Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism? [Paperback]

Wayne Grudem (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 13, 2006

By critically examining the writings of egalitarians, Grudemshows that, while egalitarian leaders claim to be subject toScripture in their thinking, what is increasingly evident in theiractual scholarship and practice is an effective rejection of theauthority of Scripture.

Egalitarianism is heading toward an Adam who is neither male norfemale, a Jesus whose manhood is not important, and a God who isboth Father and Mother, and then maybe only Mother. The commondenominator in all of this is a persistent undermining of theauthority of Scripture in our lives. Grudem's conclusion is that wemust choose either evangelical feminism or biblical truth. We can'thave it both ways!

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Biblical authority is at stake in the debate between complementarianism and egalitarianism—because if you can get egalitarianism from the Bible, you can get anything from the Bible. The weight of Grudem’s cumulative argument is considerable, and cannot easily be dismissed.” J. Ligon Duncan III Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi, Adjunct Professor, Reformed Theological Seminary “While authors and scholars sympathetic to egalitarianism may be loath to consider they may in fact be wrong, Grudem pleads with his readers to reconsider their positions.” Michael Easley President, Moody Bible Institute “Wayne Grudem exhibits faithfulness to the biblical revelation and courage in the light of near universal opposition. There is not a more important book to read on the subject than this one.” Paige Patterson President, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas “The entire Body of Christ owes an enormous debt of gratitude to Wayne Grudem for his courage in taking on what has become a Goliath within the camp of modern-day evangelicalism.” Nancy Leigh DeMoss Author, Radio Host, Revive Our Hearts “Wayne Grudem takes a vital stand and encourages us to join him. He tackles the issue firmly and fairly and with the clarity we have come to expect.” Alistair Begg Senior Pastor, Parkside Church, Chagrin Falls, Ohio “However fervently we hope that the answer to this book’s question is a resounding no, Grudem furnishes evidence that cannot be lightly dismissed.” Robert W. Yarbrough --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Review

"Biblical authority is at stake in the debate between complementarianism and egalitarianism-because if you can get egalitarianism from the Bible, you can get anything from the Bible. The weight of Grudem's cumulative argument is considerable, and cannot easily be dismissed."
—J. Ligon Duncan, Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi; President, Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

"While authors and scholars sympathetic to egalitarianism may be loath to consider they may in fact be wrong, Grudem pleads with his readers to reconsider their positions."
—Michael Easley, President, Moody Bible Institute

"Wayne Grudem exhibits faithfulness to the biblical revelation and courage in the light of near universal opposition. There is not a more important book to read on the subject than this one."
—Paige Patterson, President, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

"The entire Body of Christ owes an enormous debt of gratitude to Wayne Grudem for his courage in taking on what has become a Goliath within the camp of modern-day evangelicalism."
—Nancy Leigh DeMoss, author, Biblical Womanhood in the Home; radio host, Revive Our Hearts

"Wayne Grudem takes a vital stand and encourages us to join him. He tackles the issue firmly and fairly and with the clarity we have come to expect."
—Alistair Begg, Senior Pastor, Parkside Church, Cleveland, Ohio

"However fervently we hope that the answer to this book's question is a resounding no, Grudem furnishes evidence that cannot be lightly dismissed."
—Robert W. Yarbrough, Professor of New Testament, Covenant Theological Seminary

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Crossway Books (September 13, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581347340
• ISBN-13: 978-1581347340
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #270,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Wayne Grudem, research professor of theology and biblical studies at Phoenix Seminary, received his A.B. from Harvard, M.Div. from Westminster Seminary (Philadelphia), and Ph.D. in New Testament from the University of Cambridge. He is a board member of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, a past president of the Evangelical Theological Society, and the author of more than a dozen books. He was the general editor of the ESV Study Bible, and is a member of the Translation Oversight Committee for the English Standard Version Bible. He and his wife, Margaret, have been married since 1969, and they have three grown sons.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sober Warning, November 30, 2006

By 

David W. Jones "ntfellow" (Palatine, IL United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism? (Paperback)

This book is a great read! While much of the content has appeared in other places, the simplicity of the style and the power of the logic are compelling. I was reminded again and again of what Luke says about Stephen as he disputed with the Freedmen in the synagogue: "But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking" (Acts 6:10). Truly, the Lord has raised Wayne Grudem up "for such a time as this."

As a pastor, I especially liked the analogies and breakdowns Grudem sprinkled throughout, which will help laypeople understand confusing feminist arguments. I also liked the way he kept hammering the nail at the end of each chapter: "...another step on the path to liberalism." That refrain gained power as the book proceeded, culiminating in the last chapter. I applaud the decision to name names, and to call out those (like the Kroegers) who have done shoddy and/or misleading work. An interested layperson reading this will "get it." And at 263 pages, it is much less intimidating than his longer works, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth. Sometimes less is more.

Egalitarians will not like this work. They will deny that their works in any way undermine biblical authority. But I would urge them to read this book with humility rather than to bluster over it, and to think what effect their arguments will have upon the generation following after them, who might not share their conservative evangelical upbringing.

Dr. Grudem is to be commended for addressing such a controversial issue in such a clear yet gracious way. Highly recommended for everyone who cares about the health of the evangelical church in America.

43 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slippery Slope? Or Has the Slope Been Slid?, November 30, 2006

By 

Robert Sagers (Louisville, KY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism? (Paperback)

Wayne Grudem's Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism? (Wheaton: Crossway, 2006) is a welcome addition to a plethora of scholarship that has been done in the area of biblical gender studies in recent years. However, this book is quite different than previous work in this area. In Evangelical Feminism, Grudem sounds a clear and explicit warning to his evangelical feminist friends: the presuppositions upon which evangelical feminism are founded necessarily lead to liberalism.

Grudem's approach in proving such a thesis is to show the connections between evangelical feminism and liberalism in the local church in recent decades (Part 1: 23-30); the views of evangelical feminists that undermine the authority of the Bible (Part 2: 31-150); and the views of evangelical feminists that are based upon "untruthful or unsubstantiated claims" (Part 3: 151-220). In the last section of the book, Grudem lays out the direction where evangelical feminism is taking evangelical Christians, which he contends is a slippery slope toward liberalism (Part 4: 221-263). Ultimately at stake in the gender debate, according to Grudem, is Holy Scripture itself (261-263).

The strengths of this book are its ample documentation, both in terms of Scripture references and contemporary scholarship; its accessibility and usefulness for any Christian who is either quite familiar with the current complementarian/patriarchal-egalitarian debate or any believer in Christ who is just coming into contact with the discussion, and who would like to know more; and the tone in which Grudem writes, which is clear and forthright. Grudem does not caricaturize evangelical feminists, but rather deals with the best of their scholarship, showing it to be lacking when viewed up against the biblical text.

As a side note, many of the criticisms in the review below from "Kidmugg" are guilty of misleading his readers, the very thing he accuses Grudem of doing in this book. For example, Grudem clearly does not claim that there have "only been discrepancy on gender readings of the Biblical texts since the 1970's," as he deals with feminist revisions of orthodox teachings before this time, and his point in this regard is to show that such a reading of the text comes from liberal/unorthodox presuppositions (on which the 19th century or Quaker arguments that Kidmugg only generally references are surely built). Grudem also does not present his so-called "demanded reading of the text" to show that Jesus and Paul could not have served as elders, since they had not wives. In fact, he references his argument against such a view, a view he states "very few" Christians hold today (p. 96, n. 18). In addition, to claim that a weakness of the book is Grudem's presupposition of sola Scriptura, when the book is clearly and explicitly written for evangelical Christians (who themselves hold to sola Scriptura), seems a bit misguided. More criticisms of Kidmugg's review are warranted, but that is not the purpose here.

The book, Evangelical Feminism does an excellent job of showing the liberal outworking of the presuppositions upon which evangelical feminism is based. In fact, some of Grudem's conclusions are so convincing and powerful that perhaps future editions and revisions of this book will contain a different subtitle than the one it has currently. For it may be true that Grudem is wrong when he asserts that evangelical feminism is the new path to liberalism. Surely Grudem and his fellow complementarians would admit as much.

Instead, it may be time for orthodox Christians to continue to examine anew the presuppositions upon which evangelical feminism is built. Perhaps this movement has so altered the truths of Scripture that there is little semblance of the biblical evangel to which Christians have witnessed for nearly two millennia.

At that point, Christians may say stop and say, "Evangelical feminism is no slippery slope toward liberalism. Rather, the slope has already been slid."

20 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read, November 30, 2006

By 

Timothy Lister (Chicago, Il) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism? (Paperback)

Finally a book that is easy to read and concise that clearly outlines the faults of egalitarians. Conservatives everywhere should applaud Grudem for his unapologetic stand on the Bible's ultimate authority and traditional interpretation. Grudem warns us against taking small steps down the path towards liberalism which ultimately could result in out right heresy.

Grudem is not trying to explain what women's roles actually are in the church, but rather he is defending, argument by argument, why evangelical feminism is not only dangerous but incorrect. In a culture that demands equality, our natural inclination is to side with the egalitarians however Grudem clearly shows us from scripture the compromises that must be made in order to draw these conclusions.

All Christians that believe the Bible is true and accurate need to read this book to see how evangelical feminism is distorting the truth of God's work. This is not an issue that we can remain silent about or hope that it will go away. The logical conclusions of this kind of compromise to the text are scary!

Egalitarians that read this book must remember Grudem's statements in the introduction and conclusion of this book:

"I have a number of egalitarian friends who have not moved one inch towards liberalism in the rest of their doctrinal convocations, and who strongly believe and defend the inerrancy of the Bible." (p.20)

"Of course nobody adopts all of the arguments I have listed... but every evangelical feminist author I know of adopts at least some of [them]." (p.262)

Do not take this book as a personal attack on your beliefs, or the beliefs of some scholars you may respect. But rather humbly consider the warnings Grudem makes about where some of these small compromises are leading.