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 the Bible clarifies God’s love for his daughters.
In our podcast interviews we elaborate even more on why we wrote the book, our philosophical approach, and what we hope it will do for the church and those who struggle with the struggle over women’s roles. But I don’t think we’ve ever listed out the breadth of topics we address. So, to give you an even clearer idea of the book’s subject matter, I’m adding the Table of Contents below.
Foreword, by Sandra Glahn
Introduction
Part 1: Introductory Issues
1. What Terms Best Describe the Various Views on Women in Ministry?
2. What Do Different Groups Believe about the Bible and Feminism?
3. What Are the Best Methods for Interpreting the Bible?
4. When Is a Biblical Issue Cultural and When It Is Unchanging?
Part 2: Questions Related to the Old Testament
Foundations in Genesis
5. What Does It Mean That God Is Imaged as Both Male and Female?
6. What Does Genesis 1–2 Reveal about Male and Female Relationships?
7. How Do Both Men and Women “Exercise Dominion over the Earth”?
8. What Did God Mean That the Woman Was Man’s “Helper Corresponding to Him”?
9. What Does Genesis 3 Reveal about Male and Female Relationships?
10. What Did God Mean That “Your Desire Will Be for Your Husband, and He Will Rule Over You”?
Women in the Rest of the Old Testament
11. What Can We Learn from Women Prophets of the Old Testament?
12. How Does Proverbs 31 Inform Us about God’s Design for Women?
Part 3: Questions Related to the New Testament and Beyond
Women in the Gospels and Acts
13. What Can We Learn from the Fact That Women Traveled with and Supported Jesus’s Ministry?
14. What Is the Significance of Jesus Choosing Only Men as the Twelve Apostles?
15. What Is the Significance of a Woman Being the First Witness to Jesus’s Resurrection?
16. What Does Jesus’s Interaction with the Woman at the Well Teach Us about Women in Ministry?
17. What Is the Significance of the Spirit’s Work for Men and Women on the Day of Pentecost?
18. What Is the Significance of Priscilla Correcting Apollos’s Theology?
Women in the Epistles
19. What Is the Significance of the Women Commended by Paul in Romans 16?
20. Can Women Teach or Prophesy?
21. What Does Paul Mean When He Uses the Metaphor Head?
22. Must Women Cover Their Heads in Church?
23. How Is It That Bible-Believing Christians Reach Vastly Different Conclusions on 1 Timothy 2:11–15?
24. What Are the Different Views of 1 Timothy 2:11–12?
25. What Does Paul Mean When He Talks about Creation, Eve, and Childbearing in 1 Timothy 2:13–15?
26. What Does Paul Mean When He Directs Wives to “Submit” to Their Husbands?
27. What Does Peter Mean That the Woman Is the “Weaker Vessel”?
28. What Does the Bible Say about Who Should Make Final Decisions in Marriage?
29. If Women Cannot Teach Men, Should They Teach Children Who Are More Vulnerable?
Women in Church History
30. What Does Church History Reveal about Women in Public Ministry? Part 1: Early Church to the Middle Ages Cynthia Hester
31. What Does Church History Reveal about Women in Public Ministry? Part 2: Reformation to the Twentieth Century Cynthia Hester
32. How Did Western Culture Influence Women in the Home, Society, and the Church? Cynthia Hester
Part 4: Current Issues
33. Can Women Be Deacons?
34. Can Women Be Priests?
35. Can Women Be Pastors or Elders?
36. Should Women Leaders Be Called “Directors” or “Pastors” in the Church?
37. Are Men by Design Better Leaders Than Women?
38. How Can Women Appropriately Use Leadership and Teaching Gifts?
39. How Does One’s View of the Trinity Shape Relationships between Men and Women?
40. How Can We Make Churches and Other Ministries Safer for Women? Misty Hedrick
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