There is, of course, more to the individual stories than the truncated narrative I’ve outlined above. The author revisited Scripture, reinterpreting the “restrictive” passages of the New Testament in light of the “broad sweep of the biblical narrative,” which he or she saw as indicating freedom for women to serve in any leadership capacity within the church. The author married, or was herself, a highly capable woman with strong leadership capabilities (this was true in nearly every essay).ģ. The author was raised in a fundamentalist Christian background that was highly restrictive of women’s involvement in the church (this accounts for about half of the essays).Ģ. While not true of every essay, the following pattern is consistent:ġ. Yet just as there are common themes that tend to run through conversion stories, so too there are three common factors that emerge as chief influences in the lives of the contributors to this volume. It is, of course, an impossible task to adequately review a 21-chapter, multi-authored work in 1,500 words. Thus How I Changed My Mind is not an apologetic work, but rather functions in the broader debate in much the same way that a personal testimony functions in evangelism. But overall, most authors keep to the stated aim of simply describing the most significant factors that influenced his or her change of mind. A few of the chapters make a modest attempt at defending egalitarianism (to varying degrees of success). Indeed, most of its 21 chapters are written by pastors and parachurch workers who would likely not consider themselves experts on the scholarly/theological issues involved. The book is not a scholarly work, nor does it intend to be. Howard Marshall, Alice Matthews, Roger Nicole, John and Nancy Ortberg, Cornelius Plantiga Jr., Carol and James Plueddemann, Minette Drumwright Pratt, Ronald Sider, John Stackhouse Jr., John Taylor, and Bonnie Wurzbacher. How I Changed My Mind is a multi-authored work, and includes contributions from John Armstrong, Ruth Barton, Gilbert Bilezikian, Stuart and Jill Briscoe, Tony Campolo, Robert and Alice Fryling, Stan Gundry, Bill and Lynn Hybels, Alan Johnson, Walter and Olive Liefeld, I. Pulling together a wide span of evangelical leaders, How I Changed My Mind About Women in Leadership: Compelling Stories from Prominent Evangelicals, offers a look into the influences that led these men and women to embrace egalitarianism. Johnson, acknowledges the reality of life experience as a significant shaper of our biblical convictions. ![]() As is true in nearly everything, we tend to believe what we want to believe.Ī recent book, edited by Alan F. Many and varied are the subtle influences that help shape the way in which we approach this issue. But the underlying motives that push one toward a given conclusion are not always the result of bare hermeneutics. 3:1–7, etc.), and the typological relationship between gender and the image of God. In the main, controversy surrounding this issue has focused on exegetical/theological debates such as the meaning of the Greek word kephale (head), the interpretations of key biblical texts (1 Tim. Few issues are so hotly debated today in evangelicalism as the issue of women in leadership.
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