When a colleague of mine in the mission field was preparing to move back home, she gave me a stack of old Mutuality magazines. I was interested enough to take time to read through them, and as I did, some of the personal stories touched me deeply. I found my own story in the writings of women who had been hurt in ministry, and I realized I had discovered a revolutionary message. I felt a sense of freedom and joy well up inside me. When I saw male-female relationships from an egalitarian perspective, I felt like I was encountering a complete gospel for the first time. Seven years have passed since CBE’s message first touched me, and I have been privileged to work with other egalitarians and share the vision of biblical equality with Christians in my home country, Finland.
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My name is Muylen Orng, and God has called me to serve the women of Cambodia by bringing them a message of biblical equality. My journey began when I was very young, when God placed in me the dream of going to college. I was born and raised in Kompong Thom Province, in central Cambodia, north of the capital, Phnom Penh. I am one of three siblings, and the second daughter in my family. Most Cambodian women do not attend college, but when I finished high school in 2002, I asked my parents for permission to continue studying at a university in Phnom Penh. (In my culture, it is important to have the approval of your family and relatives before making major decisions.)
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This year, my wife, Christine, and I celebrate four years since we discovered biblical equality. God used this simple discovery to teach us a radically different understanding about his will concerning the relationship between women and men. It has changed our lives and it is already confronting the patriarchy of the culture and church in Kenya.
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The Handbook of Women Biblical Interpreters is a groundbreaking resource for CBE members, fitting perfectly into the trajectory of CBE's mission to enable women and men to minister in the church together as equals. Throughout history, the church has benefitted from the teachings and writings of many great luminaries, from Augustine to Dietrich Bonheoffer—men who devoted and even risked their lives pursuing understanding, teaching, and living out God's word. Taylor and Choi's book clearly illustrates that women also have been reading, studying, writing, and teaching the Bible all throughout the church's history.
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Lisa Stephenson relates the purpose of her book in her concluding chapter rather than in her introduction. Her purpose is to address the theological tenets "that have sustained and justified the subjugation of women in ministry within Pentecostalism ..." (191). She writes as a Pentecostal (Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee) to Pentecostals and relies heavily upon Pentecostal scholars such as Gordon Fee, Cecil M. Robeck Jr., Roger Stronstad, Veli-Matti Karkkainnen, and Edith Blumhofer.
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Who has authority and who does not? This question drives many debates in the church today, and the conclusions drawn from it determine how people can function. But very rarely do we ask the question, what is authority?
We propose a reframing of authority that defines how we function as a Christ-centered community. Being a Christ-centered community should be our primary concern, and, from this pursuit, our understanding of authority should arise. This article seeks to examine new-covenant believer (NCB) interpersonal authority, questioning the appropriateness of individuals exercising authority over fellow disciples of Jesus.1 We contend that we must primarily emphasize how to mature as members of Christ’s communal body and how to exhort others toward maturity, so that we, as a Christ-centered community, might fully express who Jesus is to the world. This maturity is dependent on a proper understanding of the authority of God, not on the authority of one person over another. By seeing authority in this way, we shift emphasis from office and position to maturity and gifting. And, since maturity in Christ is the goal of all believers, and all have gifts from the Spirit, these qualifications should dictate function. One practical way this understanding of authority can be applied is to the issue of women in leadership within the church.
This article will attempt to reflect Scripture’s emphasis on community, then survey Scripture’s lack of emphasis on NCB interpersonal authority, and, finally, close with practical implications of what such a reorientation would mean for the body of Christ and, consequently, the issue of women in church leadership.
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Does it really matter what the Bible says about man and woman? Jesus repeatedly affirmed the Scriptures to be God’s word. Paul affirms that all Scripture is God-breathed. The Bible is God’s perfectly holy word and has final authority on all matters, including man and woman.
So when some argue that the Bible opposes the equal standing of man and woman in the church and home, they are taking the issue to the final court of appeals, as they should. Twelve seemingly strong biblical pillars support their argument...
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The doctrine of the Trinity is the primary doctrine of the Christian faith. It expresses our distinctive Christian understanding of God. Sadly, many contemporary evangelicals are inadequately informed on this doctrine, and the evangelical community is deeply and painfully divided on this matter. In seeking to promote unity among evangelicals by establishing what is to be believed about our triune God, I outline in summary what I conclude is the historic orthodox doctrine of the Trinity and then provide a biblical and theological commentary on my summary in a second and longer article, which follows.
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This very accessible book is an excellent place to start one's exploration into what has come to be called the "New Subordinationism" in current evangelical discussions of the Trinity. Author Nancy Hedberg, who is vice president for student life at Corban University in Salem, Oregon, is accustomed to communicating with young college students and brings that clarity over to her discussion of theology.
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This lecture examines the use of gender-oriented language in the history of the English Bible, emphasizing the clarification of women in leadership roles and full participation in the community of faith.
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