What the Bible actually teaches on women

The Feminist Killjoy Book Club had its second meeting last week and thank you to everyone who came.

Our book was WHAT THE BIBLE ACTUALLY TEACHES ON WOMEN by Kevin Giles, an Australian evangelical Anglican priest and theologian, and book club members found it really helpful and liberating to read his arguments that the Bible does not teach the subjugation of women as claimed by complementarians.

We agreed that it is important to know counter-arguments when verses from scripture are weaponised and used to limit women’s roles and authority.  But we lamented that we have to be equipped in this way: we can’t say that our Church believes that men and women should be treated equally.

Giles says that, in writing the book, his ‘primary concern is for the 50% of the human race who complementarians argue God has subordinated to men, not the far less than one percent of Christian women who are or would like to be ordained , as important as they are.’  He goes on,’It seems needy men who are inclined to be controlling hear headship teaching to be giving them the right to insist that they are obeyed… The experts on this matter tell us that one in four women in their lifetime experience some form of partner abuse.’  He claims that, when power is involved, men think up clever arguments that sound plausible but upon scrutiny are without substance and without validity. He says, ‘they are all special pleading, like the appeals to the Bible made by evangelical and Reformed theologians in support of slavery and apartheid.’

Giles also makes clear that complementarianism is a new made-up word to make what was previously known as ‘headship theology’ sound more palatable.  He says, ‘Complementarian theology is a human construct generated to provide a way to read the Bible so that it consistently speaks of the creation-given subordination of women, and its counterpart” the headship” of men in a way acceptable to the modern ear.’  He also says that speaking of different ‘roles’ for women is a devious technique: ‘[Complementarians] deliberately obfuscate what they are actually arguing. You need a code book to understand what is being said.  Nowhere is this more obvious than the incessant use of the word “role”… This word is not found in any of the most common modern English translations of the Bible… In everyday usage the term refers to characteristic behaviours that can change. In complementarian speak it is a code word for fixed power differences allocated on the basis of gender.  What defines a man is that he has been given by God the leadership “role”, and the woman the subordinate “role.” This can never change.’

Giles examines different texts in the Bible: the creation stories in Genesis: the Gospels and how we see Jesus treat women; and Paul’s letters; and there is one chapter whereGiles reflects on God’s passion for justice that runs through the whole Bible.  He says, ‘Ostensibly the debate is over what the Bible actually teaches on the man-woman relationship but in reality it is about power, about who is to lead in the Church and the home. Those holding power never give it up willingly.’

One of the things that book club members found interesting was that Giles speaks, throughout the book, about his own personal journey from starting out in the Church as a young man who supported headship theology and how he came to see that this is not only wrong but is not true to the Bible. He talks about how he believes that marriages where there is equality are happier relationships, for both men and women, than where there is not.

Towards the end of the book Giles makes a comparison of theologies that argue the subordination of women and those that were used to argue that God approved of slavery.  He says, ‘for centuries, most Christians believe the Bible endorsed both the subordination of women and the institution of slavery.’ Fortunately, churches all agree now that the biblical case for supporting slavery is invalid. Although the Southern Baptist Convention in the US only passed a motion reflecting this conclusion in 1995. Giles says, ‘From the slavery debate we learn that privileged Christian men can appeal to the Bible to support what is clearly unjust, unfair, and demeaning. They can loudly claim to hold to the authority of scripture and quote many texts, yet can be wrong on what they conclude the Bible is teaching. Self-interest and power can blind Christians, even evangelical Christians.’

Giles concludes his book by saying, ‘It is all very simple and straightforward for me. The world is not flat and women are not the subordinate sex… Jesus could not have been more positive about the status, dignity, and leadership potential of women.’

If you’ve not read the book yet, please do and, if you have read it and found it helpful and empowering, then please recommend it to others. 

Join us next time for A  Heavy Yoke by Selina Stone at 7.30pm on Tuesday 19 May online here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85115438840