Book Review
Discovering Biblical Equality: Biblical, Theological, Cultural, and Practical Perspectives
3rd edition, IVP Academic, 2021 Edited by Ronald W. Pierce, Cynthia Long Westfall, and Christa L. McKirland Reviewed by Dawn Gentry, Jamin A. Hübner, Dorothy A. Lee, Jeff Miller, and Karen Strand Winslow Introduction, by Jeff Miller This third edition of Discovering Biblical Equality (DBE), which gathers over thirty essays, is positioned to contribute significantly to the fortifying and flourishing of evangelical gender egalitarianism. Several of its endorsements affirm the earlier editions of DBE and go on to express optimism about this edition as well.1 Several chapters are wholly new (e.g., “Mutuality in Marriage and Singleness: 1 Corinthians 7:1–40” by Ronald W. Pierce and Elizabeth A. Kay, “Gender Equality and the Analogy of Slavery” by Stanley E. Porter, “Human Flourishing: Global Perspectives” by CBE President Mimi Haddad). Certain other essays have been updated (e.g., those by Linda L. Belleville and Aída Besançon Spencer). A few essays remain unchanged, or largely so, from the previous edition. Key examples of unchanged contributions are “‘Equal in Being, Unequal in Role’: Challenging the Logic of Women’s Subordination” by Rebecca Merrill Groothuis (1954 – 2018) and two articles by Gordon D. Fee (“Praying and Prophesying in the Assemblies: 1 Corinthians 11:2–16” and “The Priority of Spirit Gifting for Church Ministry”).2 It should be noted that the second edition still has value, for some of its essays have not been retained (e.g., Richard Hess covered Gen 1–3 in the second edition, but Mary L. Conway shoulders that responsibility in the third; I. Howard Marshall [1934 – 2015] originally addressed Eph 5 and Col 3, but Lynn H. Cohick does so in the third edition). The editors have written an introduction and a conclusion. After the conclusion is a list of the twenty-seven contributors (sixteen women and eleven men). Their paragraph-length bios can be especially helpful since most of the authors have written much more on the topic(s) of their respective chapter(s) than this essay collection has space to include. The book ends with name, subject, and Scripture indices. The opening chapter stands outside the book’s four major sections, which are each reviewed below by different scholars. This chapter, “History Matters” by Haddad, asks “Who represents evangelicals?” It begins with a critique of the recent lack of appreciation for women’s scholarship and leadership in certain evangelical sectors.3 It then gifts the reader with a sweeping overview of women throughout church history. Thus, the tone is set for over 600 more pages of scholarly investigation of the foundations and ramifications of egalitarianism.
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• Priscilla Papers | 36/2 | Spring 2022
Part One, Looking to Scripture: The Biblical Texts Reviewed by Karen Strand Winslow Conway’s chapter, “Gender in Creation and Fall,” opens Part One, “Looking to Scripture, the Biblical Texts.” Viewing Gen 1–2 as the ideal theological foundation for relationships between women and men, she finds “mutuality, equality, harmony between men and women” (52) and no biblical grounds for gender hierarchy or the patriarchy that is entrenched in so many cultures. Conway’s contribution has much to commend it. She emphasizes that “humanity” should be used to translate adam, except when it becomes the proper name for the male, man, and husband referred to in Gen 4:25–5:3 (see the NRSV translation of these chapters). In Gen 1:28, humanity, defined as male and female, are equally tasked with multiplying and ruling other creatures God had made before them. Conway rightly claims that Yahweh’s original intention for humanity included no distinction of authority or roles—male and female, united and made in the image of God, are to reproduce and rule other created creatures. Nonetheless, Conway’s use of the term Yahweh here betrays her tendency to collapse Gen 1 and Gen 2, even while admitting that the first and second creation stories have “differing focuses, genres, and functions” (35). But Yahweh (typically rendered “Lord”) is not used for God in Gen 1; only Elohim (“God”) is. Yahweh Elohim is used for the creator of both the Garden and the couple in Gen 2–3, and is one example of the many differences between these stories which include setting, vocabulary, order, scope, and purpose.4 Furthermore, she names her discussion of the Garden story, “Genesis 2:4–25: A Detailed View of the Creation of Humanity,” and reads it as an expansion of Day 6 of Gen 1. She says the second story “overlaps the first, extends it, and unpacks events in more detail, especially in regard to the creation of humanity” (39, italics added).5 However, we cannot read the Gen 2 story of marriage and farming through the lens of Gen 1. With Gen 1 and 2 we have two creation stories that support the unity, correspondence, intimacy, and fit of the two sexes: male and female in Gen 1, husband and wife in Gen 2. In Gen 2, the man was formed to till the soil (Gen 2:5–8); the woman was made because it was not good for man to be alone (not to reproduce, as Conway claims [41, 43]). The reason animals were made—after the man—was to find one that would match the man. God realized that man’s ezer
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