Mutuality | Blog + Magazine | Winter 2014
The print + digital magazine of CBE International
Mutuality offers articles from diverse writers who share egalitarian theology and explore its intersection with everyday life.
Blog + Magazine ArticlesThe opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of CBE International or its members.
Winter 2014
Volume: 21 | Number: 4
Genesis
This issue invites us to dig into the creation story found in Genesis. What do we understand, what do we often misunderstand, and why do we think what we do? What is God’s blueprint for human relationships, and what are the implications for us today?
Contents
The Christmas season is upon us, and this year I’m grateful that Mutuality has guided my thoughts to an unusual Christmas text: Genesis 1–3, the creation account. This is, after all, where everything begins—history, life, and even Christmas.
Sitting through a captivating exposition of the opening chapters of Genesis as a university student in Sri Lanka, it struck me powerfully for the first time that the very language used in the creation account emphasizes that men and women were both equally made in the image of God and that stewarding the earth was [...]
God created male and female. While there are physical differences, both are equally part of humanity and created in the image of God.
First Timothy 2:11–15, and especially verse 12, has long been a focal point in modern discussions of the leadership of women in the church.
Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” (Gen. 2:22–23)
In many Christian circles, women are taught that their supreme calling in life is to be a good wife, complying with a God-ordained order where women joyfully submit to the servant leadership of their husbands. Where does this idea come from?
The Genesis texts offer an exquisite challenge to the historic devaluation of women. In fact, both egalitarians and complementarians agree that the early chapters of Genesis establish the equal value and worth of females and males.
