{"id":1679,"date":"2013-07-17T00:00:54","date_gmt":"2013-07-17T05:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.twocities.org\/?p=1679"},"modified":"2013-07-22T11:10:54","modified_gmt":"2013-07-22T16:10:54","slug":"women-teaching-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/?p=1679","title":{"rendered":"WOMEN TEACHING MEN…OH MY!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

A few preliminary matters…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wayne Grudem approached me in 1992 to be the first director of what has now become the “Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.” \u00a0I said “no” mainly because my interests are far too diverse to focus on any single issue.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I lean towards a more “conservative” (or commonly called complementarian position) when it comes to gender roles. \u00a0I use the word lean<\/em> by design as there are some practical implications which continue to nag.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recently, I had an email exchange with a gracious person who holds a Ph.D in New Testament and who happens to hold a complementarian position. \u00a0We talked about my concerns, but I found his perspective less than persuasive.\u00a0 Here are three issues I shared:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022It strikes me as arbitrary to allow women to teach the Bible when it comes to the written word, but not to the oral word. \u00a0For example, many conservatives used to quote Susan Foh’s work, Women and the<\/em> Word of God<\/em>, but they would not have someone like her preach from the pulpit. \u00a0So her book can inform the sermons of pastors, but she wouldn’t be allowed to preach. \u00a0Many other examples could be added.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022Most complementarians extol the value of women teaching children’s Sunday school, yet would not allow women to teach adult males. \u00a0Are we then saying that children have less value or that it is not so dangerous to deceive the minds of our little ones? \u00a0Jesus had some pretty tough things to say about those who lead children astray.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022Why the virtual silence about Beth Moore speaking at the Passion conference? \u00a0John Piper, whom I respect very much, has never to my knowledge raised any concern. \u00a0Why the silence not just from him, but of so many others? \u00a0My interlocutor believes things like the Passion conference are different from the local church. \u00a0Granted, one could argue there is some distinction, but I find making a sharp disjunction unpersuasive.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So what do you think? \u00a0I have read many of the answers of complementarians on these matters and they strike me as forced.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I believe women can teach mixed groups as long as they are under the authority of godly men. \u00a0I gladly admit I could be wrong, but I also find it odd that my own position is hardly ever mentioned as a viable one within the complementarian camp.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A few preliminary matters… Wayne Grudem approached me in 1992 to be the first director of what has now become the “Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.” \u00a0I said “no” mainly because my interests are far too diverse to focus on any single issue. I lean towards a more “conservative” (or commonly called complementarian position) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-learningeducation","category-teaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1679"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1751,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1679\/revisions\/1751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}