Annotated Bibliography for Gender-Related Books in 2002
Rob Lister
In this issue of the journal we profile some of the most significant gender-related books from 2002. Here is a brief reminder about the categories we are using and our intent in using them. By Complementarian we simply seek to designate an author who recognizes the full personal equality of the sexes, coupled with an acknowledgment of role distinctions in the home and church. By Egalitarian then, we intend to classify evangelical authors who see only undifferentiated equality, i.e. they see no Scriptural warrant for affirming male headship in the home or the church. Under the Non-Evangelical heading, we have classified important secular works as well as books that broach the subject of biblical gender issues from a religious, albeit, non-evangelical point of view. This category also serves as our classification for Liberal scholars wanting to retain some sort of Christian identity. Finally, with respect to the Undeclared heading, we have listed those books that do not give sufficient indication of their fundamental stance for us to classify them more specifically.
Complementarian Authors/Books
Brownback, Lydia. Legacy of Faith: From Women of the Bible to Women of Today. Phillipsburg, N.J.: P&R Publishing, 2002.
Brownback examines the lives of twenty-four women of the Bible, with a view to connecting the lessons of their lives to the challenges that contemporary women face in our own day. She insightfully identifies the principles at work and points out their relevant applications.
Cornes, Andrew. Divorce and Remarriage: Biblical Principles and Pastoral Practice. Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus, 2002.
After a thorough engagement with the relevant texts, Cornes concludes that divorce is allowable in the case of infidelity but that remarriage should never be considered a viable option. After drawing his conclusions, he then proceeds to an extensive section on pastoral application, wherein he offers suggestions for the ministerial application of this view in local congregations.
DeMoss, Nancy Leigh, ed. Biblical Womanhood in the Home. Wheaton: Crossway, 2002.
DeMoss has edited a very fine collection of essays by several leading female complementarians. The volume is designed to instruct and encourage Christian women in the face of massive cultural opposition to comple-mentarity. Accordingly, the authors unite around a simple but profound theme: God has manifest his glory in creating us male and female-fully equal in person-hood though designed for different functions. From that common ground then, the chapters spread out to cover a variety of issues, from the theological (e.g. knowing God as Father) to the practical (e.g. how to establish a Titus 2 mentoring program in the local church).
DeMoss, Nancy Leigh. Brokenness: The Heart God Revives. Chicago: Moody, 2002.
DeMoss has correctly seen that genuine revival is accompanied by brokenness-the right recognition of our sinful state, on the one hand, and the majestic splendor of who God is, on the other. From this basic thesis, she unfolds a winsome and personally vulnerable exposition of brokenness.
Graham, Anne. Womanhood Revisited: A Fresh Look at the Role of Women in Society. Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus, 2002.
Following an overview of the dramatic cultural shifts in the twentieth century, Graham looks back to God's created intention for manhood and womanhood and discovers a complementarian intent-equal in personhood and worth, distinguished according to function. Upon tracing this theme through the biblical history, she then turns to relating these truths to women in the twenty-first century. For all that is helpful about her book, we must nevertheless disagree with her limited application of 1 Tim 2:8-15 only to the regular preaching ministry of a local congregation. This view fails to recognize the elder-like responsibilites in teaching the faith that theology professors and itinerants bear.
Grudem, Wayne, ed. Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood. Wheaton: Crossway, 2002.
This compilation is a veritable tour de force of several of the exegetical and theological underpinnings of complementarianism. The authors repeatedly demonstrate the sanity of a hermeneutic that is conscribed by authorial intent. In their theological formulations, they are careful to account for all the relevant data. Conversely, the egalitarian positions on these issues are often shown to fall back on special pleading.
Grudem, Wayne and Dennis Rainey, eds. Pastoral Leadership for Manhood and Womanhood. Wheaton: Crossway, 2002.
In this volume, the contributors furnish pastors and other church leaders with a bounty of biblical wisdom for equipping the church to deal with the abundance of marital and family issues confronting local congregations today. With penetrating insights and practical application, the authors engage a spectrum of issues ranging from ministry to homosexuals, to responses to domestic violence, to the cultivation of a man-friendly church atmosphere, to pastoral responsibilities in encouraging romance. In a day when so many of these concerns beg for the attention of church leaders-but do not receive it-we owe the contributors to this volume a great debt of gratitude.
Hill, Michael. The How and Why of Love: An Introduction to Evangelical Ethics. Kingsford, Australia: Matthias Media, 2002.
This is not, properly speaking, a text on gender issues. Rather, it is a thoughtful, biblical-theological approach to thinking through ethical issues, some of which center on marriage, sexuality, procreation, etc. Hill's approach to engaging ethical questions is a fruitful model for evangelical ethics.
James, Sharon. God's Design for Women: Biblical Womanhood for Today. Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 2002.
James presents a fine exposition of complementarianism. Her keen biblical interpretation is complemented by her practical insights in applying the biblical data to questions of women in ministry today. Readers will find both the European perspective and fine academic interaction of James' book helpful and instructive on a wide range of issues. This is a must read for those truly wanting to understand biblically and theologically God's design for women.
Kitchen, John A. Embracing Authority: The Challenge of Living God's Way in God's World. Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus, 2002.
Kitchen has seen the great folly of human sinfulness: we are rebels against God's rightful authority. This folly has been magnified to the extreme in our day, where virtually any mention of authority is seen to be some sort of illegitimate power grab. In the face of this mentality, Kitchen calls on us to reclaim the goodness and wisdom of the authority structures-including those in the family and the church-established by God.
Patterson, Dorothy Kelley. The Family: Unchanging Principles for Changing Times. Nashville: Broadman and Holman, 2002.
Patterson, once again, displays her characteristic wisdom (and wit) as it pertains to God's plan for the family. In a day and age of familial chaos-seen not least of all in the multiple efforts to redefine the family-Patterson's summons is simply to return to the biblical model. Parents will come away from this book with a great sense of conviction about the weight of their stewardship in their respective roles as mother and father. Yet they will also find great encouragement as they are reminded of the wisdom of God's plan.
Rainey, Dennis, ed. Building Strong Families. Wheaton: Crossway, 2002.
This is another gem in the series of 2002 Crossway releases on gender and family issues. Once again, the reader will encounter solid, biblically based council on a host of issues that should be receiving strategic attention in the church (e.g. raising masculine sons and feminine daughters, Titus 2 women's ministry, etc.), though all too often, it is not so.
Robertson, O. Palmer. The Genesis of Sex: Sexual Relationships in the First Book of the Bible. Philipsburg, N.J.: P & R Publishing, 2002.
Robertson undertakes a thorough study of all the forms (over 20) of sexual relationships encountered in the book of Genesis. From God's intent for marriage all the way to adultery and rape, Robertson investigates the sexuality found in the book of beginnings with a view to recapturing God's good design for sexual relatedness in the midst of our sexually confused day.
Ryken, Leland. The Word of God in English: Criteria for Excellence in Bible Translation. Wheaton: Crossway, 2002.
Ryken takes on the recent but seemingly reigning Bible translation theory, often called "dynamic equivalence." In its place, Ryken offers a thorough literary analysis and proposal of what he terms "essentially literal" translation. By "essentially literal," he recognizes that the "syntax must be English rather than Hebrew or Greek" and he allows that incomprehensible idioms may be brought over conceptually instead of literally (10). Apart from these deviations, however, Ryken argues that translators must stay as close to the original wording of the Greek and Hebrew texts as possible. Indeed, the further we stray from "word for word" translation into the field of "thought for thought" translation is precisely the degree to which we make ourselves dependent on what certain translators think the text means as opposed to seeing a maximally equivalent reproduction of the original. Ryken warns that "dynamic equivalence" translations run the risk of flattening out the Bible, missing inter-canonical connections, and perhaps disregarding the unique expressions of the various biblical authors.
Egalitarian Authors/Books
Aune, Kristin. Single Women: Challenge to the Church? Carlisle, Cumbria: Paternoster, 2002.
Through her research with roughly 100 Christian single women, Aune attempts to address the particular challenges that face single women in the church. The majority of the book is concerned with reviewing the reflections of the various interviewees. She does present a chapter on her theology of singleness, and then concludes with some suggestions as to how the church can help make single women feel less disenfranchised. Interestingly, she interprets the teaching in 1 Cor 7 to mean merely that anyone who is presently unmarried has the gift of singleness. Of course, we're dealing with a misnomer here in the first place, because the issue in view is not "singleness" in the contemporary understanding, but celibacy. And in the context of 1 Cor 7, the gift of celibacy for the purpose of expanded ministry is identified as not burning with passion (v. 9). Beyond that, Aune sees very little differentiation between the genders other than transparently obvious physical differences, suggesting that a great deal of social construction lies behind more traditional understandings of gender distinctives.
Bauckham, Richard. Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002.
Bauckham attempts an in-depth study of each of the named women in the gospel narratives. He believes that such narratives allow for a "gynocentric" reading of Scripture that can balance the larger androcentric perspective in the text. Along the way, he concludes in favor of such things as the capital "A" apostleship of Junia (whom he identifies as the Joanna of Luke 8:1-3) in Rom 16:7.
Boyd, Gregory A. and Paul R. Eddy. Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002.
Boyd and Eddy have authored a text that seeks to outline the major views on a number of evangelical debates. In the course of this volume, the authors invest a chapter on the debate over women in certain ministry positions. (In the book's appendix, which is only available online at http://www.bakeracademic.com/acrossthespectrum/boydappendix.pdf, Boyd and Eddy briefly address twelve further issues, one of which concerns the question of submission and authority in the home.) In each case, the authors first outline the complementarian view followed by the egalitarian. Then the units end with a brief list of titles for further reading. Though the summaries are not long enough to sketch in a fully developed position, it does appear that the authors understand and attempt to give a fair summary of the complementarian position. Their stated intent is merely to outline the various positions and not to lobby their own. Of course, it's probably not a coincidence that the egalitarian view is given the last word.
Giles, Kevin. The Trinity and Subordinationism: The Doctrine of God and the Contemporary Gender Debate. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2002.
Giles' thesis involves a denial of the eternal functional subordination of the Son to the Father. In fact, he suggests that such a view falls outside the bounds of orthodoxy (25). This, of course, is a grievous misunderstanding, for orthodoxy does not hang on this debate. Indeed, there are no shortage of weaknesses in the book, not the least of which are his rhetoric and inflammatory charges against complementarians. Given the purposes and space constraints of the annotation, the weaknesses of Giles' Trinitarian model of gender roles deserve primary attention. First, he fallaciously argues that complementarians affirm eternal functional subordination on the basis of reading fallen male-female relationships back into the Godhead. The fact of the matter is that complementarians see male headship in the goodness of God's creation, prior to the Fall, and grounded in the very being of God. Secondly, Giles proposes a "mutual submission" model (103) for the members of the Trinity. The major oversight here, of course, is that there is no biblical category for the submission of the Father to the Son or Spirit. What Giles and others are unable to explain then, is why the Father is called "Father," a term which signifies authority. For a thorough review and critique by Peter R. Schemm, see JBMW 7/2 (Fall 2002) 67-78.
Instone-Brewer, David. Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002.
Instone-Brewer sets out to examine the biblical teaching on divorce and remarriage by closely investigating the Jewish and Greco-Roman worlds of the first-century, thereby suggesting that contemporary readers might be susceptible to hearing the biblical teaching on divorce and remarriage differently than a first-century counterpart. In laying out his conclusions, he readily acknowledges that he has arrived at different findings than the more traditional (though currently less popular) view, which would only allow divorce on the basis of the two NT exceptions and would not allow remarriage under any circumstances. Instone-Brewer thus argues, for instance, that both Jesus and Paul affirm the OT grounds for divorce, which include adultery, neglect, and abuse. And he further argues that both Jesus and Paul allow for remarriage after a "valid" divorce.
Kroeger, Catherine Clark and Mary J. Evans, eds. The IVP Women's Bible Commentary. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2002.
There is no avoiding the fact that this is a dangerous "commentary." In the first place, the title "commentary" is a misnomer for this book. As the editors indicate, great freedom was given to the various contributors such that some interacted with every passage in their assigned book, while others merely addressed themes, and still others limited their comments to a few select passages (xiv). Secondly, the volume is thoroughly egalitarian in its commentary on relevant passages and in the supplementary articles that are included. There is not enough space to critique each interpretation and each pertinent article. Suffice it to say that the authors trot out the fairly standard, yet unconvincing arguments, e.g. that Paul's prohibition on female authority and instruction over men in 1 Tim 2:9-15 was culturally limited to Ephesian women, when in actuality, Paul explicitly grounds the command in God's proper ordering of creation. Finally, there is thick irony in the mere production of this volume. The editors repeatedly labor the need for Scripture to be read through a different perspective, particularly that of women. But given the fact that egalitarians so stress the flattened out, undifferentiated equality of the sexes, it comes across as ironic that these editors and contributors saw a need to offer a specifically feminine reading of the Bible. Indeed, this is a "niche commentary." One is left to wonder then, whether the authors believe there is a gospel for women that is different from the one for men. Of course Galatians 3:28, properly interpreted, rules that out!
Strobel, Lee and Leslie Strobel. Surviving a Spiritual Mismatch in Marriage. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.
The Strobels offer a deeply personal reflection on what life was like when Leslie became a believer, while Lee remained an atheist. In the course of recounting their own story, they offer counsel to the believing partner in marriages of similar circumstances.
Van Leeuwen, Mary Stewart. My Brother's Keeper: What the Social Sciences Do (and Don't) Tell Us About Masculinity. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2002.
Van Leeuwen presents her findings and prescriptions for the contemporary ills facing males. While there is no doubt that men and boys are routinely facing the onslaught of an anti-masculine agenda, the resolution, contra Van Leeuwen, is not an egalitarianism that disallows male leadership. What is needed instead, is a return to seeing the beauty of God's created intention and an exhortation to young men-who have grown excessively comfortable in taking the back seat-to take on the leadership roles for which God has designed them.
Webb, Heather P. Redeeming Eve: Finding Hope Beyond the Struggles of Life. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002.
Webb, herself an ordained minister in the PC-USA, wants to encourage women to be vessels of healing. Accordingly, she uses her chapters to suggest a variety of ways in which women, in different contexts, might overcome their various struggles by releasing the powers of God's redemptive healing.
Witherington, Ben and Laura M. Ice. The Shadow of the Almighty: Father, Son, and Spirit in Biblical Perspective. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002.
The authors examine the doctrine of the Trinity by successively exploring the biblical references to Father, Son, and Spirit. Perhaps the most notable finding for our purposes is their conclusion (correctly) to retain the gender marked terms "Father" and "Son" in naming and speaking about God.
Non-Evangelical Authors/Books
Anderson, Katherine, Don Browning, and Brian Boyer, eds. Marriage: Just a Piece of Paper? Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002.
This book is the companion volume to the PBS documentary of the same name that originally aired on Valentine's Day 2002. It is basically composed of interviews with a range of people (from the unknown to Senators Lieberman and Brownback) who offer their reflections on different elements of marriage and family. Not surprisingly, there is plenty of diversity of opinion.
Bendroth, Margaret Lamberts and Virginia Lieson Brereton, eds. Women and Twentieth Century Protestantism. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2002.
The contributors to this volume attempt to provide snapshots of various dimensions of women's interaction with the theology, institutions, and movements of Protestantism in the twentieth century. Of particular note are chapters evaluating the Southern Baptist Convention and James Dobson's Focus on the Family.
Coakley, Sarah. Powers and Submissions: Spirituality, Philosophy and Gender. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 2002.
Remaining within the context of feminism, Coakley wants to argue that much of feminism has allowed a disconnect in its thinking by requiring that power and vulnerability are antithetical. In response, she lays out her proposal for connecting the two poles.
Culbertson, Philip L., ed. The Spirituality of Men: Sixteen Christians Write about Their Faith. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002.
Sometimes we come across books and wish we had another classification category (like "subversive" or "disgusting") because the potential damage that they might bring if given a wide hearing is very high. This is one of those books. But we will stay with the categories provided, and undeniably conclude that the vision of this volume easily exceeds the label "evangelical." In this volume sixteen men offer their reflections on reconstructed gender roles for men in an era of unsettled masculinity. At the outset, the editor posits that "these essays are very much about dying to old masculine gender roles and rising again into new ways of being men. To die to the old and rise to the new is to respond to the call of Christ " (xii). When you consider that the book includes chapters like "The Integration of Sexuality and Spirituality: Gay Sexual Prophets within the UFMCC," it becomes quite clear that their call to revise manhood is nothing short of unbiblical.
Gavora, Jessica. Tilting the Playing Field: Schools, Sports, Sex, and Title IX. San Francisco: Encounter, 2002.
Gavora argues that Title IX has been hi-jacked from an originally noble intent to the point that it now serves as the most explicit quota system in the country. And all of this social engineering comes at the expense of males and their opportunities in the classroom and on the playing field. Having been derailed from its original intent, Gavora believes that Title IX is now (and will continue to be) increasingly used by feminists and others to enforce an egalitarian view of gender equity; witness, for example, the Title IX suit that brought about changes in the PSAT because not enough women were National Merit Scholars (17).
Gebara, Ivone. Out of the Depths: Women's Experience of Evil and Salvation. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002.
The presupposition of Gebara's book is that evil and suffering have been chiefly reflected upon by men. Therefore she concludes a feminist perspective on evil and suffering is needed. Following that, she turns to an exposition of the unique feminist perspective on salvation.
Hewlett, Sylvia Ann. Creating a Life: Professional Women and the Quest for Children. New York: Talk Miramax, 2002.
Hewlett provides a fascinating glimpse at the rates of childlessness among professional women. Her study documents that it is not the case that professional women have opted out of childbearing. Rather, it is largely the case that they desperately want to have children, but get caught up in corporate culture and find themselves seduced by the promises of the fertility industry. Interestingly, after documenting all of this, Hewlett's council is not for wives to make family and children their primary area of focus. Rather, she concludes her book with some suggestions that she believes really will help women "have it all."
Malone, Mary T. Women and Christianity: From 1000 to the Reformation. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 2002.
Malone, who identifies herself as a Catholic feminist, picks up the second volume of her trilogy where the first left off. Herein she evaluates the lives of the Christian women over a five hundred year span, from the year 1000 to just before the Protestant Reformation.
Mitchem, Stephanie Y. Introducing Womanist Theology. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 2002.
Mitchem seeks to outline the distinctive contributions of "womanist" theology, where "womanist" theology, is seen to be related to feminist and liberationist theologies and yet also distinct from them, because "womanists" have the distinctive feature of being African American women. She proposes that the life experiences of black women offer vast resources to provide a new and needed theological perspective.
Parsons, Susan Frank, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Theology. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
This volume simply seeks to sketch the history and major distinctives of feminist theology, from feminist hermeneutics to God and gender language and everything in between.
Robert, Dana L., ed. Gospel Bearers, Gender Barriers. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 2002.
The diverse contributions to this volume center around a tension perceived to have plagued female missionaries in the twentieth century. The authors understand this tension to swirl around the thrill of obeying the Great Commission on the one hand and having to deal with the imposition of certain ministry limitations because of their gender on the other. The danger with such a mindset, of course, is that we may allow our subjective perceptions to run unchecked by the Scriptures.
Ruether, Rosemary Radford, ed. Gender, Ethnicity, and Religion: Views from the Other Side. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002.
Here is yet another book by feminists and their co-belligerents arguing that their experience of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, etc. ought to be construed as a source of theology. Of course, to follow this methodology is to adopt as many "readings" and "theologies" of the Bible as there are interest groups and ideologies which wish to remake its truth in their own images. Evangelicals must remain committed to discerning the theology inherent in the text itself that instructs and corrects any and all human thought forms. Herein lies one of the major differences between our evangelicalism and their liberalism.
Shepherd, Loraine MacKenzie. Feminist Theologies for a Postmodern Church. New York: Peter Lang, 2002.
Shepherd centers her book on a consideration of feminist theological method. In the first portion, she evaluates four major feminist methodological proposals, before turning towards her own proposal (drawing on perceived strengths in each of the four proposals surveyed) in the second section.
Steyer, James P. The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media's Effect on our Children. New York: Atria, 2002.
Steyer sets out to expose the vast influence of the media (e.g. radio, internet, television, etc.) on children in largely negative ways. He suggests the increasingly negative side of this influence has grown in proportion with the pursuit of the almighty dollar. In the course of his diagnosis, he suggests some practical measures that parents might take in guiding their children's exposure to the media.
Wilson, James Q. The Marriage Problem: How Our Culture Has Weakened Families. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.
Social scientist, James Q. Wilson points to the undeniable evidence that marriage is under attack in our culture, and he proceeds to show the severity of the consequences of the unraveling of this once culturally esteemed institution. Wilson documents a fascinating-if depressing-historical development that has led to society's present mentality towards marriage.
Yamaguchi, Satoko. Mary and Martha: Women in the World of Jesus. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis, 2002.
When, at the outset, Yamaguchi identifies Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza as one of her primary mentors, one is not left to wonder much as to the direction the book will take. Her charge is that the Bible has been given to us through male eyes. Consequently, she proposes to re-read the Johannine narrative of Mary and Martha from the perspective of a Japanese feminist, in a way that will challenge traditionally male-oriented readings.
Undeclared Authors/Books
Holmes, Wayne, ed. The Heart of a Father. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2002.
Holmes has compiled sixty reflections from a variety of authors (most of whom would identify with evangelicals) on the positive ways in which their respective fathers impacted them.
Lessin, Roy. Spanking: A Loving Discipline. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2002.
As the title clearly indicates, Lessin favors a model of parent-child discipline that includes spanking. This conclusion is rather simple since God's Word directs us to this course of action. What is less clear to many parents, according to Lessin, is when and how to spank as a part of loving correction. These constitute the primary concerns of his book.
Nicolosi, Joseph and Linda Ames Nicolosi. A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2002.
This is a very important book. The Nicolosis take on the psychological and politically correct establishment on the debate over homosexuality by stressing the importance of creating healthy family contexts in which young boys and girls can develop healthy gender identities. Indeed, their study reveals that such prevention goes a long way to avoiding homosexuality. Parents of young children especially will want to absorb the counsel that is offered here, so that they may provide capable guidance to their children during developmental years.
Robertson, Brian C. Forced Labor: What's Wrong With Balancing Work and Family. Dallas: Spence, 2002.
Not surprisingly, the statistical evidence indicates that children are the big losers when mothers attempt to "balance" work and family. The societal trend toward a two-income family has been pretty clear in recent years. Robertson seeks to determine why this shift away from the home has occurred. In a fascinating historical analysis, Robertson concludes that the common understanding of the purpose of work has shifted from something done to support a family to an avenue primarily of self-fulfillment. Finally, he offers some political policy suggestions that he believes would be more friendly to one-income families.
