Having written articles based on chapters in our new book, 40 Questions about Women in Ministry, I’ve offered peeks into the content of the manuscript. What does the Bible say about women, who we are and what God intended for us, what purpose do we fulfill in his plan, and how do we use our gifts to serve him? These questions litter the landscape of church conversation, polity, and practice. They are highly personal for many women. And we believe... Read more
The American evangelical church continues to discuss, argue, and fight about women. Not whether they have anything to offer, or whether they can serve in church, or what kinds of moms and sisters and daughters they may be. No, some folks still want to argue about exactly how much they image God compared to men. They want to limit their ability to serve God in certain ways. But if you are convinced God doesn’t put his fully-imaged Baby in a... Read more
Were women involved in leadership during the early centuries of the church? Over the New Year’s holiday, my husband and I joined a group of my fellow graduate students in Italy for a two-week tour in which we searched for evidence of such women. Why go on location? Because the written record we could access from America is woefully lacking. Church historical documents are filled with information on noteworthy men. Those documents were also largely written by men and for... Read more
In some realms of the church, questions about women in leadership are moot. “Why are we still talking about this?” we’ve heard. “Is this topic really still a thing?” In other evangelical subcultures, we hear similar comments with the complete opposite meaning: “Why can’t people just accept what the Bible says? Why are we still debating this?” Between the two extremes, people have questions. My co-author and I collected some of the most common ones and attempted not to answer... Read more
McGahan Publishing House offers a unique Bible project in the form of an attractive, solid, hardbound copy of the Hebrew Scriptures. Using the Christian Standard Bible (CSB), the volume follows the traditional, canonical ordering of the Old Testament books: the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. Such ordering mimics the sort of Scriptures that Jesus and his Jewish peers would have read. Prefacing each book and each major section are short introductions written by leading scholars of the Hebrew Bible.... Read more
Over the last few months, my microphone has gotten more work than my keyboard. Usually I’m writing my thoughts on God, his Word, the church, and books that address all of that and more. But life has been busy this fall, between full-time work, doctoral studies, grief, and family shenanigans such as winning the marching band state title. Blogging had to wait. But surprisingly, the last few months have opened up opportunities for me to talk more, and more publicly,... Read more
Sandra Glahn’s publisher has just added Latte with Luke to Mocha on the Mount, Java with the Judges, Espresso with Esther…. Her seven-week study in Luke’s Gospel makes number twelve in the Coffee Cup Bible Study series. With this release the series re-launches with a great new cover and, even more fun, my endorsement on the cover! (I have been a fan of this series since before the first one launched in 2006.) Recently, she answered some questions for my... Read more
Over the weekend a certain tweet about single women made the rounds, gathering eye-rolls and gag reflexes with every RT and QT it earned. The great wisdom of this particular theobro* centered on the choice of single women to forego marriage and children. Read for yourself. Let’s pour a vat of salt on Dale’s words here and assume he wasn’t trying to insult single women. I know, I know. To paraphrase: Women who choose singleness, and therefore childlessness, are selfish... Read more
As a life-long reader of the Bible—yes, by third grade I’d worn out the Children’s Bible in my free time—I’ve gone through stages on how to best understand what I was reading. At age eleven, I’d asked for my own copy (received two) and began muddling through how to understand it. I knew the Old Testament stories, but what about the letters and prophets and Gospels and … Revelation? I vividly remember flopping onto my bed a few months after... Read more
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*Romans: A Theological & Pastoral Commentary*: A Review
My pastor at First McKinney has led us through the book of Romans almost weekly for over a year. (We’re currently taking a short break to celebrate our 150th church anniversary.) His expositional speaking style has exposed our church family to an unusual (for Baptists) preaching strategy of going through even longer books of the Bible from start to finish. Of course, none is usually as long as Romans has been, but from the beginning, he explained why the exercise... Read more