Gender, Culture, & the Bible

Week Eleven: I Tim 3

2008-06-17T17:43:00.000-07:00

Listen to the Lecture here:
I Timothy 3

And here's the Handout:
I Timothy 3 handout

Week Ten: I Timothy part. A

2008-06-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

This week we continued our discussion about women leading in Church

Here is the Audio: I Timothy 2

Here is the Handout:
Deacon(esses), Authority, & Church

And some further study:

Week Nine: Key Women (and a few others)

2008-05-27T08:22:00.000-07:00

This week we talked about women's leadership in the Bible. From Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah to Anna, Phoebe, and Junia. We spent a bit of detail on the Greek bible and how difficult these passages can be--and spent some time discussing the nature of diokonia and apostolia--to help us understand if women held church offices in the early Christian community.

The Audio of the class is here: (this will take about 5 minutes to download)
Key Women (and some others)

The Handout is here:
Key Women Leaders

Further Readings:
Women in the Pauline Mission
Women's Service in the Church: The Biblical Basis
A Female Apostle?
Women in the Church: A Biblical Survey
Phoebe: The Ministry of Women in the Early Church
Paul Praises a Woman Apostle

Week Eight: A Discussion of Gender in Corinth

2008-05-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

This was an exciting week as we had a guest speaker, the Rev. Drew Henderson of Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) come in and discuss his views on gender with Pastor Giorgio. During it you will see them work through their takes on the 1 Corinthians 11 and 1 Corinthians 14. Those passages are pasted below.

Listen to the audio here: (should take about 5 minutes to download)
Revs. Drew Henderson and Giorgio Hiatt Discuss Corinthians

And some outside reading here:
Articles on Headcoverings
Praying and Prophesying in the Assembely: Schriener vs Fee
Gender Roles and The Glory of God
Christ's Example
I Cor 11 Comments
Keener on 1 Co 11
Women Ordination and the Bible
(See Richard Hays and NT Wright commentaries for more on Egalitarians positions)

I Corinthians 11:1-16

1Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 2I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings,just as I passed them on to you. 3Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. 5And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved. 6If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her
hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head. 7A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. 8For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; 9neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.
11In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.
12For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. 13Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 4Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. 16If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of
God.

I Corinthians 14:

26What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. 27If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. 28If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God.
29Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. 31For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. 32The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. 33For God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the congregations of the saints, 34women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. 36Did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? 37If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. 38If he ignores this, he himself will be ignored. 39Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.

Week Seven: Know How you are Reading

2008-05-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

Because the topic of women and authority in the church is such a difficult one, we suspended our regular programming to talk about how we read the scriptures. The fancy word for it is hermeneutics--the science and art of reading fairly and well. From starting with a posture of humility to issues of coherence and trust, from trajectory approaches to the Scripture to things like typology, we explore the main ways we do read and some of the ways we ought to read.

The Audio: (this download should take about 5 minutes)
Heremeutics and Reading Well

The Handout:
Know How are You Reading

Supplemental Readings:
Toward an Egalitarian Hermeneutic
Reveiw of Biblical Hermeneutics and Gender
Avoiding Fallacies of Interpretation

Week Six: Gen 3:16b & Sumbission?!#@$

2008-05-09T06:48:00.000-07:00

We start with a summary of our previous class and then head right into Gen 3:16b, one of the more contreversial of the passages we'll study. Depending on the reading you take, it can determine how you read the rest of the issue--even the rest of Scripture. After establishing a preferred reading, we change subjects from gender and submission and move straight into submission in general--both Biblically with the Scriptures and theologically within the Trinity.

Here's the audio of the class: (this will take up to five minutes to download)
The "S" Word--Submission and Christianity

The Handout: (this handout has the previous week's topic on it as well)
Genesis 3:126b and Submission in General Handout

Supplemental Readings on sumbission not re: Gender:
Submission and Christianity
Embracing Authority

Supplemental Readings on Trinity and Submission:
The New Evangelical Subordinationsim
Orthodox Trinitarianism and Evangelical Feminism

Week Five: First Things

2008-05-09T06:41:00.000-07:00

We return from a discussion of experience to a discussion of the way the debate about women and authority has been set for us. Unfortunately it is set in dichotomy of two positions only with very little opportunity for nuance. But in order to study the subject one has to be familiar with the terminology and structure of the present debate--even if we hope to change it toward something more civil

Here's the audio from the class (this could take up to 5 minutes to download)
Framing the Discussion

Here's the class handout: (this handout has the next two lessons on it)
First Things Handout

And here was some extra reading:
Summary of Two Positions--Ware

Week Four: Women and Vocation

2008-05-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

Linda Otzenberger and Stephanie Dempsey guide us through what it's like to be women in the workforce in the last 20 years. They describe the pressure, injustice, idolatry, joy, and dignity that has been their own experience. They exhort us to shape our visions of women in the workplace on calling and not on the presuppositions of evangelical christendom. And it's really funny too!

Linda and Stephanie

Week Three: Women and Family

2008-05-07T13:24:00.000-07:00

Long-time members Charlie Marquardt and Sunya Folayan tell their experiences of being women at home...as daughters, spouses, siblings, and mothers. Listen as they lead us through issues of vocation, calling, independence, interdependence, social pressures, and the like. Here them describe their own struggles and the ways in which they are working toward redemption in home and community. Oh...and there are some absolute gems in this talk.

Charlie and Sunya

Week Two: Women and Church

2008-05-07T11:49:00.001-07:00

This week Kellie Brown and Amanda Bullen led us through their experiences of belonging to a church who has male elders. They describe the glory and the grunge of it in their stories. Listen as the explain their experiences, hopes, and exhortations. And listen for their heart struggle to honor those in authority over them and call out when they are sinned against. Some great tension in this conversation.

Kellie and Amanda

Week One: The Genesis of Gender

2008-05-07T11:30:00.001-07:00

We started our class with a discussion of gender equality and gender distinction. We talked about how male and female image God together, how gender is a celebrated capacity in the Bible, and how the Bible sees women as essential to community, family, and church.

Here is the audio from the class: (it should take a few minutes to download).
Gender Intro

And here is the handout:
The Genesis of Gender: Handout