Priscilla Papers | Academic Journal | Spring 2021
An interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed academic journal exploring Bible interpretation, theology, church history, and other disciplines as they address a biblical view of women’s equality and justice in the home, church, and world.
"Priscilla and Aquila instructed Apollos more perfectly in the way of the Lord." (Acts 18:26)
Academic JournalsThe 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 2021
Volume: 35 | Number: 2
"And bring the books..."
This issue of Priscilla Papers is all about books. Featured book reviews include both new and exciting egalitarian releases, like The Making of Biblical Womanhood by Beth Allison Barr, and also widely-used complementarian books, like Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem.
Contents
Following an article on Ephesians 5 that will be a game-changer for many readers’ thinking about headship, is a collection of book reviews.
The primary task when considering Paul's assertion, “the husband is the head of the wife,” should be discovering the meaning of this head-and-body metaphor, not arguing for an extended metaphorical sense of half of the metaphor—the single word, "head."
In The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth, Beth Allison Barr shares her personal story of rejecting complementarian views on male headship and female submission.
Cheryl Bridges Johns shines a new light on the dramatic transformation that takes place during perimenopause and menopause. She invites us to see menopause as more than a time of biological change by examining the psychological and spiritual aspects.
Marriage in the Middle is a collection of life vignettes and personal experiences that will resonate with every married couple. Greco encourages couples to face midlife with imagination and hope and offers transparency, intimacy, and insight for the journey.
Answering his title question in the affirmative, Giles forcefully argues that “headship teaching can encourage and legitimate domestic abuse and it must be abandoned if domestic abuse is to be effectively countered in our churches.”
Christian Egalitarian Leadership takes further steps toward broadening the issues (e.g., it is about more than gender) but also focuses on one essential aspect of the thriving of egalitarianism—leadership.
Wayne Grudem’s commitment to Scripture is to be commended, but his lack of serious engagement with key challenges undermines a work that has been over twenty years in the re-making. Those looking for an evangelical systematic theology that is up-to-date on recent theological and exegetical advances should look elsewhere.
How can the complementarian theology of the sexes not collapse if many complementarians themselves have agreed that their doctrine of a hierarchically ordered Trinity, on which they built so much, is heretical?
