Book Review: Slaves, Women & Homosexuals
Subtitle: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis
By: William J. Webb
This book is Webb's attempt to provide an objective method for determining which parts of scripture are cultural (and thus the exact words of the text need not be followed) and which parts are trans-cultural. This is easily the best attempt I've seen to do this. Everyone dismisses the "plain meaning" of scripture in some cases, even if they don't realize it. They have to, or they would be forced to accept contradictions. For example, women can not both be kept silent and be allowed to prophecy in gatherings.
Webb also explains what he means by his "redemptive hermeneutic." Scripture contains seed ideas that are to be developed later, some of which were completed in the New Testament time period, and some of which were still in need of further development afterwards. The classic example of this is slavery. Israel's laws regarding slavery made lives better for slaves than in the surrounding cultures, and Paul's writing on slavery would make it better for them still. However, the "neither slave nor free" idea, the story of the exodus, and the movement of scripture against the surrounding culture suggest that there was still further "redemption" of the theology to accomplish.
One reason why this redemption wasn't accomplished in biblical times could be that the church leaders used "a pastoral approach," that is, they stretched the people only as far as they were capable. Another reaason is the concern that their actions didn't cause stumbling blocks to nonbelievers (simply being kind to women in public lead nonbelievers to accuse Christians of having orgies).
A major part of the book is the set of 18 criteria Webb uses to analyze the issues. The criteria cab be found here if you're interested.
After working through the criteria, Webb makes a convincing scriptural case that either we should hold to an egalitarian view (women can hold any position that men can and with equal authority) or a "ultra-soft patriarchy" in which women can do just about anything but in some ways men are to be specially honored as the firstborn. He also makes a case that homosexual practice is still incompatible with Christian living today, and refutes the "slippery slope" arguments that some make that allowing the ordination of women leads to acceptance of homosexuality.
Technorati tags: William Webb Slaves, Women & Homosexuals Slaves Women Homosexuals Hermeneutics
By: William J. Webb
This book is Webb's attempt to provide an objective method for determining which parts of scripture are cultural (and thus the exact words of the text need not be followed) and which parts are trans-cultural. This is easily the best attempt I've seen to do this. Everyone dismisses the "plain meaning" of scripture in some cases, even if they don't realize it. They have to, or they would be forced to accept contradictions. For example, women can not both be kept silent and be allowed to prophecy in gatherings.
Webb also explains what he means by his "redemptive hermeneutic." Scripture contains seed ideas that are to be developed later, some of which were completed in the New Testament time period, and some of which were still in need of further development afterwards. The classic example of this is slavery. Israel's laws regarding slavery made lives better for slaves than in the surrounding cultures, and Paul's writing on slavery would make it better for them still. However, the "neither slave nor free" idea, the story of the exodus, and the movement of scripture against the surrounding culture suggest that there was still further "redemption" of the theology to accomplish.
One reason why this redemption wasn't accomplished in biblical times could be that the church leaders used "a pastoral approach," that is, they stretched the people only as far as they were capable. Another reaason is the concern that their actions didn't cause stumbling blocks to nonbelievers (simply being kind to women in public lead nonbelievers to accuse Christians of having orgies).
A major part of the book is the set of 18 criteria Webb uses to analyze the issues. The criteria cab be found here if you're interested.
After working through the criteria, Webb makes a convincing scriptural case that either we should hold to an egalitarian view (women can hold any position that men can and with equal authority) or a "ultra-soft patriarchy" in which women can do just about anything but in some ways men are to be specially honored as the firstborn. He also makes a case that homosexual practice is still incompatible with Christian living today, and refutes the "slippery slope" arguments that some make that allowing the ordination of women leads to acceptance of homosexuality.
Technorati tags: William Webb Slaves, Women & Homosexuals Slaves Women Homosexuals Hermeneutics
posted by Freethinker at 11:31:00 PM
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