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Countering the Claims of Evangelical Feminism: Biblical Responses to the Key Questions

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When I purchased this ~300 page book, I did not realize that it was a condensation and slight updating of a much larger work by the same author, titled: "Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth: An Analysis of More Than 100 Disputed Questions." This book is reduced to about 40 key questions, and it covered most if not all the main arguments that I have heard put forward. Even at 300 pages, this book is really not very intimidating, and the format of the book is one of its most useful features. It can easily be used as a reference book and read selectively, as most of the topics are divided up into short chapters ranging from a couple of pages to ten or fifteen.

The real strength of the book in my opinion is how charitably Grudem presents the case for the complementarian view, and yet remains firmly Biblical. The opening chapters on the Biblical view of manhood and womanhood as created by God and in the church are an excellent positive statement of God's design and purpose. The egalitarian or "evangelical feminist" position presents male and female as being not merely as equal, but as virtually interchangeable in their roles and purposes in the family and church. However, the complementarian view shows that male and female were equally made in the image of God, and also have unique roles and purposes in the family and church. The complementarian view does not see male and female as interchangeable, but as two working parts crafted carefully by God to "complement" one another by each supplying unique abilities and responsibilities to the opposite sex.

The crux of the argument is whether it is the egalitarian or complementarian view that more faithfully represents the Scriptures. Grudem assiduously lays out the case for the complementarian view from Scripture, and fairly but briefly presents the egalitarian viewpoint. This reader is convinced that the complementarian view is most faithful, and does not deprive or lessen the import of women either in the church or in the home in any way. Rather, it delivers them from a false view of equality that finds fairness only in having women fulfill every duty or office given by God to men, and by reversing the good order that He has established. In a godly marriage and in a godly church, the "headship" is given to the men, not in a way to be domineering or abusive of authority, but rather to lead and love as Christ Himself loved the church. In the sacrificial love that male headship must demonstrate, there is found a safe and delightful place for women to submit willingly out of love.

Grudem proposes some delineations for the church to consider about what roles should be given exclusively to men and which to women, based on the Scriptural instruction that a women is not permitted to teach or exercise authority over a man. While the delineations he has made are subject for discussion, it provides some groundwork, as well as alerting us to the many ways in which the church might make greater use of the talents and abilities of women. There really is a strongly positive view of women in this book, which some may find hard to believe because of the heavy conditioning of our society. Altogether the book provides a valuable response to this issue that is dividing the church and has been for many decades. May God grant that the work of theologians like Grudem may help to pave the way toward a godly consensus on these Biblical truths.

P.S. Another reviewer asserts that Grudem does not give a fair representation of the egalitarian viewpoint. However, it should be noted that due to the condensed nature of the book, his aim was not to give a detailed rendering of their viewpoint. For those considering a fuller study of the issue, the "Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth" book would probably be more helpful, or as the reviewer suggests, to read books from a egalitarian perspective. Either way, the book and its arguments stand compellingly in their own right.

'Women were able to prophesy in both the Old Testament and the New (see 1 Cor 11:5). They could deliver messages from God to His people. But women could not assume the role of teacher over God's people in either the Old or the New Testament (see 1 Tim 2:12; 3:2; Titus 1:6 on New Testament teachers being only men, including the elders who did most of the teaching).' p 86

Grudem unfortunately subordinates and ranks as less important the NT office of prophet to that of teacher, which is antithetical to Scripture: (Eph 2: 20; Eph 3: 5; Eph 4: 11) - a flaw with immense implications for church structures. A better view would be that the gift of prophecy has, in fact, ceased, whilst the office of teacher is still in effect.

This book is a slightly revised and mostly condensed version of Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth. As such, the author is trying his best to persuade you that his beliefs about the Bible teaching male hierarchy in the family and in the church are true. One really needs to read both sides of this issue, do not try to take a short cut and just read one side or you may not become aware of many things.

1. Grudem tends to present items in an egalitarian position in almost self-repudiating terms. Of course he disagrees with them, but the way he words some claims I have not read any egalitarian make in the way he makes it. Thus his presentation from the get go is somewhat of a "snow" job and this makes it essential to actually read what egalitarian authors actually write. Also, he presents egalitarian arguments in a very framented way, one really needs to read the egalarian arguments as a holistic whole as egalitarians themselves present them. Do not think you have done this UNLESS you read both sides.

2. He certainly makes a point in trying to point out errors among egalitarian authors. This is obviously a way to discredit them in the mind of the reader; after all, they made a mistake (horrors). But then he goes and makes the same kinds of errors. For example, there are many Greek words that are related and have a verb form and a noun form; when an egalitarian points this out he calls it sleight of hand, but then he does it himself in other discussions. So why use a pejorative term when your debating opponent does it? Better to not use the pejorative term at all. As I see it, this is a valid way to discuss the meanings of Greek words.

3. In some places he tries to claim what the Bible says in some verse is obvious, yet then he goes and discusses that verse for many pages. This makes him seem to want his cake and eat it too. It would be better to admit that some verses ARE puzzling and then present his rationale for understanding them as he does.

4. He quotes the ESV Bible, of which he was a contributor, as if it IS the word of God, which is simply false as understood by most evangelicals; who hold that the original autographs were inspired, but a translation might contain mistakes. In effect he dodges many of the translation questions on some puzzling verses by simply resorting to the ESV, which the editors themselves admit adopts a so-called complementatian (male hierarchy in church and home) position.

5. Grudem is a selective literalist and this CAN BE a deadly method of interpretation. When he comes to a puzzling verse, he sometimes fudges what the text actually says (in Greek) and speculates what it means so that it will fit with another verse into a overall non-egalitarian way. His basic argument is that he can read the Bible using "blue colored" (male hierarchial) glasses and find a blue color in many verses. When others try to show him how to read the verse using "clear" (egalitarian) glasses, he claims it is not persuasive; but this just shows his presuppositions when he reads the verse. FWIIW, I believe it is quite possible to read the Bible using all kinds of colored glasses, the slaveholders in 1850 USA did so and did it in a VERY similar way to Grudem, altho on a different subject. This cannot be helped as some of the "submission and obedience" verses mention wives and slaves just a few verses apart. At least egalitarians have a consistent view of these verses, while Grudem simply does not even discuss directly the slaveholders' arguments, as they are so similar to his own.

6. Grudem neglects to mention that the non-egalitarian arguments he uses are mostly new, as are the egalitarian arguments. He claims that his position has an advantage as it is the historic position of the church, but this is not really true as the rationales were very different, namely society generally agreed that women WERE inferior in many ways to men, such as in intelligence, and this was just assumed as an obvious truth. It is only in the 19th and early 20th centurys that women showed they could do many things as well as men did in math and physics, for example. So the question about equality in the home and church never came up much before then.

Purchased Evangelical Feminism by Wayne Grudem. This dook is difficult to find. It was new as advertised and unmarked, but the cover was creased.