Introduction
There are a few articles and blog posts (written by others) that I return to regularly for inspiration. Here are five of my all-time favourites, plus a fantastic series. They all critique, in some way, attitudes held by many Christians about the supposed roles of women and men. I hope they inspire and perhaps challenge you too.
1. On Being a Woman After God’s Own Heart: Biblical Womanhood, or Cultural Womanhood?
In this 2014 article, Jenny Rae Armstrong, a pastor in a Wesleyan church, explains that what often passes as “biblical womanhood” is culturally conditioned. Jenny Rae spent much of her childhood in Liberia. The Liberian women she grew up with didn’t have the luxury of engaging in the “frivolities of Western homemaking.” They were “women who hated violence and injustice, who acted on behalf of the vulnerable and oppressed, and who were willing to lay down their lives to bring about reconciliation.” Read Jenny Rae’s article on the CBE International website here.
2. Coming Out of Complementarianism
One of the things I hate most about complementarianism is the way it makes otherwise sensible women second-guess themselves and even doubt their integrity. Back in 2019, Lucy Peppiatt shared a letter on the TheoMisc blog. The letter captures the turmoil complementarianism can cause. You can read it and a follow-up note on the TheoMisc blog here. (I often share this blog post in replies to women who write to me and tell me they are doubting themselves.)
3. Weaker Sex? As if.
Australian missiologist Michael Frost critiques the idea of women as the weaker sex. He does this with a series of photos that show heroic women, young and old, risking their safety by peacefully confronting riot squads and soldiers in extremely tense and dangerous situations. Have a look at Mike’s blog here.
4. Surprising Men of the Old Testament
My friend Bronwen Speedie, a Baptist minister in Western Australia, has a short article looking at men in the Hebrew Bible and how they shape up in comparison with what is increasingly touted as “biblical manhood.” You can read Bronwen’s blog post on her website God’s Design – Perth here.
5. Why I am a Feminist and an Egalitarian (And Why They Aren’t the Same Thing)
In this 2013 blog post, Kate Wallace Nunnerly, pastor and co-founder of The Junia Project, writes that “both feminism and egalitarianism resist patriarchy as a corrupt and abusive system, but they do so in different ways and for different purposes.” Kate shares some personal stories and explains that “The world needs feminism because patriarchy … has taught us that the subjugation, objectification, and abuse of women is socially acceptable.” You can read Kate’s article on The Junia Project website here.
Series: Let Her Lead
I recommend James Pruch’s comprehensive 2021 – 2022 series Let Her Lead which looks at all the relevant Bible passages and is designed to encourage and champion the full participation of women in the life and leadership of the Church. James’s series is here. His podcast, Everday Disciples, is here. I was a guest on two recent episodes.
Image Credit
Photo by Joshua Abner via Pexels.
Explore more on my website
12 Christian Theology Blogs that Don’t Push Patriarchy
There are Women Pastors in the New Testament
What Does “Weaker Vessel” Mean in 1 Peter 3:7?
Are Men Physically Superior to Women?
25+ Biblical Roles for Biblical Women
Perhaps Feminism is not the Enemy
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6 thoughts on “5 Inspiring Blog Posts That I Love”
Marg – Thanks for a good list.
I affirm women’s courage and enjoyed Mike Frost’s selected photos. It seems extraordinary that some people still think that God assigned child-bearing to the less courageous sex.
But Frost mis-reads 1 Peter 3:7 (“Peter is saying that newly converted men should treat their still-pagan wives with special care”). On the contrary, Peter has in mind Christian wives. A more or less word for word translation of the verse would go like this: “the men [that is, husbands] in the same way, dwelling with [them] according to knowledge as with a weaker vessel the female, showing [them] honour as also co-heirs of the grace of life.”
See further the NASB, which renders the sense of this verse accurately. Frost quotes the NKJV, which doesn’t. (More details in my book, Men and Women in Christ: Fresh Light from the Biblical Texts.)
I likewise enjoyed Bronwen Speedie’s piece on men in the Old Testament who were into art, making clothes, and cooking. A good pushback against foolish stereotyping.
But she misreads Genesis when she says that the only instruction given before the ‘Fall’ about responsibilities of men and women was in Genesis 1:28. This overlooks the instruction given in 2:15-17, which needs careful interpretation in context if it is not to be misused in support of stereotypes.
Yes, I can’t see that the womenfolk in 1 Peter 3:7 are non-Christians. The NKJV is clunky here.
Genesis 1:28 has enduring significance. The instructions in Genesis 2:15-17 became irrelevant once humans were banned from Eden, and I’m not sure I’d call the prohibition in verses 16-17 a role or responsibility. However, I do believe the man and woman were meant to work side by side in taking care of the garden, a sacred space, before they got kicked out. And that does qualify as a role and responsibility.
Genesis 2:15-17 is only addressed to Adam because Eve was not made until Genesis 2:22. In Gen 3:3 Eve treats the second instruction in 2:15-17 as applying to her, so we can assume that the whole instruction applies equally to both.
Hi Martin, the language in Genesis 3:1-5 is plural in the Hebrew. (Note the use of the plural “ye” in the KJV and also “we.”)
So Eve clearly takes the command as applying to her and to Adam. I’ve written about the plural language in Genesis 3:2-3 and the woman’s version of the command here: https://margmowczko.com/eves-statement-to-the-serpent/
Thanks for these. The link to Kate’s article at no. 5 “here” needs fixing.
I’m glad you spotted that, Linda. All fixed now.