Jesus, Justice, and Gender Roles

I read this booklet at a point in my faith when I wanted to solidify my beliefs about what God says about men and women in Bible. I read a lot of literature from both sides, hoping to gain a balanced understanding.

At the time, I would say I believed the things this booklet said about “roles” for different genders. Funnily enough though, it pushed me in the opposite direction as intended. This booklet, along with all of my other searching, lead me to the conclusion that these “roles” are not biblical, and certainly not God's desire for us as Christians.

I also read Cathy Keller's contributions to her husband's books The Reason for God and The Meaning of Marriage. (The Kellers clearly believe that so long as a woman says it, people won't find it sexist.) This booklet goes far beyond the other two, both in lacking evidence and lacking compassion.

The lack of compassion startled me the most. If I were to sum up Keller's argument in my own words, it would be: “God clearly states women are not meant to lead. Why? Because He said so. You don't like it? Tough. Stop crying about it.”

I am not someone who reads a lot of “fluffy” Christian literature. I do my best to stick to books and articles that are academic in nature, with lots of cited references. But, wow.

This theological debate about the sexes goes back thousands of years. It cannot be easily dismissed in a few dozen pages. The women seeking truth in this booklet, desperate to understand their place in this world and the next, deserve to be heard and treated with understanding.

Overall it left a bad impression. I want to say there is plenty of other great complimentarian literature out there, but not that I have found. So much of it stems from a few well-known figures of the evangelical movement of the 1970s (you know, during the sexual revolution). The words “gender roles” occur nowhere in the Bible and the idea that the Holy Spirit does not have completely equal power and authority as the Father and the Son conflicts with traditional accepted theology about the trinity.

I loved this quick and powerful read!

Kathy Keller does a great job encouraging the reader to challenge his or her apprehensions towards complementarianism and uses biblical backing for why we can ultimately trust in God's design, not as an oppressor but as a good God who equips and qualifies and leads.