Pursuing Partnership: New Light on Timeless Texts – Week 11

The Historical Research of Dr. Sandra Glahn

By Wendy Wilson, Missio Nexus, Mission Advisor for Development of Women

This article is part of the series Pursuing Partnership: Men and Women in Ministry.

Biblical Womanhood, Part 1: What is a Woman?

A note from Wendy Wilson, MissioNexus, Mission Advisor for Development of Women:

Some of the most perplexing discussions seem to happen around the quest to determine what differentiates men and women.  While Genesis 1 reveals that men and women both are made equally in the Image of God to reflect His fullness together, Genesis 2 reveals that women and men are differentiated toward that purpose. And we whole-heartedly agree!  But besides the obvious physical or external differences, who are men and women and how does our maleness or femaleness contribute to how we reflect our Maker? In our quest to nail down just HOW we are different, when the Bible doesn’t specifically define masculine and feminine, we may go beyond clear teaching into definitive roles, personality types, and cultural values, but forget to ponder and affirm the beauty of what God does tell us about ourselves . . .

The link to the blog article is below . . .but here is an excerpt from “Biblical Womanhood, Part 1: What is a Woman?”:

“It was the first day of a class I was teaching on the role of women in the home, church, and society. Driving in to the seminary where I teach, I thought through the material I planned to cover, and honestly I feared that some of what I’d prepared to say was too elementary for graduate-level students. Many of them were raised in church and have heard messages all their lives. Did they really need to hear again that Genesis 1:26–27 teaches that both male and female were made in the image of God? Nevertheless, I determined I’d better make sure.

So I repeated what I assumed they all knew. And sure enough, a woman present was thrilled when she heard my words! She was made in the image of God? Her church had warned her of the dangers of radical feminism but had never told her who she was . . . “

Read the whole article – Biblical Womanhood, Part 1: What is a Woman?

http://aspire2.com/2018/04/biblical-womanhood-what-is-a-woman/

Dr. Sandra Glahn is Professor of Media Arts and Worship at Dallas Theological Seminary. She is an author, co-author, or general editor of more than twenty books including Vindicating the Vixens: Revisiting Sexualized, Vilified, and Marginalized Women of the Bible. Learn more about her at her website: aspire2.com.

This article is submitted by Wendy Wilson of Missio Nexus and of Women’s Development Track.  Women’s Development Track is a Missio Nexus member.  Member organizations can provide content to the Missio Nexus website. See how by clicking here.