Paul and Gender: Overview

a book summary

Phil bought me this book for Christmas and I'm in the process of studying it. I thought I would summarize its contents here for those who are interested but would never read such a long, academic, and difficult tome. (Sorry, Cynthia Westfall)

If you're suspicious about the book's contents, as I was/am, and want to know what's her main point, allow me to summarize her conclusions right up front.

Westfall calls for a thorough rereading of Paul's passages on gender. She says that traditional readings fail to work with Paul's theology of salvation, authority, or power, nor do they align with the cultural and social contexts of that time.

Westfall says that people need to use the same interpretive methods when dealing with passages concerning women as they do with men and other portions of Paul's letters. No fair changing rules mid-stream. Plus, because in the last forty years, the world has altered its views about women being by nature inferior to men, she says that it's time to look again at scripture without those old assumptions in mind.

Finally, she recognizes the fallout of traditional beliefs on this subject. "The mandate to subordinate women and bar them from positions of authority has been applied in the congregation and the academy, in some cases with various forms and degrees of disrespect, marginalization, suspicion, mistreatment, and rejection of women, usually in an effort to either maintain control, enforce a standard, or deflect responsibility" (Westfall, 314).

Westfall offers suggestions for alternative interpretations of Paul's passages about women, and rather than saying that her interpretations trump the old ones, she asks that they be considered on equal ground and with equal scrutiny as the traditional interpretations. 

Her book, which was published in 2016, is 316 pages long and includes a 16-page bibliography, and an index of Greek terms and modern authors. Have I whet your appetite yet?

I plan to release these summaries once a week or at the rate at which I read them. 
Content will be available as I post them. Click on Paul and Gender Intro after Feb 9 to keep reading. The others will post every Friday thereafter.

Westfall, Cynthia Long. Paul and Gender: Reclaiming the Apostle's Vision for Men and Women in Christ. (Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, Michigan. 2016)