Thinking about Patriarchy Soon, I will be jumping from Genesis 3 to the New Testament. I have already talked about Deborah, and I think she busts the assumptions we have about the empowerment and competency of women in the Old Testament. Also, I need to do a lot of work in the New Testament with key texts, so we will commence with Jesus and women. But before looking at texts in the New Testament, it is vitally important to address... Read more
The Undoing (Genesis 3) In this blog series, I want to spend some time on Genesis 3, popularly known as “the Fall.” I think that terminology is inaccurate. Falling is not imagery used here. Closer to what we see happen in this chapter, I like to call it the “undoing” of God’s good work in creation. All that beauty, innocence, harmony, and unity is undone. The first thing to notice with Genesis 3:1 is that the problem seems to come... Read more
IN THE BEGINNING Image of God, Male and Female It’s time to look at Genesis 1 and 2. I used to think that it made a big difference that woman was created after man, and that she was created to be a “helper” to man. But, as Lucy Peppiatt reminded me (in her soon coming book, which is excellent), this is one way of interpreting the creation story, but it is not the only way. Before we get to some of these... Read more
Starting with Deborah In many cases, to address the matter of women in ministry, scholars begin with Genesis. But I prefer to begin with Deborah. Why? For me, she makes all the difference. That is because this one case study in Scripture overturns virtually all arguments against women church leaders. (In 2012 I wrote a blog on some of the details in Judges 4-5, FYI) But—women are not gifted in leadership. Deborah was. Women belong in the home sphere. Deborah was called... Read more
Wow, there was so much feedback and interest on social media from my first post, I feel like I should do a quick second one while I have a bit of time (sitting at the beach, “working hard”). Translation and Terms: The Devil is in the Details I am being honest when I say, one of the most important things I did to help me understand the “women in ministry” issue was: learn Greek and Hebrew. (And I took advanced Greek,... Read more
I (Nijay Gupta) have been an egalitarian for over 15 years. So, I am definitely long overdue for expressing my views in an extended, written format. There will be a large number of posts in this series, so stay tuned. Starting from the beginning Before getting into biblical and theological arguments and views, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about my story. I became a believer as a teenager. In college (at a secular university), I was involved... Read more
Happy May! Logos is giving away IH Marshall’s excellent Pastoral Epistles commentary in the ICC series. You can also pick up CK Barrett’s 2-volume Acts commentary on the cheap. CLICK HERE. Read more
Greg Beale has published a new commentary on Colossians and Philemon in the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. My “quick look” will focus on Colossians since I have some background working on that text. A quick word about the series: it is a solid, exegetical set with mostly conservative evangelical writers. Some of the best volumes, in my opinion, are Luke and Acts (Bock) 1 Corinthians (Garland) 1-2 Thessalonians (Weima) The format is relatively standard, but I especially... Read more
A couple of weeks ago, I gave a public lecture at George Fox University with this title: “People of Faith”: Why the First Christians Called Themselves ‘Believers'” I was deeply appreciative of those who turned up on the day, but several others reached out to me to say they could not make it. Thankfully, GFU video-recorded the lecture and has now posted it to Itunes U (free). I have long term plans to turn this into a book on earliest... Read more
A Quick Look In the new year, the book that I was most looking forward to reading was Preaching Romans, edited by Scot McKnight and Joseph Modica. This book boasts an impressive list of contributors: Stephen Westerholm, Scot McKnight, Douglas Campbell, Michael Gorman, Michael Bird, James D.G. Dunn, Fleming Rutledge, William Willimon, Tim Gombis, Richard Hays, and Suzanne Watts Henderson (and more). There are two unique dimensions of this book—it is not just “another book” on Romans. First, it lays out... Read more
Crux Sola: Formed by Scripture to Live like Christ
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