Biblical Theology

The Bible nowhere states that God created some form of evolutionary process and that the heavens or the universe, the earth and all things therein. Instead, it states that all living forms were directly created by God; that Man was directly fashioned and created by God as a perfect and highly intelligent being with the ability to rule over God’s creation. Men as we know them today are not the product of lower forms of life resulting from evolution through ‘natural selection’ and or ‘survival of the fittest’. Evolution is totally an absurd idea that has been ‘smuggled’ into the Scriptures based on a false interpretation of ‘scientific speculations’. We need to have concrete scientific facts to be accepted as biblically supported truth and not any ‘evolving and constantly mutating evolutionary guesses’.

The biblical portrayal of the cosmos (both its size and age) is significantly different from how we today understand the expanding universe over deep time. How might we go about interpreting the cosmology of the Bible in order to understand its normative theological claims? This blog post for BioLogos explores the biblical idea of the cosmic temple and how it might relate to our contemporary cosmology.

This article examines the incongruity between most modern translations of Jonah 3:3 and ancient textual and archaeological evidence concerning the size of Nineveh. Every modern solution intended to reconcile a literal rendering of the description in Jonah 3:3 with ancient evidence fails. However, reading Jonah 3:3 as a figure of speech perfectly conveys the author’s intention of representing Nineveh as a very large city.

Author: Kirsten Laurel Guidero
Publisher: CBE International

Evangelicalism can find a foothold in renewed practices of reading Scripture. This article first illustrates the larger problems haunting evangelical patterns of reading Scripture by analyzing as a test case two prevalent evangelical interpretations of Gal 3:26–29.2 Next, I offer a better interpretive method and spell out how it treats this passage. We will see that, far from viewing the biblical texts too reverently, with a proposed correction of qualifying textual authority—an approach some evangelicals who struggle with difficult elements of Scripture have adopted—both of the earlier approaches may fail to respect the text enough.

This document (accepted by the Board of Ordained Ministry in 2020) includes some revisions, making it more accessible to the laity. In addition, it may provide some direction for certified candidates in the UMC seeking to be commissioned and ordained.

Every speaker, teacher, or preacher has on some occasion encountered an audience that was either unreceptive to or unsympathetic with what he or she had to say. One dominant response to this communication breakdown given by both the Old Testament prophets and New Testament authors was to declare that "they have hardened their hearts to the message" or "God has hardened them." What is this hardness of heart phenomena? Who became hardened and why? Was it “compensation” for some “deficiency” in communication?  What were the consequences of such a disposition? Of what does this unreceptivity consist? Was there any hope for a “change of heart”? The implications of such a study are not only significant for understanding key issues in biblical criticism and theology, but are relevant for anyone concerned with (a) communication issues between an addresser and addressees and (b) for understanding the oppositional behavior and the psychology of resistance.

Taft R. F. The Great Entrance. A History of the Transfer of Gifts and other Preanaphoral Rites of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. [A History of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, vol. II]. Roma, 1975. (Orientalia Christiana Analecta; 200).

The gap between systematic theologians and biblical theology is often wide. Here is an attempt to apply principles of biblical theology and exegesis to the systematic theology of the atonement, especially in reference to the Arminian Baptist Thomas Grantham. This is a response paper to J. Matthew Pinson's presentation in New Orleans, 2008. The paper was published in this e-journal: http://www.baptistcenter.com/Documents/Journals/JBTM%208.1%20Spring11.pdf,  pp. 29-33.

In order to shed light on the meaning of John 1, St. Augustine would turn to “that image which the creature is, that is, to the rational soul for a more careful questioning and consideration” of the procession of the Son from the Father. He would do so by seeing a link between the way the mind “beget[s] its knowledge when it knows itself” and the way the Father begets the Son;  in other words, the way a word is spoken by man and the way the Divine Word is ‘spoken’ by the Father. In this essay, I investigate both the way this ‘analogy of the word’ was used by thinkers prior to Augustine and also the thought of the Latin Father himself. I have also added an appendix on the subsequent thought of Aquinas on this point.

Owen, John (1616-1683)
Publisher: Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library --
Description: Pneumatologia--or, 'Owen on the Holy Spirit,' as the work has generally been called--is perhaps one of the best known, and most highly esteemed of John Owen's treatises. Pneumatologia is divided into five parts. The first part contains a general and preliminary account of the Holy Spirit. The second part addresses the operations of the Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testaments. The third part discusses the doctrine of regeneration. The fourth part addresses the doctrine of sanctification, and the role of the Holy Spirit in it. The final part contains arguments extolling the reader to holiness. This is a beloved treatise, as John Newton once wrote to a correspondent: "We are favoured with many excellent books in our tongue, but I with you agree in assigning one of the first places as a teacher to Dr. Owen. I have just finished his discourse on the Holy Spirit which is an epitome, if not the masterpiece of his writings."

It is hard to think of an area of Christian theology that provides more scope for interdisciplinary conversation than the doctrine of creation. This doctrine not only invites reflection on an intellectual concept: it calls for contemplation of the endlessly complex, dynamic, and fascinating world that human being inhabit. But the possibilities for wide-ranging discussion are such that scholars sometimes end up talking past one another. Productive conversation requires mutual understanding of insights across disciplinary boundaries. Knowing Creation offers an essential resource for helping scholars from a range of fields to appreciate one another's concerns and perspectives. In so doing, it offers an important step forward in establishing a mutually-enriching dialogue that addresses, amongst others, the following key questions:

- Who is the God who creates?
- Why does God create?
- What is "creation"?
- What does it mean to recognize that a theology of creation speaks of a natural world that is subject to the observation of the natural sciences? What does it mean to talk about both a "natural" order and a "created" order?
- What are the major tensions that have arisen between the natural sciences and Christian thinking historically, and why? How can we move beyond such tensions to a positive and constructive conversation, while also avoiding facile notions such as a "god of the gaps"?
- Is it feasible for a natural scientist to maintain a belief in God's continuing creative activity?
- In what ways might a naturalistic understanding of the natural world be said to be limited?
- How can biblical studies, theology, philosophy, history, and science talk better together about these questions?

At a time when the doctrine of creation - and even a mention of "creation" - has been disparaged due to its supposed associations with anti-scientific dogma, and theological offerings sometimes risk appearing a little more than reactionary exercises in naive apologetics, ill-informed by science or distinctly wary of engagement with it, it is more important than ever to offer a cross-disciplinary resource that can voice a positive account of a Christian theology of creation, and do so as a genuinely broad-ranging conversation about science and faith.

This paper argues that the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) can profitably be understood as a second Deuteronomy. The author makes his case through the development of strong conceptual links between these texts such as presentation and interpretation of Torah, Jesus as the greater Moses within Matthew, and the concluding calls at Matt 7:24-27 and Deut 30:11-20 to choose obedience (=life). This linking has many interesting results including advancing the concept of "Torah" as instruction that demands a response because it comes from God to man through authorized teachers and the strengthening of the depiction of Jesus as the greater Moses (i.e., the greater law giver/interpreter).

Author's Note I am thankful for the opportunity to present this paper at the 2021 EABS. I am thankful for the organizers and the participants. I wish to state up front that this is a draft of an idea. This is the first step toward a paper. This is a draft of a draft. In other words, I am very thankful for the kind reception and assistance that was given. In that vein, I have included the comments that were given in the Canonical Approaches to the Bible program unit after I read the paper. Their comments will make the paper better in the end.

In the book we argue that 2 Cor 10, although presenting strong characteristics of polemical discourse, actually sets in motion a self-praise speech with a pedagogical, not defensive purpose. The chapter in question serves as a programmatic introduction to the Pauline boasting developed in chapters 11–13. Applying rhetorical analysis, we show that 2 Cor 10 contains an exordium (10,1-6) and a propositio for the entire speech (10,7-8); we further identify by this analysis the criteria crucial for legitimate apostolic boasting (10,12-18). The main problem of 2 Cor 10–13 expressed in the propositio (10,7-8) regards Paul’s claim to be a true servant of Christ and to have the right to boast about it. This problem is strictly connected with the accusations of the opponents which point at his weakness and ineffectiveness in dealing with the community’s problems.

Thus, 2 Cor 10 sets the stage for all of 2 Cor 10–13. This chapter is the key to a proper understanding of the rhetorical stasis of the entire speech elucidated from the Pauline inventio and dispositio. Paul’s use of the periautologia, metaphor, and irony reveals the strong position of the Apostle in Corinth but also points out the fatal infatuation the Corinthians have with newcomers. The causa of Paul ultimately revolves around the status qualitatis: he proves he is strong enough to be the leader in Corinth and paradoxically demonstrates that weakness should belong to the identity of apostle.  Such a reading of the rhetorical stasis introduces two problematic issues begun in 2 Cor 10 and continued in Cor 11–13: the relationship between power and weakness and the legitimacy of Pauline boasting. Paul’s approach to weakness in 2 Cor 10–13 challenges the standards on which the evaluation of true apostleship is made. Contemporaneously, he also recognizes infirmity as an integral part of his apostolic identity. Christ himself is the only model that enables Paul to subvert worldly standards of judgment and claim weakness as an integral part of his apostolic mission (13,3-4). Subsequently, 2 Cor 10 is crucial to understanding the legitimacy of Paul’s boast developed throughout all of 2 Cor 10 – 13. The thesis (10,7-8) and its argumentation (10,12-18) elaborate the exterior criteria of such boast including a divine call (status qualitatis) and apostolic praxis (performance), as well as the supreme rule saying that all credit for apostolic achievements should be given to the Lord (i.e. boasting en kyriô 10,17). Paul successfully responds to the first two imperatives of boasting. Problems, however, arise when he comes to the last criterion, namely, boasting in the Lord (en kyriô). The ego-centric boast based additionally on the comparison mentioned for the first time in 10,12 is the one that Paul fears and abhors and calls foolish, but he is forced, nevertheless, to undertake it for the sake of his spiritual children. The tool that ultimately enables him to transform self-aggrandizing speech into speech that is focused on Christ is his paradoxical boasting of weakness. It is being prepared in the pivotal section 11,30-33 (the entirety of 11,1-29 should be read as boasting of the apostolic achievements) and reaches its climax in 12,9-10. The careful crafting of the discourse based on Christological principles and meant for the edification of the community (10,8; 12,19; 13,10) ultimately speaks against qualifying it as a parody of the opponents’ boasting.

Since Charles Darwin made the theory of evolution popular, the church has been faced with the problem of either denying the validity of evolution or finding a way to interpret the Bible that will harmonize with both an old-earth scenario and with the belief that humans evolved from lower forms of life. This article will not deny either of these scientific conclusions. Its purpose will be to discuss some of the proposed interpretations of the Bible's teachings that have been presented for the purpose of harmonizing the Bible and science, showing that some of these have serious problems. But first I will present an alterative view that has both mathematical and exegetical support to undergird it. Two benefits that are inherent in this view are its simplicity and its employment of the historical-grammatical hermeneutic. Also it does not contradict any New Testament teaching, which should be a requirement for any methodology employed to discover the Bible's teaching on human origins. I appreciate all those who have taken in hand to harmonize an inspired view of Scripture with the present views of the science community.

Among the many psalms that refer to creation, Pss 8 and 104 stand out in being entirely devoted to this theme. Whereas Ps 8 highlights the prominent, even exalted, human role in the created order, Ps 104 contextualizes humanity as but one creature among many in a complex intertwined cosmos. Nevertheless, upon closer study, it becomes evident that both psalms share elements of a common worldview, including a remarkably similar view of what constitutes being human, a conception of the world as a cosmic temple, and a rejection of the motif of creation-by-combat against primordial enemies. An exploration of the diversity-in-unity of Pss 8 and 104 yields insights into how their common theological vision may address the human vocation of the use of power in a world understood as a sacred realm over which God is enthroned, yet into which evil has intruded.

Niniejsza praca chce zająć się relacją pomiędzy cudami Jezusa, zwanymi na kartach czwartej Ewangelii znakami, a wiarą świadków cudów. Chodzi o ukazanie, jak znaki Jezusa wpływały na wiarę tych, do których były one skierowane, jak ją wzbudzały, kształtowały i umacniały. Bezpośrednim motywem podjęcia tego tematu jest cytat z Ewangelii według św. Jana: „I wiele innych znaków, których nie zapisano w tej księdze, uczynił Jezus wobec uczniów. Te zaś zapisano, abyście wierzyli, że Jezus jest Mesjaszem, Synem Bożym, i abyście wierząc, mieli życie w imię Jego” (J 20, 30-31). Temat wiary jest bardzo ważny i ciągle aktualny. Jest sporo prac omawiających znaki-cuda i wiarę w Biblii, w Nowym Testamencie i w samej Ewangelii według św. Jana. Nie ma jednak pracy, która zajęłaby się wprost związkiem pomiędzy znakami i wiarą w czwartej Ewangelii. Wydaje się zatem uzasadnionym, żeby podjąć tę kwestię i spróbować ją rozpracować.

This essay was published in The Bible and Early Trinitarian Theology, edited by Christopher A. Beeley and Mark E. Weedman, for the CUAP Studies in Early Christianity (Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2018); this is the uncorrected proofs. Exploring the humanity and divinity of Jesus, the Son's relation to the Father, and the agency of the Holy Spirit, it is one of five essays suggesting Johannine contributions to trinitarian discussions in the early church.

For me, Bernd's great commentary evoked two contradictory sayings. The ancient Alexandrian librarian, Callimachos gave us an epigram that became proverbial, "Mega biblion, mega kakon-Big book, big evil." But Epimenides produced a hexameter line which, when emended, may be used to refute Callimachos' proverb: "Alexandrians are always liars, evil beasts, lazy guts."

The article reads the invention of the Exodus-Narrative in its historical context of the religious and political system of the Ancient Near East. It reconstructs the revolutionary different approach to political power and theological foundation in the development of the Mose- and Exodus-Narrative and its innerbiblical Fortschreibung. For this development it is most decisive that the Exodus-Narrative is not based on a historical migration-movement "from point A to point B", but on a historical confrontation with the political powers at that time. The foundation of a strict monotheistic understanding of theology and the invention of “textual authority” that diverged from the status of scripture in the Ancient Near East and which can be reconstructed through the structure of the Exodus-Narrative and its canonical form as the Tora of Mose, has laid the foundation for the identity of Israel and the basis for the three Monotheistic Religions. The article's argument is strictly developed in correspondence with contemporary exegetical and historical research (esp. E. Otto and Chr. Dohmen) and is brought together with contemporary accounts to political thought from poststructuralist and deconstructive philosophers like Derrida, Levinas, Badiou and Agamben. The outcome of this study is articulated as a contribution to an affirmative reading of the so-called »crisis of representation«.

Even a casual reading of the Old Testament demonstrates that the ancient Israelite writers clearly conceived of some kind of conceptual relationship between light and Yhwh.  Theologians disagree concerning its precise nature, however, advocating anything from a simple metaphorical relationship with no metaphysical meaning whatsoever to a full ontological equivalency of Yhwh (primitively, as a sun-god) and the sun.  The thesis applies the principles of cognitive semantics to the lexeme אור (light) in Biblical Hebrew and develops a working hypothesis of the conceptual relationship between light and Yhwh in the ancient Israelite cognitive environment. 
After constructing a cognitive model of the lexeme אור in Biblical Hebrew, the thesis then tests this model and its derived conclusions against theological writings concerning light in the interpretive history of the Old Testament, with special focus on contributions made in the last fifty years.  This comparative investigation seeks to determine how the recent developments of cognitive linguistic theory either confirm or possibly correct previous understandings of the theological significance of light in Old Testament literature.  On the basis of testing this cognitive model of light, the thesis proposes a working hypothesis concerning the relationship between light and Yhwh in the ancient Israelite conceptual world and delineates a set of methodological principles for a future study to develop a more precise and fully articulated theology of light in the Old Testament.  The concluding chapter explores the implications of both the cognitive model of light and the academic discipline of cognitive linguistics for Old Testament studies and the broader theological landscape.
This thesis was submitted for the Master of Theology degree in the Stellenbosch University Faculty of Theology, Dec 2016.

Travail de Master réalisé en 2017 cherchant à développer des fondements éthiques proprement chrétiens pour répondre aux questions écologiques qui sont les nôtres.
La réflexion prend pour point d'ancrage une péricope bien connue de la lettre aux Romains (8, 18-30) qui est analysée sur la première moitié du travail. L'exégèse se veut complète et propose une interprétation à la lumière de la lettre aux Romains dans sa totalité.
La deuxième moitié est consacrée au développement d'une herméneutique verte sur la base de l'exégèse en insistant sur l'ancrage juif de la pensée de Paul. Le travail se termine par des pistes de réflexions éthiques.

This article examines the relationship between disease, pollution and sin in the Priestly writings, focusing on the rites for the purification of ṣara‛at in Leviticus 14. In particular, it will evaluate the contested question of whether this text is implicitly polemical in light of ancient West Asian rituals dealing with similar subject matter, especially a ritual for the treatment of skin disease from Emar. These comparisons will enable a more precise characterization of the Priestly agenda reflected in Leviticus 14 and suggest that the traditional notion of pollution in Israel has been deliberately reinterpreted.

This was a research paper for a course entitled Feminist and Multicultural Theologies. I unpack what gender complementarianism is, examine its history, and compare it to how Scripture and earlier Christian Tradition understood gender. This allows me to establish that gender complementarianism is a recent innovation in secular and Christian thinking about gender, and that it can be described as a "trajectory" from Scripture and Tradition on gender, influenced by social, ideological, and intellectual developments in secular societies. I then pursue a critique of gender complementarianism, arguing that it is an "unsatisfactory trajectory" because it has troubling implications for orthodox theology, is not borne out by empirical experience and observation, and has harmful effects on human beings and societies and on ethical development.

At the heart of James B. Torrance’s theological project was a concern to demonstrate the importance of an evangelical account of repentance, over against a legal account. This was a concern that he inherited from John Calvin, who stood as the greatest theological influence on Torrance. Out of his respect for Calvin, Torrance did not seek to commandeer Calvin’s work on this topic for his own project. Rather, he sought to communicate Calvin’s own vision of evangelical repentance to a new generation. Accordingly, this essay will primarily devote itself to exploring Calvin’s position. Before so doing, however, I shall provide a brief analysis of the distinction between the “covenant God” and “contract God,” which underlays Torrance’s emphasis on Calvin’s distinction between legal and evangelical repentance. Also, following our exploration of Calvin, I shall look briefly at Torrance’s own account of evangelical repentance, as it followed Calvin’s trajectory.

Many philosophers throughout Christianity’s history have asserted the existence of intermediary beings or, in more familiar terms, angels and demons.  According to Christianity, God, angels, demons, and human souls are all thought to share a common nature, namely ‘spirit.’  This ‘spirit’ is thought to signify immateriality.  Yet each is said to interact with the physical world.  God, who is conceived of as omnipotent, can interact with the world simply at will.  Human souls are paired with bodies which provides them the equipment to interact with the world.  Angels receive special assistance from God by which they interact with the world.  But demons, unlike angels, are not likely to benefit from any special assistance from God (unlike angels), nor are they themselves omnipotent (unlike God), nor are they paired with bodies (unlike humans).  However, demons are believed to interact occasionally with this physical world.  But how can an immaterial demon interact with a material world?  Any appeals to the same explanations for how other immaterial beings (viz. humans, angels, or God) interact with the physical world will not do.  I propose a solution that is consonant with their being purely immaterial creatures and yet does not rely on such an ad hoc manoeuvre.  I argue that they actually never do interact with the physical world apart from their exploitation of human beings as proxies.  I propose to explain their interaction in terms of their basic ability to cognitively interact with embodied souls.  I call this sustaining affirmation of their immateriality along with this particular relationship they have with the world through human beings psychodynamic immaterialism.

Palestine is known as the birthplace of Christianity. However the Christian population of this land is relatively insignificant today, despite the continuing institutional legacy that the 19th century Western missionary focus on the region created. Palestinian Christians are often forced to employ politically astute as well as theologically radical means in their efforts to appear relevant within an increasingly Islamist-oriented society. My thesis focuses on two ecumenical Christian organisations within Palestine, the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Centre in Jerusalem (headed by the Anglican cleric Naim Stifan Ateek) and Dar Annadwa Addawliyya (the International Centre of Bethlehem-ICB, directed by the Lutheran theologian Mitri Raheb). Based on my field work (consisting of an in-depth  familiarisation with the two organisations in Palestine and interviews with their directors, office-staff and supporters worldwide, as well as data analyses based on an extensive literature review), I argue that the grassroots-oriented educational, humanitarian, cultural and contextual theological approach favoured by the ICB in Bethlehem is more relevant to the Palestinian situation, than the more sectarian and Western-oriented approach of the Sabeel Centre. These two groups are analysed primarily according to their theological-political approaches. One, (Sabeel), has sought to develop a critical Christian response to the Palestine-Israel conflict using the politico-theological tool of liberation theology, albeit with a strongly ecumenical Western-oriented focus, while the other (ICB), insists that its theological orientation draws primarily from the Levantine Christian (and in their particular case, the Palestinian Lutheran) context in which Christians in Israel-Palestine are placed. Raheb of the ICB has tried to develop a contextual theology that seeks to root the political and cultural development of the Palestinian people within their own Eastern Christian context and in light of their peculiarly restricted life under an Israeli occupation regime of over 40 years. In the process, I argue that the ICB has sought to be much more situationally relevant to the needs of the Palestinian people in the West Bank, given the employment, socio-cultural and humanitarian-health opportunities opened up by the practical-institution building efforts of this organisation in Bethlehem.

This is an abridged version of my "Counting Stars with Abraham and the Prophets" (JETS 2015). Paul’s application of the “seed” designation to both Jews and Gentiles in Christ marks a redemptive-historical shift from an age of promise to an age of fulfillment. Both the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants initially restricted “seed” language to physical descent and marked covenant membership by physical birth. Nevertheless, they also pointed ahead to a day when covenantal, spiritual adoption would replace ethnicity and biology as the foundational mark of the patriarch’s “fatherhood.” The OT’s promised royal deliver would initiate this eschatological and ecclesiological development, which by its nature supports a progressive covenantal flavor of Baptistic new covenant ecclesiology.

This paper gives a brief overview of this new trend, based on the author’s twenty years of experience in this field in Russia and neighbouring countries, first as a Bible translator and editor with the Bible society, then as a translation consultant with the Institute for Bible Translation in Moscow, Russia. The area of Biblical studies used to be dominated by theology, but theology lost its central importance in the latter 20th century, replaced by linguistics, anthropology and other humanities disciplines. However, theology is slowly regaining its former importance under new circumstances and in a new way. This shift is primarily associated with the name of Eugene Nida and his colleagues who developed a profound theoretical foundation and a set of elaborate methodologies for Bible translators. Those changes eventually led to the appearance of some newer approaches, the two most prominent being relevance and functionalist theories. This tendency is yet more visible with the skopos or functionalist theory, initially proposed by K. Reis and H. Vermeer, later developed and made globally known by C. Nord. New approaches are appearing, some trying to domesticate the text as much as possible, others on the contrary, insisting on radical foreignisation of the Bible. The principle of iconicity that S. Crisp promotes can however give some room for translations different from the standard ‘meaning-based’ ones while avoiding the naivity of so-called essential literalness. Anthropology takes an important place in translational studies but theology mostly remains an uncharted area, so creating some sort of an ‘iconic theology’ of translation may help to correct this imbalance. The current problems of Bible translation have some clearly theological components so they should be studied, discussed and dealt with accordingly. To sum up, we are facing a situation which is fundamentally different from the one that was present in the “missionary era”, so theologians and anthropologists should become friends if they want to be successful as Bible translators.

My primary objective is to make this debate accessible to anyone on either side of or caught betwixt the debate. To meet this objective, I also strive to clarify harmful assumptions on either side of an issue, promote understanding for the reasonings supporting both sides, and, ultimately, point all parties and listeners back to the heart of the Gospel. And in hearing both sides of the issue, may we ALL find less reason for boasting in our flesh (intellect, interpretation, experience, or feeling). While in practice those who debate the function of females in ministry appear to differ widely and publicly, I would like to suggest to you 1) that the motivations behind the opposing doctrines are not so different and 2) that in the home, in the practice of marriage, there may exist less difference than those in opposition imagine. The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him. Proverbs 18:17 (ESV) Before his downfall a man's heart is proud, but humility comes before honor. He who answers a matter before he hears it-this is folly and disgrace to him. Proverbs 18:13 (BSB) Defining Terms There are two major sides of the debate concerning female leadership, authority, or pastoral / apostolic gifting in the Church. Broadly defined: Christian egalitarians argue that men and women have equal status and opportunity with regards to spiritual roles in the Church. A more radical and feminist view of this argument translates into cultural and social functions in the world, where men are sometimes downgraded as human beings in preference for an erroneous belief in female superiority; however, Christian egalitarianism is not mutually inclusive of such a view (which should become clear as we unfold the common arguments in support of egalitarianism)1. It is in examining the motives behind this belief and interpretation of scripture that its desire for male and female submission to God might be better understood. Christian complimentarians, also called traditionalists (a title ditched for its negative connotations), argue that women's roles are complimentary to men's roles, inside and outside of the Church, but not equal or the same2. The extremes of this view are often cited as being oppressive or abusive to women; while that can be true, it should be noted that Christian complimentarianism is not mutually inclusive of such abuses. It is in understanding the motives behind this belief and interpretation of scripture that its desire for scriptural continuity in reflection of Christ and the Church (when free of notable abuses) might be understood.