If you can only read one book this summer, you must read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseine. This is the author of Kite Runner, an award-winning novel. In this new book, Hosseine tells the story of 2 Afganistan women living through the warfare in that country. It is fascinating. I could not lay it down. Check here for a book review: The Saving Shards of Sacrifice by Genevieve S. Kineke. I am hoping you are all reading more than one book but this is really a winner. I love fiction - especially fiction rooted in fact. You will weep as you read about the lifestyles of these Muslim women. Let me know what you think about this book if you get the chance to read it this summer.

Summer Reading

Thanks to the blog God's Word to Women who alerted me to a new book on gender entitled, Finally Feminist: A Pragmatic Understanding of Gender. The following quote is from a review in Books & Culture on Christianity Today,

"Finally Feminist lays this paradigm out. From Genesis to Revelation, Stackhouse argues, God's overriding purpose in working with his creation is to make the truth of the gospel in Christ clear. To accomplish this, God works within human culture, rather than wiping it out and starting fresh. His acts of redemption are limited by the human context in which they take place. As an example, Stackhouse points to the miracles of the Gospels. Jesus did not heal everyone, or raise everyone from the dead, even though this was well within his capacities. Rather, he limited his miracles so that they acted as "signs of the inbreaking of the kingdom through him and thus signs of his authority and identity." In the particular time and place of the Incarnation, this served God's sovereign purposes."

This fits well into a Christian sociological analysis of feminism and I look forward to adding it to my summer reading list. That list grows longer each day and this is still the first week of summer vacation! If you have read this book, let me know what you think.

Research On Female Christian Students

Christians for Biblical Equality has been instrumental in initiating research into the gendered experiences of women at Christians colleges. They are basing their research within the CCCU (Coalition of Christian Colleges and Universities). Here is a feature from their latest electronic publication:

E-Quality

You will note that they cite research that was conducted by myself and my daughter concerning this topic. My daughter and I continue to be involved in collecting data surrounding this topic. It is important that this research be expanded beyond Cedarville University and I am pleased that this seems to be happening thanks to CBE!

Educating Women

It is finals week at Cedarville and as I watch students scurry through the cold from one frantic exam to the next, I am reminded how fortunate we all are to be at a place that we are able to learn and expand our minds, especially those of the female gender. Today I read the amazing statistic that one in four countries around the world do not provide formal education for their girl children (read more about this at Just Tryin'). It was not until late in life that I felt the pull toward higher education, well, at least it was not in my twenties! Education has opened so many doors for me. I am a different person today than I was before I went back to college. Yet I think many Christian females still feel that education is a man's world. Most of our Christian professors are male, most of our learning in higher education comes from males, and few aspire to degrees beyond the bachelor's degree. There is no doubt about the glass ceiling that exists for women in higher education. It permeates the board room, the deans and VP positions, and even the paychecks. The reality for women in higher education is that they will work twice as hard as a man to climb the ladder from the classroom to positions of power, especially in the Christian college environment. Just being a woman in the classroom in a Christian environment is an anomaly. So, as we take a break from education over the next weeks, I will also take a deep breath as I step down from the ledge of my gendered walk here and fortify myself for a new start in the new year. There will be little wiggle room on the ledge - there never has been for women. Still, I find it an exhilarating and provocative profession!

Evangelicals & Divorce

This month's issue of Christianinty Today has an interesting article on divorce. Here is an excerpt:

If nothing else, it may suggest a reason why the divorce rate is so high among evangelicals—though, of course, that's merely speculative. Our current understandings of marriage inadvertently pit husband and wife against one another: as leader and assistant, or as two individuals protecting their prerogatives. The Ephesians metaphor moves to a climax, so to speak, of the two becoming one. I can't help but wonder if the divorce rate in the church might decrease if we would recognize the mystery of God fusing a husband and wife into "one flesh." It's not very disturbing for a leader to break up with his assistant, or for two equal individuals to decide to go their own ways. But it is utterly disconcerting to imagine a bloody rupture between a body and its head. That's why God hates divorce (Mal. 2:16), and that's why he commands every husband to cleave to his wife.

(http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/011/30.59.html)

It has puzzled me for a long time why our divorce rate matches that of the secular world. We spend so much time talking about abstinence, waiting for your "true love," and roles in marriage that you would think we would be more committed to the institution of marriage.

Recently my body has taken a real hit. I can relate to this article! I discovered I would do whatever was necessary to take care of the hurting spots! It is my opinion that more marriages would be improved if husbands treated their wives as they would their hurting bodies!

One thing I disagreed with in the article is that the term "Christian feminist" is used as a way of escaping submission. I don't hear any evangelicals advising women to NOT submit. What I do hear is a call for mutual submission. Somehow, calling for each of us to submit to one another has been translated into women refusing to submit!

Let me know what you think.

Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, & Tizrah
Daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 26)

The current issue of Mutuality Spring 2005 includes an interesting article about a Bible story I had never heard before. It is the story of the daughters of Zelophehad, found in Numbers 26. These 5 sisters were the only offspring of one of the Israelites who died in the desert on the way to the Promised Land. As females, they were denied, by Israelite custom, of the laws of inheritance that would have given property in the Promised Land to the sons of deceased men. Together, these sisters appealed to Moses concerning the unfairness of this gendered reality - namely that their father's name would not be honored in the Promised Land simply because he had no male offspring. Moses was touched by their appeal and took their request to the Lord. God told Moses to grant their request,"What Zelophehad's daughters is saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance amoung their father's relatives and turn their father's inheritance over to them. (Num. 27:7 NIV)"

This was a bold move by women in that day. Typically, women had no rights at all according to Judiac law. We see through this story that God does not desire this for women. He desires for women to be treated fairly and equally in all instances.

Today we should be bold as these daughters and appeal to those who are in authority for equal standing with men both in the church, in our communities, in the workplace, and in the home. It is a bold move today as it was then. I am sure there was murmuring that occurred in the camp of the Israelites when the daughters dared to ask for something previously denied to women. Today we hear the same retort - why do women need to always clamor for roles of equality? We need to clamor in order to be heard. It is not sinful to request equality. It is what God desires for us.

I wonder why this story is buried within the OT and rarely discussed or preached? If you are intereseted in more about the daughters, visit the Mutuality website.

Women of the Bible

I am reading another interesting book about this gender issue in the church: 10 Lies the Church Tells Women: How the Bible Has Been Misused to Keep Women in Spiritual Bondage. (J.Lee Grady, 2000, Charisma House Publication). The following is taken from pg. 36:

In conservative Christian circles women are expected to live contentedly in the background - presumable to focus on domestic duties - because this is their humble, god-ordained "place" in life. It's a place of invisible service and of godly but quiet influence over children and the home, or perhaps over the church nursery, Sunday school class or women's bible study.

Women, of course, are told it is an honor to live in the shadow of their husbands or other male authorities and a disgrace for them to assume a place of significant spiritual authority. But we need to ask: Where did we get this warped idea when it was not the perspective of Jesus Christ, nor is it promoted anywhere in the Scripture?

The bible, in fact, contains a rich record of women who were placed in authority by God. We must consider the way God used them before we attempt to pull an isolated Scripture out of context to build a doctrine that restricts the ministry opportunities of women. Consider the following biblical women and the level of authority they were given;

Miriam (Exodus 15:20)
Deborah (Judges 5)
Huldah (2 Kings 22:14)
Esther (Book of Esther)
Phoebe (Rom. 16:1-2)
Pricilla (Acts 18:24-26)
Philip's Daughters (Acts 21:9)
Lois and Eunice (1 Tim. 2:12)
Junia the Apostle (Rom. 16:7)

I will stop there but the list goes on. Women had major roles of leadership all through the Bible. Yet women today are denied roles of leadership except under the auspices of men. Women can lead as long a man says it ok to lead. As long as he has the final authority to say when to stop leading. As long as she does it with the approval of a man who remains in the room to observe that she does not overstep her authority over man. Now, obviously, not all women in the Bible were leaders. Not all women today are called into leadership. However, for some women, this will be a role that she feels especially equipped to fulfill and since there is clearly a model of female leadership from the Bible, it would be wrong to prevent her from filling a role for which she has been prepared for by God.

Women of the Bible

I am reading another interesting book about this gender issue in the church: 10 Lies the Church Tells Women: How the Bible Has Been Misused to Keep Women in Spiritual Bondage. (J.Lee Grady, 2000, Charisma House Publication). The following is taken from pg. 36:

In conservative Christian circles women are expected to live contentedly in the background - presumable to focus on domestic duties - because this is their humble, god-ordained "place" in life. It's a place of invisible service and of godly but quiet influence over children and the home, or perhaps over the church nursery, Sunday school class or women's bible study.

Women, of course, are told it is an honor to live in the shadow of their husbands or other male authorities and a disgrace for them to assume a place of significant spiritual authority. But we need to ask: Where did we get this warped idea when it was not the perspective of Jesus Christ, nor is it promoted anywhere in the Scripture?

The bible, in fact, contains a rich record of women who were placed in authority by God. We must consider the way God used them before we attempt to pull an isolated Scripture out of context to build a doctrine that restricts the ministry opportunities of women. Consider the following biblical women and the level of authority they were given;

Miriam (Exodus 15:20)
Deborah (Judges 5)
Huldah (2 Kings 22:14)
Esther (Book of Esther)
Phoebe (Rom. 16:1-2)
Pricilla (Acts 18:24-26)
Philip's Daughters (Acts 21:9)
Lois and Eunice (1 Tim. 2:12)
Junia the Apostle (Rom. 16:7)

I will stop there but the list goes on. Women had major roles of leadership all through the Bible. Yet women today are denied roles of leadership except under the auspices of men. Women can lead as long a man says it ok to lead. As long as he has the final authority to say when to stop leading. As long as she does it with the approval of a man who remains in the room to observe that she does not overstep her authority over man. Now, obviously, not all women in the Bible were leaders. Not all women today are called into leadership. However, for some women, this will be a role that she feels especially equipped to fulfill and since there is clearly a model of female leadership from the Bible, it would be wrong to prevent her from filling a role for which she has been prepared for by God.

Dominating women?????

I am reading another interesting book about this gender issue in the church: 10 Lies the Church Tells Women: How the Bible Has Been Misused to Keep Women in Spiritual Bondage. (J.Lee Grady, 2000, Charisma House Publication). The following is taken from pg. 36:

In conservative Christian circles women are expected to live contentedly in the background - presumable to focus on domestic duties - because this is their humble, god-ordained "place" in life. It's a place of invisible service and of godly but quiet influence over children and the home, or perhaps over the church nursery, Sunday school class or women's bible study.

Women, of course, are told it is an honor to live in the shadow of their husbands or other male authorities and a disgrace for them to assume a place of significant spiritual authority. But we need to ask: Where did we get this warped idea when it was not the perspective of Jesus Christ, nor is it promoted anywhere in the Scripture?

The bible, in fact, contains a rich record of women who were placed in authority by God. We must consider the way God used them before we attempt to pull an isolated Scripture out of context to build a doctrine that restricts the ministry opportunities of women. Consider the following biblical women and the level of authority they were given;

Miriam (Exodus 15:20)
Deborah (Judges 5)
Huldah (2 Kings 22:14)
Esther (Book of Esther)
Phoebe (Rom. 16:1-2)
Pricilla (Acts 18:24-26)
Philip's Daughters (Acts 21:9)
Lois and Eunice (1 Tim. 2:12)
Junia the Apostle (Rom. 16:7)

I will stop there but the list goes on. Women had major roles of leadership all through the Bible. Yet women today are denied roles of leadership except under the auspices of men. Women can lead as long a man says it ok to lead. As long as he has the final authority to say when to stop leading. As long as she does it with the approval of a man who remains in the room to observe that she does not overstep her authority over man. Now, obviously, not all women in the Bible were leaders. Not all women today are called into leadership. However, for some women, this will be a role that she feels especially equipped to fulfill and since there is clearly a model of female leadership from the Bible, it would be wrong to prevent her from filling a role for which she has been prepared for by God.