Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: How the Church Needs to Rediscover Her Purpose
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
This book dismantles every mistruth that you've heard about the role of women in the Bible, her place in the church, and the patriarchal lie of so-called “biblical manhood and womanhood.” In its place, Aimee Byrd details a truly biblical vision of women as equal partners in Christ's church and kingdom.
The church is the school of Christ, commissioned to discipleship. The responsibility of every believer—men and women together—is being active and equal participants in and witnesses to the faith. And yet many women are trying to figure out what their place is in the church, fighting to have their voices heard and filled with questions:
Do men and women benefit equally from God's word?Are we equally responsible in sharpening one another in the faith and passing it down to the next generation?Do we really need men's Bibles and women's Bibles, or can the one Holy Bible guide us all?
The answers lie neither with radical feminists, who claim that the Bible is hopelessly patriarchal, nor with the defenders of “biblical manhood,” whose understanding of Scripture is captive to the culture they claim to distance themselves from.
Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood presents a more biblical account of gender, marriage, and ministry. It explores the feminine voice in Scripture as synergistic with the dominant male voice. It fortifies churches in a biblical understanding of brotherhood and sisterhood in God's household and the necessity of learning from one another in studying God's word.
Until both men and women grow in their understanding of their relationship to Scripture, there will continue to be tension between the sexes in the church. Church leaders can be engaged in thoughtful critique of the biblical manhood and womanhood movement, the effects it has on their congregation, and the homage it ironically pays to the culture of individualism that works against church, family, and a Christ-like vision of community.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this strong critique of the male-centric evangelicalism, Byrd (No Little Women), cohost of the Mortification of Spin podcast, promotes the validity and importance of women's involvement in church life. Patriarchy, she argues, has become so normative that it obscures evidence from the Bible and history that women are allowed, even called, to contribute, learn, and lead in the church. Complementarians (those who tout the complementary natures of men and women), Byrd argues, risk rendering complementarian theologies hollow (particularly to Christian women) by asserting male authority as part of God's design. The movement's narrow definition of "biblical manhood and womanhood," she says, also uses a false doctrine to support its premise and obscures the true goal for every Christian to become more like Jesus. She challenges church leaders to abandon the compulsion to define manhood and womanhood and rediscover practical and productive ways for women to contribute to their local congregations. This convincing work will appeal to ministers, both professional and volunteer, interested in the role of women in Christian communities.
