this kind of thing, I daresay its safe to say that I hear a lot of prayer requests. These range all over the spectrum, but one I heard recently left a particularly bad taste in my mouth.
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Parables Aren't Like This

Many of Jesus' parables follow a familiar pattern: "The kingdom of heaven is like..." and he goes on to give some illustration from the world of their day that might help his audience to understand heaven just a little better. It seems to me that these illustrations are always in the affirmative. That is to say, Jesus always says "the kingdom of heaven is like such and such," rather than ever saying "the kingdom of heaven is not like such and such."
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Scot McKnight on Junia - Part 3

As I wind down my reflections on Scot McKnight's discussion on Junia last week, I recognize that the topic of Junia is one that generates a fair bit of discussion in academic circles. Having talked about Junia's place in the early church, and how other women in Biblical history have similarly had their contributions silenced and forgotten, it's appropriate to ask "so, what do we do about it?"
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Scot McKnight on Junia – Part 1

Long-time readers know that I've followed Scot McKnight's blog, Jesus Creed, for several years now. So, naturally I wanted to see McKnight in person when he came to Fuller last week, sponsored by our school's continuing education department (and by the Burner Blog, which is produced by that department).

McKnight spoke on two occasions during his visit. The first was during our regularly-scheduled weekly chapel gathering, at which he spoke on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Although this was a challenging message worthy of commentary, I'm going to instead focus on the evening event, during which McKnight spoke about Romans 16, and specifically about the apostle Junia. The title of the lecture was "Junia is Not Alone in the Church."
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Fools, Power, and False Prophets

When I think of Jiminy Cricket, I tend not to think about Pinocchio, but the song from “I’m No Fool.” For those of you who haven't seen it, “I’m No Fool” was a series of cartoons from the 1950's designed to teach kids about safety. Jiminy would stage a safety contest between two characters he would draw upon the chalkboard. One was “the fool,” who would do everything wrong. The other was intended to be “you.”  Of course, "you" would always follow the safety procedures perfectly:
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It's the End of the World As We Know It... and I Feel Fine

If you're reading this message, you may safely assume that you have not been raptured.  Although I'm writing this message in advance, this is decidedly NOT a message intended to inform you, in my absence, of what has just happened to me.  In fact, I expect not to have been raptured, either.

You may have already figured out what I'm talking about.  You may have seen the billboards talking about Judgment Day set to occur today, May 21st, 2011.  Apparently some even specify 6:00 pm, precisely, although I've not seen those, myself. (and if you're wondering "what time zone?" don't worry about that.  They actually do seem to mean 6:00 pm at whatever time zone you happen to be in).
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Our 100% Diverse American Heritage

There's an essay I originally read some years ago, written in 1936 by a sociologist named Ralph Linton, that I think Americans of today would do well to read.  Originally found in the book The Study of Man: an Introduction, it is commonly referred to as "The One Hundred Percent American."  The essay follows a typical American male as he gets up out of bed ("built on a pattern that originated in the Near East...") and follows him through his morning routine.  At every step of the process, the origin of the practice or item being used is mentioned, and a diverse and colorful array of foreign influences quickly becomes apparent.
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The "Secret Theology" of Women

I recently had the opportunity to be part of group of Fuller students and staff (specifically, those of us who serve either as "Ambassadors" for the seminary or who write for the Fuller Blogs site — now finally with new posts again after being down for two solid months due to technical problems) who were invited to have lunch with Fuller President Richard Mouw. During the hour, we were invited to offer our perspectives on the seminary and ask questions about things that interest or concern us. I took the occasion to ask Mouw about Fuller's ongoing commitment to women in ministry.
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Conflicting Narratives and "Uncivility"

I try to read a healthy number of other people's blogs.  While I try not to remain within what's commonly called the "bell jar" (for those who don't know the term in this context, the idea suggests a person that only visits sites that promote opinions the person already has, thus isolating the person from ever hearing anything else), I will confess that some sites interest me more than others, and that some opinions are simply stated too harshly for me to continue reading for long.  Among the sites I've been to, I've been noticing a trend in the ways that people use scripture references to make opposing cases.
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Universalists, Gatekeepers, and Fear

Among the many blogs I read regularly, Mouw's Musings is one that I comment on with perhaps the most care. Because Richard Mouw is the president of Fuller Theological Seminary, he is someone I could easily think of as my "boss" (I suppose more accurately, he's my boss's boss's boss, but I digress).  Agree with him too readily, and it can rightly appear as though I'm brown-nosing. Disagree in the wrong way, and I could be in real trouble (Mouw has always struck me as, if nothing else, a fair and careful leader, but even saying that easily strays into the brown-nose territory, doesn't it?). My only recourse is to lay those cards all on the table, and hope that a careful analysis of any comments I make--both here and on Mouw's blog itself--will allow the careful reader to decide how seriously to take anything I have to say.
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The New NIV - Initial Thoughts

Before saying anything else, I need to be up front about a couple of things.  First of all, I'm not a Biblical scholar.  I'm just a seminary graduate with an interest in these matters.  Secondly, since the new NIV has only been publicly available since Monday (and that, only online), I've by no means had a chance to read through more than a tiny fraction of the whole text.  I am depending heavily on the observations of others.  The good news is that BibleGateway.com, after initially removing the links to the TNIV and the old NIV in favor of the new version, has restored those links, so you can compare versions quite easily.  I recommend starting with this link, and working from there if you want to do you own informal comparisons.

My initial reactions are better than I'd feared.  The new NIV is far closer to the TNIV than it is to the old NIV in many respects, including the area I've focused the most attention on: gender language.  My concern, as I've tried to describe it in comments elsewhere on the web, has been less with "gender inclusive" language or "gender neutrality," and more with not being "gender exclusive."  Many readers may feel that this is only a subtle distinction, and maybe they're right, but I am personally most concerned that would-be readers of the biblical text not feel excluded when the original intent wouldn't have warranted it.

This is certainly not to say that the new NIV is perfect (no translation ever is) or that they haven't ever backtracked where the TNIV was better.  To use just one example that Joel Hoffman points out, the change from "people" to "man" in Matthew 12:35 (for ἄνθρωπος, which suggests humanity more than maleness) is a bit inconsistent with less gender-specific usage elsewhere in the new NIV.  I assume this particular instance was done because there was concern about the shift (in the TNIV) to plural, which the translators' notes to the new NIV indicate that they tried to avoid when possible (this is different, by the way, than the use of "they" as a singular pronoun, which is becoming increasingly common in modern English), but why not use "person"?  That said, by avoiding plurals where the original text was clearly intended to be singular, I do feel that the new NIV is more accurate than the TNIV was in at least that respect.

A quibble of mine is the use of the word "mankind" in the new version where the TNIV had used other words like "humanity."  I'm not sure I understand the motivation in this case.  My concern with "mankind" is less that it suggests "male-kind" and thus would potentially exclude people, and more that I don't feel that "mankind" is in particularly common use today (compared to words like "humanity").

Here's a quick list of sites that have given more observations about the new NIV.  They seem to reflect a diversity of positions on the theological spectrum, and thus I hope that it represents a fair accounting of what's going on. 

One final note.  The division over the TNIV was so strong that many well-meaning Christians have figuratively thrown their hands in the air and asked "why all this fighting?  These are debatable matters!"  And, of course, there is a large extent to which they are right.  However, I do think it's appropriate to acknowledge that there are good reasons why people are so passionate about these matters.  I, for one, am unwilling to concede that gender-exclusive language (when sound scholarship tells us that the passage was understood inclusively in the original context) is an "equally viable choice."  I thus intend to defend my position when it is attacked.  However, I do hope that I can do so with a sense of perspective.  People come to their positions (whatever they are) for a variety of reasons, and it is unfair to attribute malicious motives to most opponents.  I hope that the debates that come in response to the new NIV, however passionate, remember that we are all God's children, and are conducted with a greater sense of respect than some of the debates of the recent past.

We'll Know Soon

There really hasn't been much to say since it was announced last year that the TNIV would be discontinued in favor of an updated version of the NIV.  I still regret deeply that decision, and have strong doubts about whether the new version of the NIV will retain the TNIV's commitment to avoid gender exclusive language where it is clear that the original intention of a passage wasn't to speak to males only.

We'll see soon whether or not those fears have been founded.  Zondervan has announced that the new NIV will be available for online viewing on November 1st.  I know I'll be looking with interest.