Customer Reviews

Beyond Sex Roles What the Bible says about a woman's place in church and family

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Gilbert Bilezikian is a professor at Wheaton College and, as I understand it, one of the leading pro-female voices among conservative "bible-believing" Christians. ("Bible-believing" is in quotes because I dispute the implication of this phrase that non-fundamentalists are not bible-believing.)

Your appreciation of this book will almost undoubtedly rest first and foremost with the bias that you bring with you. If, like me, you were brought up in a fundamentalist church and learnt your bible, and saw massive contradictions between what the bible said and what the church interpreted it as saying, this is the book for you. How do the concepts of rulership-over and command leadership square with Paul's statement that no one individual should take priority over others in the church? Why were there women preachers and teachers in Paul's church if he was opposed to them? Why did Paul tell women to be quiet in one letter and then say "there is neither male nor female" in another? This book answers these questions and makes sense of all these questions. Quite apart from the issue of the role of women in the church, the book is also a beautiful biblical exposition of how God intends all human beings to live together in His name.

The book only misses out on five stars because it could have been edited and laid out a bit better. Close to one-third of the book is footnotes, but the visual lay-out of the entire book is poor and it's difficult to refer back to key ideas easily. Take good notes!

Reading this book was one of the STRANGEST experiences I have ever had as a born again Christian evangelical. I started out reading this book being a man who was taught to believe in benign patriarchy, breaking ties and such.

I tossed out easily 2/3 of what the book said as not making much sense, at least to me where I was at at the time. But the remaining 1/3 I could not answer and it stewed in me. After wrestling with this 1/3 for a few weeks and praying a lot, it was like scales fell off my eyes and I jumped the fence and became a Biblical egalitarian. So my recommendation is to NOT stop reading this book, just because you come to something to disagree with, keep reading it and note the points you do NOT yet have answers for.

I do not lend this text as it will be permanently placed and available in my personal library. It is one of my highest reccommended books on the role of women. A complete scriptural guide with contrasting arguments, complete biography, appendix etc. This is college text material with a corresponding user friendly explaination. This truly is the very best book I have read on the subject. I believe it is part of the resources that God is using to launch me into ministry! This is credible and scriptural.

Bilezikian is to be praised for promoting gender equality as he, and many others, believe is God's true design. Several of his arguments are very well-written and challenging, doubtless refreshing to those yearning to break free of the yokes of sexism.

Some have said that he contradicts himself by citing Genesis, yet calling many aspects of the Old testament invalid. I believe Bilezikian was referring to societal practices in the Old Testament as being invalid, whereas his referral to Genesis had not to do with society, but with God's plan when He first created the world. If you recall, God's plan for the world and the world's practices after the Fall were two completely separate things, so Bilezikian was really not at all contradicting himself by discrediting one and supporting the other. His overall argument is certainly valid. People DO need to step into modern times and stop trying to teach women to stay beneath men; in response to someone's statement that "The sexes were created for different services; is this so terrible?" No, but sexism is, so kindly swallow it before you speak of God. Adam and Eve were created for equal rule over Eden and God's design for equality still stands today; is THAT so terrible? And to answer another's question, these liberating views of equality HAVE been discovered before; you just apparently haven't been looking for them. Perhaps you should read Christ's lessons then, because He was actually the first after the Fall to truly introduce the idea of men and women serving equally under Him.

This book has many good points, but if you wish for a more in-depth study of Biblical equality, I recommend "Paul, Women and Wives" and "What Paul really said about Women" over this.

This book convincingly demonstrates that God NEVER INTENDED gender-specific roles in the family or church. Bilezikian righty spends a lot of space explaining how God created women and men to be equal in authority and opportunities, and how human sin changed that. He also illustrates how God used many, many women of the Bible in exactly the same way men were used. I especially appreciated his sections on the high visibility of women in Jesus' ministry and in the New Testament church.

Especially if you believe that women and men have God-given roles, and consequently that women are excluded from some, then you should read this book. It's pervasive use of Scripture is it's strongest asset.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Bilezikian gives very thorough biblical background to the history of famous and lesser-known women in the Hebrew Bible. He writes a very methodical book beginning with God's creation design, through the Fall, the Old Covenant, and into God's new covenant with mankind through his gift of Jesus Christ, his son. The thing that I liked most about this book was the format that Bilezikian uses. I like the way he will focus on one verse at a time, and then give mini-lessons that pertain to the context, content, and interpretation of the verse in relation to the bigger picture. After hearing so much about some people's beliefs of the place of a woman in the church and family, it was very good to hear a more egalitarian belief with biblical references and scripture to back it up. I would highly recommend this book to anyone struggling with issues of women's place in today's society.

This is the first book I read in which the author deals with what the hard passages on women in the Bible really say in the original Greek. In addition, he deals with the cultural context surrounding the hard passages. With that background he brings meaning to these passages that really make sense.

Dr. Bilezikian looks at all the passages of Scripture that deal with the issue of Women's roles. Starting with creation and the desired relationship men and women were intended to have. The results of the fall to that relationship. How Jesus and the New Testament Church are intended to restore the created order.

Not only through the examination of the texts but through confronting actual current interpertations of those texts, Bilezikian provides a challenging and indicting examination of the current belief held by many conservative or fundemental Christians. Bilezikian remains Faithful to the orthodox Christian Faith and unwavering in the belief of the Authority of scripture, which make his book a must read no matter what you believe concerning this issue.

But be forwarned this will challenge your beliefs and may cause you to change your outlook or confirm what in your heart you have known to be true.

This book is one of many which are reevaluating our gender paradigmns in the church. It draws from the author's personal study and scholarly review of other's works. It contains a rich section of more detailed notes as well as a great bibliography of other works in this arena of thought.

Many Christians have wrestled with the confining role's others have defined for them. It is refreshing to see that ongoing study continues to lead us into freedoms originally intended by the Father. These paradigms should empower God's people to be able to mature into the full stature He desires for His church.

It is a must read for anyone who is on a quest to gain better understanding of our Father's design when He expressed His image through mankind in the form of two genders.

I didn't realize when I read this book years ago what an impact it would have on my own life. I have changed my view of women in Christianity, women in the church, and women in relation to God.

Dr. B. is thorough, meticulous, and accurate in his explanation of women in Christianity: the curse of the Fall is not the end of the story--just as Christ's redemption effected mankind's salvation, it also effected women's salvation from the curse. What freedom!

An amazing book from an amazing author!