Summer Reading on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, Part I

 So you're interested in doing some summer reading on biblical manhood and womanhood? There are, of course, many good and faithful books and essays on the subject. But what complementarian works would be considered essential reading for someone wanting to learn more? Here are my own recommendations:

Pride of place must go to Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism, edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem. It was voted Book of the Year in 1992 by Christianity Today readers, and it remains a solid exposition of biblical teaching on the subject. A host of evangelical authors contribute exegetical and theological studies; studies from other disciplines such as church history, biology, and law; and essays offering applications and implications of the complementarian view.  Readers can pick and choose chapters on topics that interest them most. RBMW is available in its entirety on the CBMW website.

Wayne Grudem is a faithful and godly evangelical scholar who has devoted much of his life to writing and teaching on biblical manhood and womanhood. Of his many writings on this subject, two deserve special consideration. Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth: An Analysis of More Than 100 Disputed Questions is Grudem's magnum opus on the biblical teaching on gender. As with RBMW, this book is a reference work. It is set up in a Q&A format, and allows one to look up specific questions of concern. This book is also available in its entirety online.

Another helpful book by Grudem is Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism? Having examined the methods of interpretation followed by egalitarian authors, Grudem registers deep concerns that the authority of Scripture is being undermined. This debate is more serious than many Christians realize.

An essential book setting forth the complementarian understanding of a crucial biblical text is Women in the Church: An Analysis and Application of 1 Timothy 2:9-15, edited by Andreas Köstenberger and Thomas Schreiner. The editors have gathered some of the finest evangelical New Testament scholars-S. M. Baugh, Henry Scott Baldwin, and Robert Yarbrough (in addition to Köstenberger and Schreiner)-to examine every aspect of this controversial passage: background issues, word study, sentence structure, and interpretive approach. Finally, Dorothy Kelley Patterson pens a concluding chapter asking, "What Should a Woman Do in the Church?" This book is not to be missed.

In my opinion, the best brief exposition of the biblical teaching on gender roles by a single author is the essay by Thomas Schreiner in Two Views on Women in Ministry, edited by James Beck. In fifty-seven pages, Schreiner masterfully defends the complementarian perspective from Scripture (primarily-but not solely-focusing on the question of women in ministry). In addition he offers responses to the volume's other contributors. If you want a solid exposition that covers a lot of ground in a relatively short space, this is it.

Tomorrow: More books and articles.