Southwestern Baptist seminary in Fort Worth, Texas is the largest seminary in the world. It is in the news as of late for two reasons related to gender. One is the dismissal of Dr. Sheri Klouda, mentioned in an earlier blog. She was fired from her Old Testament professorship because she is a woman.
The second story making headlines has to do with a new program on homemaking for women. This program fits with the new Southern Baptist emphasis on traditional gender roles. Of course, this emphasis plus the new program is disconcerting for those Christians who are open to women in ministry. See Martin Marty's column in Christian Century, for example. Marty is one of the most influential Christian writers in recent American history.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Deborah Cameron's new work on gender myths
Just when I was hoping that I had found some reliable data about gender issues, I read this review of Deborah Cameron's new work on communication and gender. It looks like some so-called wisdom about male and female differences in communication might not be too solid. The first paragraph of the review makes me glad that my marriage is not set in Papua New Guinea. Happy reading and no shouting, men or women.
You can read another review here. And for her faculty profile at Oxford, go here.
You can read another review here. And for her faculty profile at Oxford, go here.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Gender and Christian leadership
In class we talked about gender roles and different views of female leadership in the Church. To see how theological and biblical views play out in seminary education, check out the case of Dr. Sheri L. Klouda, a conservative Bible scholar who was dismissed from Southwestern Baptist Seminary because she is a woman. For one report on her case, go here. Professor Klouda now teaches at Taylor University and you can see her profile here.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Marriage and Divorce
I believe that Christians should know options on topics in ethics, so this posting provides various views on divorce and remarriage in terms of Biblical analysis.
For a listing of books on the topic see here.
David Instone-Brewer is one of the greatest scholars on the topic of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. He is a researcher at Tyndale House, Cambridge and a specialist on the Jewish context of N.T. teaching. See a profile of him here. His material on divorce and remarriage is here, here, and here. He argues that Jesus and Paul both duplicated the O.T.'s high view of marriage, discouragement of divorce, and yet the possibility of divorce because of adultery, desertion, and abuse (physical and emotional). As I mentioned in class, he has an article on this topic in Christianity Today magazine.
Surprisingly, some fundamentalist Christians argue against remarriage by stating that the words of Jesus in Matthew 19 do not apply to the church age. See this Way of Life article. For a conservative view that does not adopt this dispensationalist hermeneutic, go here.
The most influential evangelical writers arguing against remarriage are J. Carl Laney and Gordon Wenham. An outline of Laney's position can be downloaded here.
John Piper believes that remarriage is wrong though Bethlehem Baptist Church, where he pastors, has a more moderate position.
On practical issues related to remarriage see this important essay at smartmarriages.com.
For facts about the family see this website.
For a listing of books on the topic see here.
David Instone-Brewer is one of the greatest scholars on the topic of marriage, divorce, and remarriage. He is a researcher at Tyndale House, Cambridge and a specialist on the Jewish context of N.T. teaching. See a profile of him here. His material on divorce and remarriage is here, here, and here. He argues that Jesus and Paul both duplicated the O.T.'s high view of marriage, discouragement of divorce, and yet the possibility of divorce because of adultery, desertion, and abuse (physical and emotional). As I mentioned in class, he has an article on this topic in Christianity Today magazine.
Surprisingly, some fundamentalist Christians argue against remarriage by stating that the words of Jesus in Matthew 19 do not apply to the church age. See this Way of Life article. For a conservative view that does not adopt this dispensationalist hermeneutic, go here.
The most influential evangelical writers arguing against remarriage are J. Carl Laney and Gordon Wenham. An outline of Laney's position can be downloaded here.
John Piper believes that remarriage is wrong though Bethlehem Baptist Church, where he pastors, has a more moderate position.
On practical issues related to remarriage see this important essay at smartmarriages.com.
For facts about the family see this website.
Sex and Gender issues
We are now thinking in class about ethical issues related to sex, gender, marriage, divorce, and remarriage. To aid you in your ongoing work, here are some website tips related to gender and sexuality. I will deal with divorce and remarriage issues in another posting.
An egalitarian view on male and female roles is given at Christians for Biblical Equality while a more traditional perspective is offered by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
A traditional view is also defended by the dynamic teacher Mary Kassian.
Focus on the Family is a major site for evangelical, conservative Christian views. James Dobson is the founder.
One thing to remember: today there are virtually no conservatives (Christian or otherwise) who are arguing for a return to the "good old days" when women had no rights and were considered property. For a time line on when women gained freedoms in the USA go here. For data on women in Canadian history go here.
For a look at a leading radical feminist writer, visit the Andrea Dworkin website.
For other pro-feminist sites go to the Feminist Knowledge Network and Feminist Theology Online. Also, go to the National Organization of Women site and the Feminist Studies journal.
Christianity and feminism merge at the Christian + Feminist site.
For sites that deal with Women and Gender go to the Institute for Women’s Studies and Gender Studies (U of T) and the International Women’s Web Sites. Also, see the extensive links list here and here. And see WWWomen and Gender Inn. The Virtual Library on Women's History is also important.
For scholars who study sex and sexuality go to The Kinsey Institute and the International Academy of Sex Research. Also see the Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality and the National Sexuality Resource Center. See the links here for additional sites.
There has been some attack on the integrity of Today's New International Version (TNIV) in terms of the way its translators handle various issues related to gender. For a defense of the TNIV see the article by John R. Kohlenberger III here. [A technical note: the Firefox browser often freezes when opening pdf files, so you might want to use Internet Explorer or learn how to download with Firefox's pdf program.]
An egalitarian view on male and female roles is given at Christians for Biblical Equality while a more traditional perspective is offered by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
A traditional view is also defended by the dynamic teacher Mary Kassian.
Focus on the Family is a major site for evangelical, conservative Christian views. James Dobson is the founder.
One thing to remember: today there are virtually no conservatives (Christian or otherwise) who are arguing for a return to the "good old days" when women had no rights and were considered property. For a time line on when women gained freedoms in the USA go here. For data on women in Canadian history go here.
For a look at a leading radical feminist writer, visit the Andrea Dworkin website.
For other pro-feminist sites go to the Feminist Knowledge Network and Feminist Theology Online. Also, go to the National Organization of Women site and the Feminist Studies journal.
Christianity and feminism merge at the Christian + Feminist site.
For sites that deal with Women and Gender go to the Institute for Women’s Studies and Gender Studies (U of T) and the International Women’s Web Sites. Also, see the extensive links list here and here. And see WWWomen and Gender Inn. The Virtual Library on Women's History is also important.
For scholars who study sex and sexuality go to The Kinsey Institute and the International Academy of Sex Research. Also see the Center for Research on Gender and Sexuality and the National Sexuality Resource Center. See the links here for additional sites.
There has been some attack on the integrity of Today's New International Version (TNIV) in terms of the way its translators handle various issues related to gender. For a defense of the TNIV see the article by John R. Kohlenberger III here. [A technical note: the Firefox browser often freezes when opening pdf files, so you might want to use Internet Explorer or learn how to download with Firefox's pdf program.]
Thursday, October 11, 2007
The Family International
Part of our discussion on Wednesday October 10th dealt with the controversial religious movement The Family International and their infamous views/practices in regard to sex. The group was originally known as The Children of God and started in Huntington Beach, California in 1968. It was founded by David Berg who became known in the group as Dad, Moses David, and Father. Berg died in 1994.
The group celebrates its 40th anniversary this coming year.
For the movement's website go here. For a site that contains positive comments on the group, go here.
For sites that are critical of The Family International see XFamily, Moving On, Ex-Family, and CounterCog. For an evangelical Christian response to The Family see Making Things Straight.
HarperOne has just released Jesus Freaks by Don Lattin. It deals with the tragic case of Ricky Rodriquez, the son of Family leader Maria. In January 2005 Ricky killed long-time Family member Angela Smith and then killed himself. This murder-suicide led to renewed media attention on The Family International.
There is a memorial site by ex-members to Ricky here. The Family has a website in honor of him here and one for Angela here.
For an interesting case of alleged plagiarism, see this site on Family Art.
Not Without My Sister is an important autobiographical work by three sisters raised in the group. Also, Sam Ajemian, a former member, has written The Children of God Cult, aka The Family.
The group celebrates its 40th anniversary this coming year.
For the movement's website go here. For a site that contains positive comments on the group, go here.
For sites that are critical of The Family International see XFamily, Moving On, Ex-Family, and CounterCog. For an evangelical Christian response to The Family see Making Things Straight.
HarperOne has just released Jesus Freaks by Don Lattin. It deals with the tragic case of Ricky Rodriquez, the son of Family leader Maria. In January 2005 Ricky killed long-time Family member Angela Smith and then killed himself. This murder-suicide led to renewed media attention on The Family International.
There is a memorial site by ex-members to Ricky here. The Family has a website in honor of him here and one for Angela here.
For an interesting case of alleged plagiarism, see this site on Family Art.
Not Without My Sister is an important autobiographical work by three sisters raised in the group. Also, Sam Ajemian, a former member, has written The Children of God Cult, aka The Family.
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