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Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis

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I Believe that Webb has done Christians a great service in writing this book. All of us have struggled with the knowledge that some Biblical passages are culturally dependent while others are Trans cultural. Prior to the publishing of this book, we did not have a good set of tools to resolve our questions. Webb helps solves that problem in this book. by giving us 18 criterion by which to analyze a Biblical passage to determine its cultural and Trans cultural components.

The book is remarkable in the thoroughness of its approach. Every verse dealing with the question of the role of women, slaves and homosexuals has been analyzed. I have taught New Testament at the college level for many years and learned a great deal from his approach. He showed great sensitivity to the question of the homosexual, yet, does not compromise the Biblical position.

I currently have a group of people from my church using this set of criterion on the topic of the death penalty. All are impressed with Webb?s high view of scripture and the usefulness of his approach.

The goal of most who study the Bible is to dig out those timeless concepts that provide the truth and wisdom necessary to live a holy, joyful and obedient life in the eyes of God. Most of these concepts are easy to discern, however, there are some "borderline" concepts that have been the basis of disagreement among theologians. These disagreements usually center around whether a particular issue described in Scripture is culturally based, (meaning it applied to the culture in which it was written exclusively and therefore, no longer applicable to today's Christian,) or transcultural (meaning it applies at all times in all locations in any culture.) Christians have separated and established new denominations based on these disagreements - such as the Seventh-Day Adventist's insistence on Saturday worship and the Brethren Church's elevation of foot-washing to a sacrament. How can the typical Christian determine what aspects of Scripture are cultural and which are timeless?

William J. Webb's "Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermenuetics of Cultural Analysis" attempts to answer this very question. In this systematic and logically-tight text, Webb presents his argument for what he describes as a "redemptive hermeneutic" using 18 different criteria to determine the directional "redemptive flow" of Scripture on any given topic, thereby being able to determine what aspects are culturally-based and which are transcultural.

For each criterion, Webb uses what he describes as "neutral" issues (issues that have been settled in the Church, such as slavery,) as examples of how the criterion works. He then applies it to two issues still in contention today - women's place in the Church and the legitimacy of homosexuality. He divides these 18 criteria into four groups - persuasive, moderately persuasive, inconclusive and persuasive extrascriptural.

I have never been a seminary student, but I was still able to understand Webb's argument based on the criteria he used. It was convincing to me (though I always get nervous when anyone attempts to use extrabiblical sources, since I believe the Bible is contextually self-sufficient.) I did, however, approach this text already agreeing with his conclusions on women and homosexuals.

This is a fascinating text for those who want to take the time and the mental energy to learn more about the arguments surrounding the two controversies addressed in this book. Whatever your stance, you are bound to have your mind expanded by tackling the criteria used in Webb's argument.

Unlike the previous reviewer I find much to commend in this thoughtful book. He says the author departs from a grammatical-historical hermeneutic. That is an oxymoron... Grammatical and Historical are modes of exegesis, they give us some of the building blocks for understanding the text, but they are not a hermeneutic. The author provides a hermeneutic...which is a means of understanding and appropriating these texts. He argues, rightly I believe, that the New Testament leans in the way of renewal...this is its elan vital. Some of the material in the New Testament (and Old Testament)...is cultural. It won't do to say flippantly, if some is...what isn't cultural. In fact, the entire New Testament are cultural productions of their times...but some of the nitty gritty specifics cannot be read with a hermeneutic that remains static, as if we could transpose ourselves to the first century and live exactly as they did, because very quickly one is riddled with impossibilities and contradictions. In a flat reading, women are subjected, slavery is endorsed, and we get caught up in such questions as "head-coverings" and "foot washing" etc... With a reading that seeks to discern the direction, trajectory if you will, you can see why at times headcoverings were encouraged and women silenced and other times women encouraged to prophesy in the churches...by examining the overall direction of thought. Then, one uses a hermeneutic or mode of understanding, informed by this deeper level ... that allows us not to get caught up in the peripherals. Do we literally need to shake dust off our feet when someone rejects christian preaching? Do we literally need to great each other with a holy kiss? Do we literally castrate those who approach things legalistically (in Paul...read Galatians)...if so, the gentleman whose review appeared before mine is in big trouble.

All in all, a good read!!!

wow, I have a masters degree in Bible Exegesis and I had never encountered the thought patterns in this book. I do not agree with the extent to which they are taken but I was certianly forced to more throughly evaluate my own positions. Books like this, that force me to examine my positions, are more valuable than any publishers list price and I highly reccomend it to you if you want to learn to think more effectively for yourself. I wouldn't reccomend it if you are new to theological reading.

I really enjoyed this book, and I recommend it. If you pick it up, I recommend you read part one and three; skip the middle. The middle is rather laborious.

In this book, Webb is suggesting a matrix from within which we can work to discern what is culturally bound in Scripture and what transcends cultural context and is "universal". Of course all scriptural texts have a cultural context, but what Webb is after are those texts which no longer offer us explicit, or at least highly explicit, application for our cultural context: for example, Old Testament passages on Levitical law or New Testament passages on slavery and women.

Webb challenges the various traditional reasons given for why we no longer explicitly apply certain texts to our lives. He suggests that interpreting the slavery passages for today's context by merely plugging in the modern workplace for the slavery variable is hermeneutically irresponsible. And while appropriate, in deed necessary as a modern day application, it cannot be an interpretation. We interpret what the writer intended, and we interpret what the passages mean beyond what the author himself knew; we interpret what it means per the intentions of the Holy Spirit. There is an underlying ethic, or principle ("trajectory of redemption") that is interpreted from the text. The text is pointing us in a particular direction, and if we follow the directions of the Apostle, we will abolish slavery. How else can a master "treat [his] slaves in the same way" as Paul has instructed slaves to treat their masters (Eph. 6), "providing them with what is right and fair" (Col. 4)? We realize that the slavery texts, for example, are pointing toward the abolition of slavery while simultaneously speaking into the cultural context of the time, meeting the culture where it's at.

As far as the "women" texts are concerned, we do choose to say certain texts are culturally bound and others are not, but the grounds for choosing which is which typically continue to ignore the redemptive movement of God and his word. SLH uses this hermeneutic of redemption to suggest that there is a similar movement in the "women" texts which breaks out of the explicit words of the text given in the cultural climate of the early church and points toward egalitarianism (or at least a "soft patriarchy").

From the principles of Webb's hermeneutical matrix, he does not see evidence for such a movement in regard to the issue of homosexuality as many are now calling for. He makes an interesting case. If you're truly interested in what the Bible has to say about the oppressed, the marginalized, and the outcast, pick up Slaves, Women & Homosexuals.

I like Webb's hermeneutic because it considers both the whole of Scripture as well as historical-cultural context in which it was written as important in the process of interpreting individual texts. I like it because I believe the idea of a trajectory of redemption jives with the way God works in the world and in our individual lives. I'm sure Webb's hermeneutic isn't flawless, but for the above reasons I don't think it can be ignored.

Webb takes a unique approach to this the issue of women in church leadership. Looking at the Scripture as a whole, he takes the approach of a "redemptive hermeneutic," looking at the development of an issue (ie, slavery) throughout biblical teaching. Everyone accepts some form of progressive revelation, for instance recognizing the New Testament as interpreting the Old. The value of this that I appreciated, was that Webb does not deny the meaning of Pauline texts that limit women's roles. He places them in a larger biblical context and shows the seeds in Scripture to move beyond limited roles in light of other texts. While striving to remain faithful to the Scriptures absolute authority, he shows how implications of the radical way the Old Testament and New treated women and draws out the direction for our further opening roles for them today. If you are tired of approaches that take the passages on women out of context to support greater egalitarianism, you may find Webbs analysis more convincing and true to Scripture. I know I did.

I was surprised to read a great book on hermeneutics by someone who I thought was very, very conservative. However, the author is very objective and does a great job of explaining concepts. This book is deep, but not particularly academic; I find it very easy to read and apply. My only issue is how repetitive he gets on particular statements. This book is well worth the money and the time.

While I do not agree with all of Webb's conclusions, I found this book to be a very worthwhile read and would recommend it for anyone seeking to gain perspective on difficult texts, particularly related to the question of women and homosexual practice.

I'll be honest: I have always been reticent to embrace a hermeneutic that sought to explain away restrictions related to women in the church as cultural because that same method of reading the Bible would also be used to explain away the sinfulness of homosexual practice.

Webb clearly articulates a way of reading scripture that grants women freedom while maintaining the orthodox stance against homosexual practice, and it actually makes sense.

I also very much appreciate the "What If I'm Wrong?" section at the end of the book. Webb states his case, but is humble enough in doing so to admit he could be off-base and wrong about some things. This is a book written with integrity, I respect that, and recommend you pick it up if interested in studying these issues.

I thought this was a very helpful book. William Webb advocates a redemptive hermeneutic, where you interpret the Bible on not only what it says, but where the general movement of the topic is heading. For example, the Old Testament and the New Testament assume the existence and practice of slavery. But Paul talks to the slave about securing his freedom if he can do so (1 Corinthians 7), and he goes on to say in Galatians 3:28 that in Christ, there is no slave or free. Therefore, the movement in the NT is toward the eventual liberation of slaves. Moreover, the pronouncement on the slave trader in 1 Timothy 1 also provides evidence of a move in this direction.

We see the same thing with regard to the role of women.

But unfortunately, we do not see the same movement for homosexuals. Webb goes on to report that with the exception of Sabbath observance, all sins that lead to the death penalty in the Old Testament are still sins in the New Testament.

Webb also mentions "breakout passages" as a sign of movement toward a higher moral oer ethical standard. For example, even though women appear to have had limited roles in the cultures of the Bible, the Binle itself mentions passages where fearless women leaders are highlighted (Huldah, Deborah, Priscilla, Phoebe, Mary, Junias, and others). These breakout passages lend credence to the idea that the role restrictions for women in both scripture and society reflect time bound values rather than timeless values. That is, they reflect the culture rather than the Christ.

The book begins with a checklist of biblical commands where the student can decide which commands are timebound and which are timeless. The book ends with what scholars of the past have said about some of these things. What is in between will enlighten casual students and challenge those who tenaciously hold to either patriarchal or egalitarian views. Highly recommended.

The most logical, systematic, and thorough analysis of some very difficult to understand issues and passages in the Bible. I was so impressed with the book that I purchased 6 extra copies to give to friends. It challenges you to think through issues and not take any position for granted. Since he is never confrontational like many authors of controversial issues, it makes him even more convincing.