Autumn 2021
Men and women serving and leading as equals
in the Church Where Are All the Women? Hidden Words and How They Affect the Church
A Non-Gendered or Gender-Inclusive Faith: Lessons from Finnish and German
She's Not a Whore: Pejorative Language and Translation Bias in Ezekial 16
CONT E N TS 4
Rainflies, Canoes, and God as Our Mum Reclaiming the feminine attributes of God is essential to grow closer to God. by Juliann Bullock
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Where Are All the Women? Hidden Words and How They Affect the Church The universal “he” isn’t so universal—and there is no universal “she.” by James Nichols
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Are Christians Called to Mature Manhood? The ESV of Ephesians 4:13 Misses the Point—Even for Complementarians
I Can't Find Myself in the Universal "He"
25 Giving Opportunities 26 Ministry News 28 President’s Message
30 Praise and Prayer
by Jeff Miller
ED ITO R IAL STAFF
A Non-Gendered or Gender-Inclusive Faith: Lessons from Finnish and German
Editor: Sarabeth Marcello Graphic Designer: Margaret Lawrence Publisher/President: Mimi Haddad
A deeper understanding of languages can help us find our identity in Christ. by Hannele Ottschofski
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3 From the Editor
Correcting Caricatures: Women and Bible Translation
A closer look at the generic masculine of Ephesians 4:13.
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DEPA RTMENTS
Mutuality vol. 28 no. 3, Autumn 2021
She's Not a Whore: Pejorative Language and Translation Bias in Ezekial 16 Why using “whore” instead of “prostitute” is problematic. by Christine Woolgar
Cover design by Margaret Lawrence Mutuality (ISSN: 1533-2470) offers articles from diverse writers who share egalitarian theology and explore its intersection with everyday life. Autumn 2021
We welcome your comments, article submissions, and advertisements. Visit cbe.today/mutuality.
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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the 2011 revision of the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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Mutuality is published quarterly by CBE International, 122 W Franklin Ave, Suite 218; Minneapolis, MN 55404-2451.
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Men and women serving and leading as equals
in the Church Where Are All the Women? Hidden Words and How They Affect the Church
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A Non-Gendered or Gender-Inclusive Faith: Lessons from Finnish and German
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From the Editor
by Sarabeth Marcello
I Can't Find Myself in the Universal "He" I have spent most of my life in a complementarian Lutheran denomination, which means I’ve been taught that using male language to universally refer to all people (brothers, mankind, men) is biblical and should not be challenged. I’ve been taught that trying to correct gender-inaccurate language in Bible translations means I do not take the word of God seriously. I’ve been told that biblical references to men and brothers and mankind include me—except when they don’t. Many women I know who accept complementarian interpretations of Bible passages acknowledge how difficult it is to have to discern when it’s appropriate to read themselves into verses where masculine language— brothers, mankind, men—dominates. Correcting gender-inaccurate language in the Bible and in our own conversations is more than just an egalitarian concern. Gender-inclusive language that clearly identifies the intended audience matters for the whole church: it clarifies the Gospel, invites women and men to embrace their redeemed identities, and dissipates confusion for women especially. It is worth our strongest efforts to correct unnecessarily gendered language so that the Bible more clearly communicates what God means it to communicate. As I was editing this issue of Mutuality, I started imagining what it would be like if all Christians used gender-inclusive language. I saw women who didn’t have to constantly ask if they are included in a certain Bible passage, if they are loved as much as their brothers in Christ. I saw men who welcomed women where they previously excluded them. Will we ever get there, I wonder? Right now, there are so many women and men in the body of Christ who are blind to the hurt they cause when they insert male language unnecessarily—and thereby erase women, stigmatize feminine language, and embrace the status quo of equating maleness with godliness. I am reminded, as I read through this issue’s articles, that we are all sinful and fall short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23), yet we are all called to bear each other’s burdens (Gal. 6:2). We have an individual and corporate responsibility to uncover how we hurt
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ourselves and our brothers and sisters in Christ. We stand together through it all—from the overwhelming fight against abuse and racial injustice to the fight against gendered language where it does not belong. Gender-inaccurate language isn’t a matter of semantics, as my complementarian upbringing would have me believe. I hope the articles in this issue of Mutuality will help you understand that it affects not just certain phrases you see in your chosen Bible translation, but that it also affects how you relate to God and others. If all this feels new and intimidating, that’s okay! Start by reading Juliann Bullock’s and James Nichols’s articles. Then, widen your viewfinder to include Finnish and German language nuances with Hannele Ottschofski. Finally, dive into how particular Bible translation choices affect us all with Christine Woolgar and Jeff Miller. All of these articles confront the lingering toxic idea that maleness is better and preferred to femaleness. When we accept the use of a universal “he” instead of insisting on inclusion for “she,” we reinforce the very complementarian norms against which we thought we were fighting. We accept that women are inferior to, and should remain behind, men. We accept that matters of faith apply first and foremost to men and then can be filtered down to women. We accept that there are places where women don’t belong. We reject God’s creation of women and men as co-workers. But CBE proudly stands on the principles of Galatians 3:28, that Jesus Christ has brought us all together as one body. We in the church have the responsibility to lead the charge in revolutionizing our misuse of gendered language. We have the clearest picture of how gender relations should be. We have the power to change the narrative. Inappropriately gendered language is not an issue that society can resolve without the church because this societal issue is perhaps just as pervasive in the church. We have before us the opportunity to show the culture at large what redemption looks like when we redeem our own use of gendered language to reflect God’s intentions and love for all of us.
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Rainflies, Canoes, and God as Our Mum By Juliann Bullock
surface. They are particularly attracted to light, which made a trip to the outhouse with a headlamp a daunting prospect. As my friend and I approached the outhouse, trying to work out how to have enough light to not fall into the outhouse hole, while also minimizing the areas of ourselves that would inevitably be covered in rainflies, my Australian friend exclaimed, “I want my mum!” I wanted my mum too, but mine was in Texas and hers was in Australia, so we bravely carried on without them. I was a new, young missionary in the middle of my field orientation course. We had hiked out to a remote Papua New Guinean village where we would be spending the night, and we were enjoying the warm hospitality of the people who lived there. It had been raining for quite a while, and the absence of electricity or indoor plumbing meant that, sooner or later, we would need to venture out with our headlamps to find the outhouse. This is not something I enjoy at the best of times, but on this particular evening I was dreading it even more than usual because the rainflies had hatched. Every once in a while, during a heavy rain, a new generation of these large flies hatches all at once, and hundreds will instantly cover every exposed
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Not being Australian myself, I had never called my mom “Mum” before, but when I later told her about that experience, I referred to her as “Mum” and have often used that name for her since. Even though she had never referred to herself that way, I felt no need to ask permission to call her something different—in fact, having a new and special name for her expressed my love for her and the unique bond I felt with her even while I was on the other side of the world. Deciding What to Call God Do we have a similar freedom with God? Although the Bible is full of vivid maternal descriptions of God, many people are still uncomfortable using the word “mother” to talk about God or to talk to God, because the Bible never explicitly uses mother as a title for God. But does this make it wrong for us to call God Mother? Are we free to address God in ways that are not explicitly modeled in Scripture?
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The underlying question is this: what kind of a relationship does God want with us?
There are many situations in which it would be inappropriate to invent titles for someone. The president’s staff are not free to call him whatever they want. They are required to stick to the prescribed title and call him “Mr. President.” If you found yourself speaking to the queen of England, it would be advisable to address her as “Your Majesty” and avoid inventing your own title for her. But her children probably have a lot more freedom than that.
The Supreme Ruler of the universe calls us friends, adopts us as sons and daughters, and tells us to come boldly before God’s throne. God does not want us to relate to God as fearful slaves, scared to use a title that has not been preapproved by the master. God wants us to come as beloved children, and beloved children have the right to express their love for their parents through intimate titles—titles like Abba, Daddy, or even Mother.
The underlying question is this: what kind of a relationship does God want with us? Does God want us to speak to God as we would speak to a president or a monarch, being careful to use only the prescribed, preapproved titles that are explicitly used in Scripture? Or, might God want to have an intimate, parent/child relationship with us, in which we are free to express our love for God with any title, even our own unique title, as long as it accurately expresses the reality of who God is, as revealed in Scripture?
Many people have used Romans 8:15 to argue that Paul is telling us to see God as our Father rather than as our Mother. But the context makes it clear that gender is not the point here. Instead, Paul is making a distinction between calling God “Master” and calling God “Daddy.”1 The point is that, as God’s children, we have the privilege of relating to God on intimate terms, such intimate terms that we are free to use familiar titles like Daddy—or Mum.
Let’s see what the Bible has to say about this: ·
“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.” (Heb. 4:16, NLT)
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“You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.” (John 15:14–15, NLT)
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“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, ‘Abba, Father.’” (Rom. 8:14–15, NLT)
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What We Call God Matters—but It Doesn’t Change Who God Is Of course, any title we use for God must be consistent with God’s nature as revealed in Scripture. The language we use to talk about God should accurately express the reality of who God says God is. Here’s how the Bible describes God: ·
Deuteronomy 32:18 describes God as the one “who had given you birth.”
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Isaiah 49:15 compares God’s love to the love of a nursing mother.
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Deuteronomy 32:13 says that God breastfed the nation of Israel.
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Job 38:29 suggests that God “gives birth to the frost” and is “the mother of the ice.”
These passages indicate that maternal titles for God are certainly consistent with the way God is revealed to us in Scripture. No, titles do not create reality, but accurate titles acknowledge a reality that already exists. Refusing to use a title can be an attempt to deny the existence of that reality, but it does not make the reality any less true. For example, the person responsible for managing a group of employees is often given the title of “manager.” If someone were doing all the work of a manager, but was not given the title, then their employer could potentially avoid paying them the salary that a manager deserves. The title would accurately describe the reality of that person’s work, but withholding the title would allow the employer to deny that reality when writing the person’s paycheck. Another example is that when I use the title “mother” to refer to my own mother, I am acknowledging the reality that she is the woman who raised me. This would be true whether or not I used the title, but every time I call her my mother, I am affirming the reality of my relationship with her. Not only that, but I am also expressing a desire to relate to her as a daughter. If I were to refuse to call my mother by any maternal title, I would be communicating to her that I either did not think she was fulfi lling the role of a mother in my life or that I did not wish to fulfi ll the role of a daughter in her life. If we refuse to use maternal titles when referring to God, we refuse to acknowledge that God fulfi lls any type of maternal role in our lives. Since Scripture is full of maternal language about God, a refusal to acknowledge that reality is a refusal to accept all of who God says God is. Calling God “Mother” as well as “Father” affirms the reality of who God is—as revealed in the Bible—and acknowledges our desire to relate to God in a way that is consistent with all of God’s self-revelation.
bank on your right. By consistently and exclusively using masculine language to talk about God, I believe we have (figuratively) crashed into the bank of God’s masculinity. For years I lived on that bank, fearful to talk to or about God with anything but the father-language that could be quoted directly from Scripture. I was stuck there in the shallows, entangled in branches, and found it difficult to move forward on my journey toward knowing God. I could not even see the other side of the river, and many people told me that there was not another side. I had no idea how to return to the middle of the river, where I could freely race along in the joy of knowing God as God truly is. If I were actually in that canoe, trying to get back to the middle of the river, I would need to paddle primarily on the right side for a while. Not forever, or I would just end up stuck on the left bank. But for a season, to truly correct my error, I would need to keep my paddle mostly on the right, with perhaps an occasional left stroke here and there. In general, it would not be any more appropriate to use exclusively feminine language to talk about God, because God is not a woman any more than God is a man. But for a season, to help me branch out from the exclusively masculine imagery for God that has been so deeply ingrained into my imagination, it has been helpful for me to focus on the feminine language and imagery that the Bible uses to describe God and to begin using some of that language when I talk to God. When I relate to God as Mother, God does not ask me which chapter and verse I’m basing that relationship on, or whether I have obtained permission from the appropriate authorities to use that title. No, God holds me in her arms and tells me that I am her beloved child. Let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious Mother-Father God.
Rediscovering All of Who God Is If you were paddling a canoe, and paddled only on the left side, you would quickly find yourself crashing into the
Juliann Bullock lives and works in Papua New Guinea with her husband and their three daughters and twin sons. She enjoys writing, feeding people, and being loved by Jesus.
1. Jann Aldrege-Clanton, In Whose Image? God and Gender (London: SCM Press, 1992), 36.
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Where Are All the Women? Hidden Words and How They Affect the Church By James Nichols One of my favorite movies of recent years is Hidden Figures. In this 2016 fi lm, the setting is the early 1960s and the exciting Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The movie traces the stories of three African American women—Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan—each of whom makes brilliant contributions to the eventual NASA launch of John Glenn into earth’s orbit. Because of their gender and race, all three face severe obstacles to having their contributions recognized. We moviegoers several decades later can see the blatant racism and gender discrimination, but it takes an agonizing amount of time for the dominant, white males to perceive
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and take advantage of the women’s gifts because they seem to be, at best, clueless. A clear message of the fi lm is how our background and prejudices (conscious or unconscious) can hide truths that become evident at a later or different time. Taking the concept out of the Hollywood setting, the message is that there are “hidden” preconceptions that cloud the behavior and language of our lives. Some of these preconceptions are unconscious, but others are the result of unreflective acceptance of inequality. We would each do well to examine our language and behavior in a search for these hidden items.
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In the Classroom
In the Church
A colleague of mine identified a parallel situation. There was a chemistry professor at a university who lectured from a prepared script. That is, apparently, he wrote down every word for his classes ahead of time. While I might question the pedagogical effectiveness of this, it was a pattern that he had developed and that worked for him.
Educational settings are not the only place where male pronouns dominate without many of us even noticing. Once we become sensitized to this use of language, it pops up all the time. This is rather like looking for a new car to buy, a brand or style different from what you have. Immediately after car shopping, you begin to see this brand or style everywhere on the streets; you had been overlooking it before. In this case, however, it is not just cars on the street. We must understand that this slanted language that hides one gender also has lasting spiritual impact.
Although it was a chemistry class, there were several times during the semester in which he would use an illustration of a specific experiment conducted by someone or identify someone’s contribution to the development of a concept. At the beginning of one semester, he decided to use male and female identifiers each exactly 50 percent of the time. That is, for each time he used male pronouns such as “he” or “his,” he would use an equal number of female pronouns such as “she” or “her.” Since he was lecturing from a prepared script, this was easy for him to do without thinking about it every time during class. About two-thirds of the way through the semester, a belligerent male rushed up to the front of the room after class had ended. He said angrily, “What’s with this ‘she, she, she, she, sh#*#!?’” The professor pulled out his lecture script and showed the student that exactly 50 percent of the gender references were male and 50 percent were female. The student did not believe him, even after seeing the lecture script. The professor noted that it was an illustration of how male pronouns are invisible, but female pronouns are not. Because I am a man (and some of you readers are too), this may not seem to be an interesting story. However, my experience is that women understand the story exactly. Our English language, written and spoken, often hides one gender—the female gender. Words matter.
We all want to be spoken to directly; young people especially want to feel identified individually.
As the father of two girls (now also grandfather of three), I have cringed listening to some preachers and teachers in the church make perfectly good points while using solely male pronouns during their exposition. We all want to be spoken to directly; young people especially want to feel identified individually. Each of us will disengage if we do not hear and feel ourselves a part of the conversation or message, asking, “What does this mean for me?” Long ago in my marriage, my wife sensitized me to this and now it stands out glaringly.
At your next congregational gathering, look around at the people and identify those who are clearly “hidden.” What is it that makes them hidden? Next, What do the girls who are listening hear about carefully listen to everyone who speaks. Do they include men and their importance in the life of the body of Christ women in their examples or only men? There are, indeed, “hidden figures” in our language, and the when their pastor never presents generic church is diminished because of it.
portraits of believers as “she” and only as “he”?
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It is entirely possible that the dominant use of male gender
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With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.
Not sure how to bring it up? Blame this article for it! Say something like, “You know, pastor, I was reading this article that pointed out to me how we choose male language and especially pronouns by default. It was a new point to me and made sense. I think we should be more intentional about including female pronouns as well.” Women Are Here—We Must Acknowledge Them
When I was a child, I often heard the phrase, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” But that is not true. In many cases, words can indeed hurt. They hurt more than sticks and stones. Furthermore, using words in an imprecise manner can not only hurt, but also be a subtle part of a religious direction that we must not support. If we believe in the priesthood of all believers, we must look for ways to help our sisters in Christ elevate their voices. This involves calling their names and using female pronouns. One of the most powerful images in Scripture is James’s speaking of the tongue at the start of chapter three. Consider verses nine and ten, for example: pronouns in churches is inadvertent; it is just the type of language we use in every other setting. That does not mean, however, that it is without spiritual effect or not worth our efforts to change. What do the girls who are listening hear about their importance in the life of the body of Christ when their pastor never presents generic portraits of believers as “she” and only as “he”? How much are they weighed down by a lifetime of accumulated losses of appropriate recognition, by being consistently overlooked or mis-identified? Again, many males are completely clueless about this concept because they have been in the congregational mainstream since their birth. The remedy for this must be mixed, as usual, with love. My experience is that a blunt, challenge approach on this topic, or any other, generates unthinking resistance. Gender bias in language is often best addressed during a small group Bible study or devotional time. And then addressed again. And then addressed again. And again. This is also a reasonable comment for a lunch meeting with a congregational leader—not the main topic of the lunch, but a pointed aside. 10 M U T U A L I T Y | Autumn 2021
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. With our tongues we can curse or edify, degrade or uplift. We might be tempted to argue that a discussion of pronouns is simply a matter of personal choice and not something of anyone else’s business. If that’s what you find yourself thinking, I will simply leave you with Frederick Buechner’s wisdom in Wishful Thinking, “The Christian position is that there’s no such thing as your own business.” A shorter version of this article first appeared on spiritofabilene. com. Used and expanded with permission.
James Nichols received a PhD from the University of Missouri and recently retired as professor of biology at Abilene Christian University. He currently serves as a chaplain in Abilene, Texas, where his science and pastoral interests meet. Married to Jeanenne (a spiritual director) for fifty-six years, they have three children and seven grandchildren.
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Are Christians Called to Mature Manhood? The ESV of Ephesians 4:13 Misses the Point—Even for Complementarians By Jeff Miller
The title of this article begins with a question: are Christians called to mature manhood? The answer is no, not all Christians are called to mature manhood. Complementarians would be quick to affirm that women should strive for mature womanhood, not manhood. Why, then, would Paul confidently refer to a time when “we all attain . . . to mature manhood” (ESV)? Is Paul addressing only men here in Ephesians 4:13? If so, why doesn’t he make that clear? The problem doesn’t lie with Paul, but with the translation.
When Is It Okay to CherryPick Bible Translations? The more I learn about the complexity of Bible translation, the more hesitant I am to criticize the choices of Bible translators. They are well trained, well intentioned, and hard working. Who am I to cherry-pick their work? As if learning Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek weren’t hard enough, Bible translation also requires careful attention to English (or to a different target language, as the case may be).
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For example, after I typed “cherrypick” in the paragraph above, I looked it up to see if it actually means what I intended. As it turns out, my use of “cherry-pick” may be a bit off. And I have no idea whether it means the same thing, or anything at all, to English speakers around the globe. That is to say, choosing the right word can be tricky. In some cases, what first strikes me as an odd translation choice, or even a misleading one, ends up changing my mind after I consider it more carefully. In other cases, I simply agree to disagree with the WEBSITE :
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way a particular Bible translation translates something. Nevertheless, in spite of my hesitancy to criticize, critique is sometimes necessary—for the good of us all. What Does “Mature Manhood” Mean to the ESV Translators? Critique is warranted in the English Standard Version’s rendering of Ephesians 4:13. Ephesians is famous for its long sentences, so let’s look at verses 11–14 to include context: And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (ESV) The phrase “mature manhood,” in the middle of verse 13, translates the Greek words andra teleion, which on their own mean “a full-grown man” (as an ESV footnote states). So why is “mature manhood” not a good translation? Let me first state and then dispense with the obvious: I am an egalitarian and the ESV translators are largely complementarian. I am less comfortable with a translation such as “mature manhood” or “full-grown man” than the ESV translators are. But to be clear, that is not the issue here. This article does not argue that BOOKSTORE :
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the influential book, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, co-author John Piper describes “manhood” as follows:
The word
AT THE HEART OF MATURE MASCULINITY IS A SENSE OF BENEVOLENT RESPONSIBILIT Y TO LEAD, P ROVI D E FO R AND PROTECT WOMEN IN WAYS APPROPRIATE TO A MAN’S DIFFERING RELATIONSHIPS.2
“manhood,” like “cherrypick” and most other words, has a range of meaning.
they should have done what I would have done, that they should follow my preferences rather than their own. On the contrary, I believe the translation “mature manhood” does not, in fact, mean what the ESV translators themselves intend it to mean! The word “manhood,” like “cherrypick” and most other words, has a range of meaning. Each use of “manhood” will fall somewhere in that range.1 So how do I know what, specifically, the ESV translators understand “manhood” to mean? My best resources for this are the readily available definitions of “manhood” by complementarian authors, especially authors who have connections to the ESV. In the opening chapter of
Piper goes on to describe womanhood, which he also calls “mature femininity.” The broadest takeaway from his opening chapter, and from the book as a whole, is that biblical manhood and womanhood are real, distinct, and should not infringe on one another. The RBMW co-editors are Piper and Wayne Grudem. Piper wrote the lead endorsement for the ESV and contributed to the ESV Study Bible.3 Grudem served on the ESV Oversight Committee and was the general editor of the ESV Study Bible. There is other leadership overlap as well: Vern Poythress, for example, wrote a chapter for RBMW and served as the ESV New Testament Chair. Surely it is problematic—given the frequent, intentional, and genderspecific use of the term by leading complementarians—that the ESV would use “manhood” to translate something Paul said about both women and men. Who Is Included in Andra Teleion? Let’s return to Ephesians 4. Verse 12 mentions “the saints,” and verses 13 and 14 refer to some of these
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saints simply as “we”—meaning Paul, his missionary team, and the Ephesian Christians. These are the people who, with Christ’s help, strive for andra teleion. Appropriate translations for andra teleion include “maturity” (CSB, NRSV), “mature” (CEV, NIV), “mature person” (NCV, NET), and “mature adults” (CEB). We can have confidence that these saints Paul had in mind included women. This confidence is bolstered, for example, by Clinton Arnold, a member of the ESV translation team, who refers to them as “the various members of Christ’s body” and as “each person.”4 Similarly, Benjamin Merkle—in The ESV Expository Commentary—refers to them as “all believers,” “every member,” and simply “the church.”5 In light of this, let me stress that Ephesians 4:13 is not a typical case of the ESV using “man/men” to refer generally to “people,” as it does in “I will make you fishers of men” and “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Matt. 4:19 and Luke 4:4, ESV). While I would prefer the ESV used “fish for people” in Matthew 4 and “People will not…” in Luke 4, I do not expect complementarian translators to follow egalitarian translation preferences. Instead, here in Ephesians 4:13, the key is that the ESV’s “mature manhood” can only mean “mature personhood” if the ESV breaks with the standard, essential complementarian understanding of “manhood” as being something distinct from “womanhood.” Put another way, by making this translation decision, they either undermine their own understanding of “manhood,” or they change the accepted meaning of this verse. WEBSITE :
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So What’s At Stake? Some readers, complementarian and egalitarian, will understand “mature manhood” here to mean something like “mature people” and simply move on. Some complementarian men, however, may feel that it bolsters the “masculine feel” with which God supposedly infused Christianity.6 Some complementarian women will wonder if they can become mature Christians to the extent that men
can. They may also struggle to discern when “man,” “mankind,” and in this case “manhood” refer to them and when they don’t. It is because of the distinct defi nition that complementarians give to “manhood” that “mature saints” would have been a more appropriate choice for the ESV translation team. By opting for an explicitly masculine translation, they have themselves changed the meaning of Ephesians 4:13.
Jeff Miller holds bachelor’s degrees in pastoral ministry and church music, an MDiv, and a PhD in biblical interpretation. He teaches biblical studies at Milligan University in eastern Tennessee. He is editor of Priscilla Papers, the academic journal of CBE International. He and his wife, Dana, serve in a variety of ministry roles. They have two married daughters and five delightful grandchildren.
1. For more on "range of meaning," see "How Much Does a Word Mean? Word Studies, Part 3," Mutuality (blog), 30 September 2020, https://www. cbeinternational.org/resource/article/mutuality-blog-magazine/how-much-does-word-mean-word-studies-part-3. 2. Crossway, pg. 29 in the 1991 edition, pg. 35 in the 2006 edition, use of all caps is Piper’s. 3. "Endorsements," ESV.org, accessed 2 September 2021, https://www.esv.org/translation/endorsements/. 4. Arnold authored the Ephesians portion of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon (Zondervan, 2002). 5. Merkle (Crossway, 2018), 77. 6. John Piper (in)famously said, at his 2012 Desiring God Conference, “God has given Christianity a masculine feel.”
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By Hannele Ottschofski
16 M U T U A L I T Y | Autumn 2021
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to find ways to make their gendered language more gender inclusive.
Finnish we are all hän and do not need to differentiate.
Non-Gendered Language in Finnish
Finnish nouns also have no gender. The Finnish language does not assign a gender to occupational titles—whether the person is male or female, they are all described with the same word. Maybe that has also had an impact on the sociological development of the people, because you need not have the preconceived idea that, for example, a judge, doctor, or pastor must be a man. Everyone can become what hän (he or she) wants. Although women still mostly work in traditionally female jobs like sales, caregiving, teaching, etc., they also have full access to all professions. In my experience, it was much easier to find a female gynecologist in Finland than in Germany, and most dentists I encountered were women.
For many people who live their whole lives in the same region, my life must seem strange. Due to my father’s job for an international church, my family had already lived in Sweden and England in addition to my native Finland by the time I was eleven. As a child, learning new languages came naturally to me. School introduced me to French, German, and Latin. I have lived in French-speaking Africa as well as making my home in Germany for most of my adult life. Different languages have played a big part in my life’s journey. All of these languages have helped broaden my horizons on life and in my Christian faith.
Today, Finnish people are fluent in many languages. As a small nation with a complicated language, we have had to learn to communicate with others in their languages. There are, however, some things many Finnish-speaking people struggle with, and one is the use of gendered words and pronouns. In my Finnish mother tongue, instead of gendered pronouns there is only one pronoun, hän, for people, and there is one word, se, for things.
However, my native Finnish language has maybe had the greatest impact on my basic understanding that we are all equal before God and that our belief in the Son of God is what saves us whether we are men or women. I have wrestled with this much of my time in Germany, where the language seems to work against gender equality, even as Germans try
When speaking other languages, it can be difficult for native Finnish speakers to choose the correct pronoun to use for male or female persons because Finnish has no gendered pronouns for “he” and “she.” Thus, we have to stop and consider whether the subject we are speaking of is a man or a woman when using a gendered language. In
In my Finnish mother tongue, instead of gendered pronouns there is only one pronoun, hän, for people, and there is one word, se, for things.
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Although no country has achieved gender equality, Finnish women grow up with self-awareness, assertiveness, and a clear understanding that there is nothing they cannot do just because they are women. In the Finnish parliament, 47 percent of the current members are women. All five parties of the government coalition are led by women. The Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, is a thirtyfive-year-old woman who was just pronounced the most popular Prime Minister of the twenty-first century in a poll. Finnish women got the right to vote in 1906, and in 1907, nineteen women were elected to the parliament, among them Miina Sillanpää, who became the first female minister twenty years later. Tarja Halonen was the first woman to hold the position of President of the Republic from 2000 to 2012. And as of 2019, 49 percent of pastors in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (Finland’s largest religious body) are women.1
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Finnish society has made it easier for women to pursue careers, with good childcare and schools, as well as care for the elderly. Studies show that countries in which women play an important role in society are the most economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable.2 Without the inclusion of women in decisions, the problems of this world cannot be solved. Men and women have to work together. Maybe this cooperation is made easier in Finland by the non-gendered Finnish language. The Finnish language also affects how Finnish Christians understand and relate to God. The term for God, Jumala, is not assigned a gender. Certainly in Finnish, we also worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but in our imagination, God is not necessarily male. God is not associated with gender. The Apostle Paul hit the mark when he wrote to the Galatians: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). We are all one in Christ, no matter what we look like and who we are. I think Paul would have loved the Finnish language, which treats people as equals.
Gender-Inclusive Language in Germany I have lived most of my life in Germany and also speak German, which is a much more gendered language than Finnish, with pronouns and nouns all having a gender. German not only has er–sie– es for “he–she–it,” but also all nouns have a gendered article. That means that, for instance, a professor—der Professor—can only be a male. If, however, the professor is a woman, an ending -in is added to create the word Professorin. If German-speakers want to include both men and women, we have had to use both words, making the language cumbersome. Lately, speech has become politicized, with women becoming upset if they are not included and pointing out discrimination. Politicians have been trained to include both genders in their speeches, so they have learned to address both males and females, their Kollegen und Kolleginnen (colleagues and female colleagues). Recent efforts to simplify this barrage of words have led to a new form, in which the female ending is added to the word by either using a capital letter or an asterisk for differentiation. For example, Kollegen und Kolleginnen would become either KollegInnen or Kolleg*innen, with a little hiccup or
We are all one in Christ, no matter what we look like and who we are. short guttural stop at the place of the asterisk when speaking. This new form includes persons of all genders at once, but not everyone likes this new-fangled creation. Differentiating terms that refer to men and women in the German language, with its emphasis on difference, affects theological perceptions as well. In German, the word for God, Gott, is distinctly masculine, shown by the article or adjective used with it. This might make it difficult for women who have had negative experiences with men to relate to God while others, with positive male relationships, might feel secure in the arms of a Heavenly Father. German patriarchal structures where women’s worth is diminished are strengthened by the notion that God is masculine in the German language. Embedding a male gender for God in the very word Germans use to refer to God results in men’s conviction of their superiority. Although harmful patriarchal structures like this are
German patriarchal structures where women’s worth is diminished are strengthened by the notion that God is masculine in the German language. Embedding a male gender for God in the very word Germans use to refer to God results in men’s conviction of their superiority.
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slowly crumbling in Germany as more men with egalitarian convictions support women’s empowerment, there is still a long way to go. Finding Equality in Non-Gendered and Gender-Inclusive Faith The old hymn “Faith of Our Fathers” depicts an exclusive faith for men who are prepared to be imprisoned and die for their faith.3 This hymn implies that true faith is the faith of male martyrs, but let’s not forget the Protestant women who were imprisoned for their faith, like Marie Durand. Marie was imprisoned in the Tower of Constance in AiguesMortes, France, for thirty-eight years and is said to have engraved the word “Resist” on the wall of her cell. But it is futile to argue about whose faith is holier and more persistent. We are all in this together. We are all sinners who need our Savior. Faith is not a competition between men and women. There is no men’s faith and women’s faith. Whether language is non-gendered (as in Finnish) or gender-inclusive (as in German), the Bible is clear that “whoever believes in him [the Son of God] shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “Whoever” includes all and does not discriminate based on gender. Non-gendered language indicates inclusiveness, while gendered language points to the differences. But there is one faith for all that we should concentrate on. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and
Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:4–6). Even though many passages in the Bible seem to only address men (depending on your translation), women should have enough selfconfidence to feel included even if the translated language is not gender accurate. Various Bible translations have already accepted the fact that the message of the Bible is for all, so they include women when the believers are being addressed, translating “brothers and sisters” where many previous translations only mentioned “brothers.” The inclusive meaning present in the original biblical text is what is important. At the same time, it is important to show this inclusiveness clearly so that women know they are not left out. We as Christians can so easily find ourselves stuck in arguments about what some specific gendered term in the Bible means for us today and its theological implications. Let’s not quibble about language when the gospel message includes salvation for all—men and women—who believe in Jesus Christ. Because God includes all humans in his plan for salvation, his church should not use language to differentiate and divide. We are all God’s children.
Non-gendered language indicates inclusiveness, while gendered language points to the differences. But there is one faith for all that we should concentrate on. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:4–6). Hannele Ottschofski is a native of Finland and has spent most of her life in Germany married to a pastor. She has served her church as a writer, educator, editor, conference speaker, church elder, and translator. She has written a book, Tired of Waiting, Women in Church and Society, available through Amazon.com.
1. "The Church in Numbers," Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, accessed 3 September 2021, https://evl.fi/the-church/membership/thechurch-in-numbers. 2. Candice Stevens, "Are Women the Key to Sustainable Development?" Sustainable Development Insights, no. 003 (2010), http://www.bu.edu/ pardee/files/2010/04/UNsdkp003fsingle.pdf. 3. Words: Frederich W. Faber, 1849. Music: Henri F. Hemy 1864.
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She’s Not a Whore: Pejorative Language and Translation Bias in Ezekiel 16
…the chapter describes the history of the people of Judah’s relationship with God using an extended metaphor. By Christine Woolgar 20 M U T U A L I T Y | Autumn 2021
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…Judah, or more specifically Jerusalem, is depicted as a foundling who grows up to become a sexually unfaithful wife to God. When I was eight years old, one of my teachers was named Mrs. Moorehouse. After school one day, I was talking to my mum and accidentally referred to her as Mrs. “Hoorehouse.” While I was merely surprised at the slip, my mum was shocked. But then, she thought I’d said “whorehouse.” Growing up with gospel stories read from the 1984 NIV English translation, it’s possible that I had a growing awareness of the word “prostitute.” But the word “whore” was, evidently, unknown to me. Neither it nor any of its derivatives are used once in the NIV. They are, however, used ninety-one times in the ESV. I discovered this as I was studying Ezekiel 16. Ezekiel 16: A Difficult Passage to Say the Least Likely written around the time of the southern kingdom’s exile to Babylon, the chapter describes the history of the people of Judah’s relationship with God using an extended metaphor. Judah, or more specifically Jerusalem, is depicted as a foundling who grows up to become a sexually unfaithful wife to God. The whole story is saturated with graphic descriptions of nakedness, sex, and violence.
“Whore” in the ESV The Cambridge Dictionary offers two definitions for whore. One is archaic and refers to a female prostitute. The other more modern usage is offensive and refers to “a woman whose behaviour in her sexual relationships is considered immoral.”4 At a glance, the ESV seems to use “whore” mainly in its archaic sense. Phrases like “you lavished your whorings” from Ezekiel 16:15 certainly look old-fashioned (and show up in a spell check). But there’s more going on here. Officially, the use of “whore” reflects reliance on the KJV tradition.5 But if the translators thought “whore” was still preferable over a modern term, then why just this term? For example, in 1 Samuel 25:22, David swears that he won’t leave a single male person alive from Naboth’s household. The ESV uses the word “male” even though the KJV says “any that pisseth against a wall.” Why
Very broadly, responses to the text lie somewhere between two extremes. A full embrace of this passage sees God acting in unmerited compassion and generosity, only to be grossly betrayed; he responds to Jerusalem’s unfaithfulness in righteous anger and just punishment, culminating in a merciful promise of restoration.1 On the other hand, full resistance to the text frames God as an absentee benefactor who abandons Jerusalem until she’s old enough for him to make her his arm candy. When she acts out, this view would say God behaves like a textbook abuser,2 giving Jerusalem no voice whatsoever, at any time.3 Clearly, there are serious questions about the purpose of Ezekiel’s rhetoric and how much this passage is intended to reveal the character of God. It is also no small task to consider how the text should be presented and discussed within the church, bearing in mind that many readers will be women and/or survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. What I want to explore is how this conversation is likely to be influenced by translation choices, particularly in the case of the ESV and its use of the word “whore.” BOOKSTORE :
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use “whore” but not “piss”? Given that both are now offensive terms, I can’t help but think this is an example of translation bias.
Metaphor Upon Metaphor Modern readers might not realize it, but there are two levels of metaphor at work in this chapter. The more obvious one is the wider depiction of the spiritual unfaithfulness of the inhabitants of Jerusalem through the image of the woman’s sexual immorality.
Meanwhile, whether intended or not, it’s hard for a modern reader to read “whore” without its negative connotations. And in the context of Ezekiel 16, that matters. We’re led to believe that either:
But metaphor also operates within individual phrases that use the Hebrew root znh. In Old Testament culture, married and betrothed women were expected to have sex with one man only, for as long as he was alive. If this norm was violated, a married woman might be described as “prostituting” herself, but the intended meaning was not that she worked as a prostitute. It was that she was being sexually immoral.6
a. pejorative use is justifiable and righteous, or b. pejorative use is not justifiable and the text is deliberately (and provocatively) depicting God as unrighteous.
Given the troubling narrative as a whole, we shouldn’t immediately rule out the second option. However, it’s very unlikely the ESV translators believed the text was presenting an unreliable portrait of God. Even if they did, that doesn’t explain all the uses of “whore” in the ESV outside of the book of Ezekiel.
In other words, most of the phrases in Ezekiel 16 about the woman’s “prostitution” are metaphorical. We misread the text if we think the author is telling us this woman’s behaviour is that of a sex worker; the narrative even labors how the woman was unlike a prostitute (verses 31 and 34).
It seems more likely that the translators were willing to ignore, or even embrace, the misogynistic overtones the word “whore” now has.
Once we realize this, we can see that translators have a choice about what they do with each individual phrase. They can preserve the original image used in the Hebrew or state the intended underlying meaning without using a metaphor.7
But there’s more.
Count of how many times certain words appear in the CEB, NIV, ESV, and KJV translations of the Old Testatment 100
100
91
CEB NIV ESV KJV
87
80 70
60 45
42
40 20 1
0 Prostitute
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4
1
Whore
Harlot
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The ESV and NIV tend to take the first option, but the CEB, an ecumenical translation that aims to be comfortably readable for most English readers, takes varied approaches depending on context. For example, if we look at the Hebrew root znh (meaning to act as a prostitute), it occurs eighteen times in verses 15–34, fi fteen of which are metaphorical.8 The ESV translates it with derivatives of “whore” all fi fteen times. The NIV recognizes when the Hebrew is using particular turns of phrase, so it uses “prostitute” eight times, “promiscuity” three times, “favors” three times, and leaves it untranslated once. Meanwhile, the CEB uses “prostitute” only five times, leaves it untranslated once, and uses other phrases including “traded,” “seduce,” “promiscuity,” and “favors.” We can see this trend in the rest of the Old Testament too. To be clear, directly translating the original Hebrew metaphor is a valid translation choice. But metaphors carry different overtones and emotive effects depending on the reader’s context. If a translation chooses to preserve a particular image, we need to ask whether that’s down to a more literal translation style or actually reflects a convenience for the translator’s ideology. Put another way, when metaphorical use of the root znh is translated into English terms associated with prostitution, does that reflect a willingness on the part of the translator to stigmatise sex workers and/or women who exercise sexual agency? If so, we have a problem. Why All of This Matters for Readers My point here is not to put forward a defence of sex work. However, given the many complex reasons why women (and men) can take up prostitution, it’s important to resist using this Hebrew metaphor without appropriate justification. And we definitely shouldn’t be adding to it in a chapter as rhetorically loaded as Ezekiel 16. This is where the ESV translation choices become even more strange. As I.mentioned, the ESV preserves the
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metaphorical use of the root znh all fi fteen times in verses 15–34; this is consistent with the ESV’s more literal translation style. However, in the three times the Hebrew refers to a sex worker (verses 30, 31, and 33), the ESV uses “prostitute,” not “whore.” In other words, “whore” isn’t just being used because it’s archaic. The effect of this shouldn’t be underappreciated in such a highly complex and emotive passage. The strange mix of the archaic and modern puts a veneer of authority and respectability over the pejorative intent behind “whore.” It discourages modern readers from resisting the text and collapses the complexities of Ezekiel’s rhetoric and prophetic purpose. It encourages us to believe, as feminist scholar Peggy Day so bluntly puts it, “the bitch had it coming to her.” Leaving aside how this dangerously steers toward victim blaming, such an interpretation is also deeply flawed. As Day argues, the text is not about sex, but apostasy, about abandoning God. If we read it as about sex and marital
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relationships, then it doesn’t portray a measured judicial process for infidelity, but a vicious and absurd sexual revenge fantasy; after all, the male adulterous lovers do not share the woman’s punishment but participate in inflicting it.9
As for Ezekiel 16, we need to remember that it’s not about sex, but apostasy. It stacks up as a description of Jerusalem’s failed alliances with foreign nations, but it breaks down if read as a picture of marital relations.
In contrast, if we read the chapter as inescapably about apostasy, then the text becomes a deliberately distressing description of the foreign conquests of Jerusalem. It may even be inviting us to identify with Jerusalem.10
Ultimately, we will each have to decide for ourselves how much we resist or embrace the rhetoric force of this highly complex passage of Scripture. I first read it when I was eighteen, as I was working my way through the book of Ezekiel. I won’t lie, even with the graphic content of this chapter (and chapter 23), the book enlivened my faith in a way that surprised and inspired me, and I’m never going to forget that. However, I was thirty-seven before I heard anyone in my church community acknowledge the violence of this particular passage. If I’m honest, that left me angry.
Concluding Thoughts There is much, much more that could be explored on this topic, particularly in the books of Hosea, Nahum, and Proverbs. And there are definitely questions to be asked of other translations, including the NIV and CEB—the latter uses “whore” four times in the Old Testament, three of which are in a single verse (Nahum 3:4). But we should question what purpose is served by the sheer volume of times “whore” is used in the ESV, not just in Ezekiel 16 but throughout the Old Testament. Because this didn’t happen by accident. It reflects deliberate translation choices—firstly, to preserve the metaphorical use of the root word znh (both in its own right and within turns of phrase), and secondly, to use an English word which, when we hear it today, almost always carries derogatory intent.
It is my hope that if we can talk about Ezekiel 16 better, then we will, in time, translate it better too. That won’t stop readers from being unsettled by it, but it will give them more space to ask critical questions of the text and wrestle to find their own answers. Christine Woolgar is an avid reader and musician, with experience volunteering for a leading domestic abuse charity. Living in the UK, she habitually delves into Scripture and blogs on hope, sexuality, and consent at Light in Grey Places. She also loves leading worship and posts devotional content at Faith in Grey Places.
1. Peggy Day gives a review of scholars who explicitly or implicitly interpret the chapter this way. See Peggy L. Day, “The Bitch Had It Coming to Her: Rhetoric and Interpretation in Ezekiel 16,” Biblical Interpretation 8, no. 3 (2000): 231–54. 2. The passage follows the “three-stage cycle of abuse”: tension-building, acute violence, followed by kindness and contrite behaviour. Linda Day, “Rhetoric and Domestic Violence in Ezekiel 16,” Biblical Interpretation 8 (2000): 205–30, quoted in Bryan D. Bibb, “There’s No Sex in Your Violence: Patriarchal Translation in Ezekiel 16 and 23,” Review & Expositor 111, no. 4 (December 2014): 339. 3. See in particular Carol J. Dempsey, “The ‘Whore’ of Ezekiel 16: The Impact and Ramifications of Gender-Specific Metaphors in Light of Biblical Law and Divine Judgment,” in Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East, edited by Victor H. Matthews et al. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1998), 57–78; and Aaron Koller “Pornography or Theology?: The Legal Background, Psychological Realism, and Theological Import of Ezekiel 16,” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 79, no. 3 (July 2017): 402–21. 4. Cambridge Dictionary. 5. Bibb, “There’s No Sex in Your Violence,” 342. 6. See Day, “The Bitch Had It Coming To Her,” 236. In Peggy Day’s discussions about the structure and impact of metaphors, she cites Julie Galambush’s argument around the metaphorical use of znh. Julie Galambush, “Jerusalem in the Book of Ezekiel: The City as Yahweh's Wife,” SBLDS, 130 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992), 25–88. 7.
A third translation choice would be to use a different image to convey a similar emotive effect to today’s readers. For example, the US phrase “kick the can down the road” could be translated in the UK as “kick the ball into the long grass.” However, this kind of translation would be difficult to achieve in a complex and layered passage like Ezekiel 16, and I don’t know of an English translation that attempts to do so with this passage.
8. As Carol Dempsey observes, the root znh occurs in verse 15 (twice), 16, 17, 20, 22, 25, 26, 31, 33 (twice), and 34 (twice). See Dempsey, “The ‘Whore’ of Ezekiel 16,” 68. 9.
See Day, “The Bitch Had It Coming To Her,” 231–54.
10. See Koller, “Pornography or Theology?” 412–414.
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It’s a Great Time to Consider a Donor-Advised Fund to maximize and simplify your charitable giving! How it works: A DAF allows you to give cash or non-cash assets (such as stock, real estate, commodities, or other appreciated assets) into a single fund. Then, when you decide, you recommend grants be made from that fund to CBE and the other ministries close to your heart.
Three reasons to consider a DAF: 1. Receive an immediate tax deduction at the time of your gift. So long as you deposit your gift into your donor-advised account by December 31, you may be able to claim credit on this year’s taxes. 2. Save time when giving to multiple ministries. Streamline your giving and recordkeeping by gifting all your assets into a single charitable account. 3. Maximize and simplify your giving. The administrator for your donor-advised fund will manage and liquidate your stock, real estate, and other non-cash assets.
Is it time for you to consider a donor-advised fund? Through CBE’s partnership with Barnabas Foundation, you have access to the Steward’s Fund, which has no set-up fee. To learn more, call Julene Holt at 612-872-6898 or email jholt@cbeinternational.org.
Ministry News
Meet the 2021–2022 Alvera Mickelsen Memorial Scholarship Winners!
26 M U T U A L I T Y | Autumn 2021
CBE is thrilled to announce the 2021 recipients of the AMMS! Each of these remarkable women uniquely illustrates the importance of empowering women in ministry. CBE is proud to support them as they work toward graduate degrees in divinity, theology, and missions. Emily, Laura, and Michelle are no strangers to the barriers faced by women in ministry, but they remain committed to answering God’s call. It’s our honor to empower and encourage these women and women like them to use their God-given talents as they pursue their callings.
You can help offer this scholarship to more women in 2022 by donating at cbe.today/ammsfund.
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Ministry News Emily Isbell | Northern Seminary Emily Lu Isbell is currently pursuing her master of arts in theology and mission at Northern Seminary. She is a founding missionary of The Broken Wall Project and has served as the Mission Strategist for The Broken Wall Community Church since 2016. Along with the regular challenges of vocational ministry, Emily has had to navigate the challenges and pitfalls of being a woman of color in a denomination that does not actively affirm or empower women of color in leadership positions. The AMMS award affirms the work Emily does among the marginalized and her calling as a woman leader in the church. She is especially grateful for the life of Alvera Mickelsen and hopes to honor her legacy by advocating for women in leadership with both truth and grace.
Michelle Kim | Alliance Theological Seminary Michelle is currently pursuing a master of divinity degree at Alliance Theological Seminary. Michelle answered God’s call to seminary in July 2020 as a mother of young children, working full time to lead a Christian non-profit focused on aiding North Korean refugees with hope to be even more equipped to serve the kingdom of God at home and around the world. Whether in the political world or in the ministry field, Michelle encountered a gradient of gender discrimination and many nuanced cultural barriers, but these never discouraged her from remaining steadfast in her calling. She believes that a God-given mantle of authority comes from humble submission to the Lord regardless of gender, ethnicity, or age. The AMMS is both an incredible financial blessing and an empowering opportunity to learn about the legacy of Alvera Mickelsen and others who have and are working to break the barriers to biblical equality in ministry.
Laura Tarro | Northern Seminary Laura Tarro is currently pursuing a master of divinity degree with an emphasis in New Testament. Her passion is to see lost people encounter Jesus in the words of Scripture and in the lives of God’s people. After years of repeatedly bumping into invisible roadblocks because she was a woman, Laura realized she needed to find a ministry setting that intentionally identified and promoted the ministry gifts of women. Her calling is to pastor and to church plant. This fall she will be licensed in the denomination while being trained and commissioned to plant a church in her community. Receiving this scholarship is a tremendous gift to her and her family. She’s thrilled to be able to have the opportunity to focus on classes without the additional concern of figuring out how she’s going to pay for it.
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President’s Message
by Mimi Haddad
Correcting Caricatures: Women and Bible Translation When lecturing on women and Bible translation, I often see people Google facts they’ve never heard before. Few know Paula (347–404) led one of the great translation efforts—the Latin Vulgate. Nearly invisible in its history, Paula purchased the ancient manuscripts, guided the translator teams, and made linguistic edits. Jerome—her colleague on this project—acknowledged her leadership and so should we. Other women translators include Julia Evelina Smith (1792–1886), Louise Swanton Belloc (1796–1881), Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902), and Pandita Ramabai (1858–1922)—who led the first all-women Bible effort, from translation to printing, binding, and distribution. The first woman to lead a denomination, Helen Barrett Montgomery (1861–1934) produced the Centenary Bible, citing doctor-missionary, anti-trafficking activist, and biblical scholar Katharine Bushnell (1855–1946). After decades of anti-trafficking advocacy that included confronting Christian men for their impunity and collusion in abusing women, Bushnell was compelled to address ways Scripture was used to view women as lesser than men. Theologically astute, she insisted that a correct interpretation as it relates to “women status” should be assigned in the same manner as “man’s status, [based] on the atonement of Jesus Christ.”1 Exposing biblical misrepresentations, Bushnell’s groundbreaking book, God’s Word to Women, shows how Scripture has been weaponized to demean women and fuel their abuse. Like other female translators, Bushnell considered the impact of accuracy in translation on women. Yet she was the first translator to critique every passage addressing women. To see how unjust some translators’ choices have been, here are a few significant examples from Bushnell’s God’s Word to Women.
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Beginning in Genesis, Bushnell insisted the text stresses not Eve’s failures and need of male authority, but their shared dignity and authority, Genesis 1:26–29. She challenged translating tsela as rib since (42 times in Scripture) it’s translated as “side” to evoke a mitosis process—of one whole organism becoming two complete organisms. “Side” is more accurate and dignifying to women. Equally, Bushnell noted how the word chayil, used over 200 times as “strength, force, or capacity,” is translated as “virtue” or “chastity” when referring to a woman.2 Likewise, teshuqah was translated as “lust” rather than “desire” in Genesis 3:16: “Your lust will be for your husband, and he will rule over you,” insinuating women are sensual and corrupt—a trend Bushnell also found in researching New Testament passages. Consider how kosmios was rendered “well-ordered” for men but “modest or pure” for women in 1 Timothy 2:9. Similarly, hagnos is translated as “holy” for men, but “pure” for women in Titus 2:4–5.3 Tragically, the parable holding men and women to the same sexual ethic—the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53–8:11)—was missing in several translations, including Bushnell’s 1880 Chinese Bible and also key Syriac and Coptic manuscripts.4 For Bushnell, each of these examples of translation bias (and others noted in her book) may be “straws,” but “they all point in the same direction.”5 To depict women as innately immoral and lesser-than leads to immoral actions toward them. So while translators depicted women as immoral and promiscuous, Bushnell’s systematic examination of Bible passages that address women elevated their redemption. Through Calvary, all receive a Christ-identity and Gospel purpose—to lead with spiritual authority as Christ’s new creation, just as man and woman shared governance in
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President’s Message Eden. Correcting sexist caricatures through accurate Bible translations was for Bushnell crucial in upending women’s exploitation. For “nothing is of more importance to the Christian woman today than to understand that God did not Himself subordinate woman to man.”6 Women’s strength of character, glowing on the pages of Scripture, was needed to give the gospel power to dismantle male dominance and abuse. What began for Bushnell as solidarity with women enslaved in the global sex trade ended with exposing flawed Bible translations.
We stand united in Christ to proclaim women’s dignity and purpose through accurate Bible translations, remembering that dehumanizing ideas about people lead to dehumanizing actions. Correcting sexist translations and interpretations will have a redemptive impact on the global exploitation of women, as Bushnell’s life and research make clear.
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1.
Katharine Bushnell, God’s Word to Women, (Minneapolis, Minn.: Christians for Biblical Equality, 2003), 169.
2.
Bushnell, God’s Word to Women, 633.
3.
Bushnell, God’s Word to Women, 644.
4.
Cyprian as quoted in Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Academia Litterarum Vindobonensis, vol. iii, p. 638.
5.
Bushnell, God’s Word to Women, 644.
6.
Bushnell, God’s Word to Women, 450.
by Mimi Haddad
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