pmd@cbsck.UUCP (Paul Dubuc) (07/20/85)
In his article, "Testing Barrs Thesis / Biblical Inerrancy / Excursus on Canonicity", Gary Buchholz writes >As a final comment, for those who claim inerrancy or "Word of God" for >the text, it is interesting to speculate as to the status of those >culturally determined and time conditioned ideas/practices/notions that >"tag along" and are raised to divinity with the rest of the text. What >about the "biblical view of women" ? - divinely inspired by God or >cultural baggage tagging along for the ride to be elevated as "Word of >God". > >The thesis that the Bible contains oppressive human ideologies is >worked out in detail for the feminist case by E. Schussler-Fiorenza in: >In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian >Origins. I would highly recommend this book to 'inerrant' >Fundamentalists and that wonderful woman who sent me the note saying >that she "learned theology at the *feet* of her husband". I'd like to recommend three books on the subject: 1) _Women and the Word of God, (A response to biblical feminism), by Susan T. Foh (1979, Presbyterian & Reformed) Foh is a graduate of Westminister Theological Seminary (M.A.) 2) _Woman in the Bible, (An overview of all the crucial passages on women's roles)_, by Mary J. Evans (1983, InterVarsity Press) Evans (M. Phil.) is lecturer of biblical studies at London Bible College. 3) _Beyond Sex Roles, (A guide for the study of female roles in the Bible)_, by Gilbert Bilezikian (1985, Baker Book House) Bilezikian (Th.D.) is professor of biblical studies at Wheaton College. Each of these is written from the Evangelical perspective and, I think, very effectively challenge the notion that the Bible teaches doctrines oppressive to women. I'd recommend them to anyone. Foh stops short of supporting women's ordination (the others do better in that regard) but her book contains an important challenge to the more liberal "biblical feminist" hermeneutic and is very well writter overall. Evan's book is excellent as a reference because of the way it is organized. I have made notes on the first two books. I'll post them if I have time (I'm not quite finished with my notes on Evans' book yet.) Paul Dubuc