Mutuality | Blog + Magazine | Spring 2006
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.
Spring 2006
Volume: 13 | Number: 1
Following Jesus
How can we recognize disciples of Jesus? Is it by their gender? Their authority? Their training? According to John 13:35, Jesus’ disciples are distinguished by their love.
Contents
How can we recognize disciples of Jesus? Is it by their gender? Their authority? Their training? According to John 13:35, Jesus’ disciples are distinguished by their love.
Jesus can give us life that death can’t erase. He has the power to do that no matter what the obstacles are that bind us. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead to help us understand the power of God, to help us see that God has control over every kind of death.
Jesus also called women to be his disciples. Based on Jesus’ other choices of disciples, what does the presence of these women in his circle of disciples teach us about the Kingdom?
Many, particularly women, have felt that the patriarchal overtones of Scripture exclude them from participating in God’s divine work: only men are to be the leaders, preachers, and teachers. They find the masculinity of Jesus limiting instead of liberating because they cannot relate to His male identity.
At its best, the Church preaches new birth, has women in positions of pastoral leadership, believes children and youth can advance the Kingdom, is multicultural, and sees social justice as essential to true missions.
On issues of the family and scripture, Christians are in a bit of a pickle. It is not always clear how our convictions about “family values” mesh with what the Bible teaches, especially the Gospels.
Greater awareness of Mary Magdalene’s exceptional role in the events surrounding Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection and her leadership in the early church should not only help us do justice to her memory but also inspire us in our struggle for gender equality.
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, I came to the tomb. I came alone in that time before dawn, when fear and doubt get the best of us, and when God seems farthest away.
Wangerin shares the value of biblical imagination with students studying the foundations of Christianity. In his new book, Jesus—A Novel, he shares Christ’s message of discipleship, love, and equality.
Our zeal for biblical equality and justice may cause us to overlook the importance of respect, humility, and patience in our style of communicating, even though these qualities lend credibility to our service as egalitarian prophets.
Paralleling her return to the faith of her youth, Rice's new novel, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, marks the beginning of a profoundly new cycle in her authorship.
