Over the weekend I read chapter 3 of Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, Male-Female Equality and Male Headship: Genesis 1-3 by Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. In this short essay Raymond sets out to prove that both male-female equality and male headship were instituted by God at creation according to Genesis 1-3. Along the way he also critiques egalitarian interpetations of these Scriptures and attempts to combat male domination in contrast to male headship.
The second chapter of RBMW is in a question and answer format covering the most common objections of the complementarian position. The danger of a Q&A section such as this one is that the answerer is also playing the role of questioner, which can of course lead to the most diffcult questions being made, shall we say, easier, or for that matter left out completely. I am happy to report that in my opinion the authors of this section, John Piper and Wayne Grudem, pose all of the toughest questions, sharp edges intact, and provide serious, though concise, responses to them.
In the first chapter of RBMW our brother John Piper presents what he believes to be the essence of masculinity and femininity according to the Word of God. The vision presented in this paper is what the rest of the book seeks to prove and expound upon.
I let my expectations get ahead of me with this chapter and the result was frankly a lot of frustration. Throughout the chapter Piper makes numerous sweeping statements that caused me to again and again shout, internally at least, “Where is that in the Bible??”
We know you are there-almost sixty million of you in America. And we are listening. One of the most important things we have learned is that we do not know what it is like to be single in America today-at least not the way you know it.
The paper continues with 8 theses on the realities and purposes of singleness. It is easily the most compelling vision I have seen presented on the role of single men and women in the body of Church. At least half of it is made up of quotations from singles both within Scripture and outside of it.
Mark and I are alternating every week on who posts on Monday and who posts on Wednesday. On weeks where I post first (like this one) I’ll be sure to add a small post (like this one) letting you know when his parallel post is up. For weeks where I go second you can just look for a link to his post at the top of mine.
I published my first post today in the RBMW series on the books prefaces. I’m curious to see at the outset where you fall on this issue, so I created a little poll. Take two seconds and let me know where you are coming from. Feel free to comment about your answer especially if you voted for confused or other. :)
This post is part of a larger series of posts by Dwayne Forehand and Mark Tubbs on the book Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (RBMW). The entire book is available online for free here or buy it on Amazon. Click here for a complete list of posts in the series.
The Prefaces
The preface for the first edition of Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood was written by John Piper and Wayne Grudem. You can read it here.
The authors state that since the ’70s the feminist movement in society at large has increased and that the resulting movement of “evangelical feminism” has also increased. By “evangelical feminism,” the authors are speaking of those who hold to the tenets of feminism and also profess Jesus Christ as their lord and hold the Scriptures to be the authority on truth.
A large body of work had been produced during this time by evangelical feminists that the authors noted as being “persuasive to many Christians.” Though the vast majority of evangelicals had rejected this view, a controversy of huge proportion was only getting hotter.
This post is part of a larger series of posts by Dwayne Forehand and Mark Tubbs on the book Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (RBMW). The entire book is available online for free here or buy it on Amazon. Click here for a complete list of posts in the series.
About 2 weeks ago Mark Tubbs asked if I would be interested in doing a joint blogging series through a book. After some prayer and encouragement from my wife I’ve decided to do it.
The Book
The book is Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. This book was a group effort to say the least. Among those contributing are: John Piper, Wayne Grudem, J. Ligon Duncan III, Randy Stinson, John Frame and D. A. Carson.
The book is broken into 26 chapters or articles written by various authors. Each chapter/article can stand on its own in that one can read it separately from the rest of the book and have it still make sense.
There are numerous issues that relate to gender and the Bible that this book tackles. As a father, husband and brother I need to have a robust understanding of what God says to these topics so that I can first of all obey Him myself and then be able to encourage and correct those that I love around me.
The Format
Mark and I will be working through the book cover to cover. Each week we will both post our separate thoughts on the same chapter. We will take turns with one of us posting on Monday and the other on Wednesday.
What Do We Want From You?
Part of the reason Mark said he wanted to do this book with someone else was for the purpose of challenging each other to be faithful to the Scriptures. I’d simply ask for you to help with that as well.
Also this will be a long series (at least 6 months!) and so the encouragement of interacting with you can go a long way in keeping the endurance going. The entire book is available online for free, so if you’d like to read along for all or just part of the series then you can – for free!
This post is part of a larger series of posts by Dwayne Forehand and Mark Tubbs on the book Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (RBMW). The entire book is available online for free here or buy it on Amazon. For a complete list of posts in this series Click here for the series index.
Over the weekend I read chapter 3 of Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, Male-Female Equality and Male Headship: Genesis 1-3 by Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. In this short essay Raymond sets out to prove that both male-female equality and male headship were instituted by God at creation according to Genesis 1-3. Along the way he also critiques egalitarian interpetations of these Scriptures and attempts to combat male domination in contrast to male headship. 