{"id":8245,"date":"2012-10-30T09:57:33","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T14:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/?p=8245"},"modified":"2012-10-30T09:57:33","modified_gmt":"2012-10-30T14:57:33","slug":"a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/10\/a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood\/","title":{"rendered":"A Response To The Gospel Coalition “Review” Of ‘A Year Of Biblical Womanhood’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m still waiting for someone from the complementarian\/Neo-Reformed tradition to actually write a review of Rachel\u2019s book and not a theological polemic. Honestly, I might even settle for a decent, rational polemic, but alas, all we get are ridiculous, thinly veiled theological attacks from Desiring God<\/a> and now from The Gospel Coalition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This post is a response to the attack from Kathy Keller at The Gospel Coalition.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kathy,\u00a0you position yourself in this polemic as holding some sort of orthodox, universally affirmed scriptural hermeneutic that Rachel inexplicably ignores. However, no such hermeneutic exists. It hasn\u2019t existed for 1,000 years<\/a>. If it did, the church wouldn\u2019t be divided into literally tens of thousands of denominations.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, you position your hermeneutic as an objective, clear reading of scripture when it is anything but. I understand this is the go-to weapon of choice in your tradition as it allows you to call your opponents stupid without just coming out and saying it. After all, anybody that doesn\u2019t see a clear and obvious approach or meaning is stupid, right?<\/p>\n

The problem with your \u201cobjective\u201d hermeneutic is it is profoundly subjective. When you begin with the premise \u201call the commandments the Bible\u00a0genuinely<\/em>\u00a0addresses to Christian women\u201d you set yourself up from the beginning as the only possible winner because you hold all the cards \u2013 only those commandments you<\/em> agree with, only the commandments you<\/em> consider valid are \u201cgenuine.\u201d Yet, you also critique Rachel for picking and choosing Biblical prescriptions. I am honestly dumbfounded as to why you think this obvious hypocrisy makes for solid footing to launch into your polemic.<\/p>\n

Moreover, because you set yourself up as the\u00a0arbiter\u00a0of what is a \u201cgenuine commandment,\u201d you get to decide what is or is not a commandment. This allows you to tear apart Rachel for following a section of wisdom literature as if it were one of the Levitical laws governing sacrifice. Such slight of hand rhetoric should be beneath the dignity of The Gospel Coalition. Worse yet, your Old Testament vs. New Testament hermeneutic reeks of Marcionism<\/a>. Since we\u2019re talking about \u201cfundamental positions,\u201d do I really need to remind you that Marcionism is absolutely a universally held heresy?<\/p>\n

\n
Then we come to this gem,<\/div>\n
\n
You tell readers they won\u2019t\u00a0ultimately be able to follow everything the Bible teaches, that they will have to choose some things and ignore others. But what will be their standard or means for doing so? Throughout your book, you have ignored or even hidden from readers the fundamental principles of scriptural interpretation\u2014including the difference between narrative and didactic, as well as the importance of placing commands in their context within redemptive history.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Seriously?
\n\u00a0
\nYou\u2019ve literally spent your entire polemic ignoring or hiding from your readers the reality that the \u201cfundamental principles of scriptural interpretation\u201d you appeal to are your<\/em><\/strong> fundamental\u00a0principles and not part of some imaginary apostolic hermeneutical\u00a0tradition that, once again, hasn\u2019t existed for a millennium.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m actually not disagreeing with you that there are long held\u00a0hermeneutical traditions. I\u2019m just telling you that if that\u2019s the rhetorical card you want to play, you\u2019re at the wrong table. You\u2019re going to want to be in either the Roman Catholic or Orthodox church if this is the sort of way you want to argue. Also, you\u2019ll need to drag Rachel along with you.<\/p>\n

Simply put, you can\u2019t hold your\u00a0hermeneutical\u00a0tradition over someone\u2019s head in a different tradition and pretend as if you hold all the cards of orthodoxy. To do so is either profoundly\u00a0arrogant or incredibly ignorant. You can certainly say \u201cthis doesn\u2019t line up with my particular Christian tradition,\u201d but to attack someone who is not part of that particular tradition for not holding up that particular\u00a0hermeneutical ideology is the height of\u00a0absurdity.<\/p>\n

Finally, if you\u2019re going to bash Rachel for focusing too much on Old Testament prescriptions and not enough on New Testament ones, then I suggest you try taking your own advice. Even though Jesus said he didn\u2019t come to abolish the law and that not a single iota of the law would pass away, (passages you conspicuously ignore, or is it hide?), if Jesus\u2019 words completely trump the Law and you want to faithfully follow Jesus\u2019 un-\u201cmuddied\u201d teaching, then you need to start chopping of limbs and gouging out eyes when they cause you to sin. Otherwise, you need to concede the fact your interpretation of Scripture and your following of that tradition are just that. They\u2019re yours<\/em>. They\u2019re not universally held, fundamental positions.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re free to follow that tradition and argue for it vigorously. But you don\u2019t have the right to hold your position over and against the rest of the church as Christian orthodoxy. It\u2019s not. It\u2019s not even close.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

All that to say, I do need to offer you a word of thanks. <\/p>\n

Thanks for writing the end of this post for me,<\/p>\n

\n
You have become what you claim to despise; you have imposed your own agenda on Scripture in order to advance your own goals<\/em>. In doing so, you have further muddied the waters of biblical interpretation instead of bringing any clarity to the task.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Grace and peace,<\/div>\n
Zack Hunt<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 I\u2019m still waiting for someone from the complementarian\/Neo-Reformed tradition to actually write a review of Rachel\u2019s book and not a theological polemic. Honestly, I might even settle for a decent, rational polemic, but alas, all we get are ridiculous, thinly veiled theological attacks from Desiring God and now from The Gospel Coalition. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":8253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA Response To The Gospel Coalition "Review" Of 'A Year Of Biblical Womanhood'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    I'm still waiting for someone from the complementarian\/Neo-Reformed tradition to actually write a review of Rachel's book and not a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/10\/a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Response To The Gospel Coalition "Review" Of 'A Year Of Biblical Womanhood'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    I'm still waiting for someone from the complementarian\/Neo-Reformed tradition to actually write a review of Rachel's book and not a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/10\/a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-30T14:57:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/941\/2012\/10\/A-Year-of-Biblical-Womanhood11.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"419\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"639\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zack Hunt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/10\/a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/10\/a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood\/\",\"name\":\"A Response To The Gospel Coalition \\\"Review\\\" Of 'A Year Of Biblical Womanhood'\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-30T14:57:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-10-30T14:57:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226\"},\"description\":\"    I'm still waiting for someone from the complementarian\/Neo-Reformed tradition to actually write a review of Rachel's book and not a\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/10\/a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/10\/a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/10\/a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Response To The Gospel Coalition “Review” Of ‘A Year Of Biblical Womanhood’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/\",\"name\":\"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt\",\"description\":\"Zack writes about the intersection of faith and politics\u2026and sometimes BBQ.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226\",\"name\":\"Zack Hunt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zack Hunt\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/author\/zhunt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Response To The Gospel Coalition \"Review\" Of 'A Year Of Biblical Womanhood'","description":"    I'm still waiting for someone from the complementarian\/Neo-Reformed tradition to actually write a review of Rachel's book and not a","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/10\/a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Response To The Gospel Coalition \"Review\" Of 'A Year Of Biblical Womanhood'","og_description":"    I'm still waiting for someone from the complementarian\/Neo-Reformed tradition to actually write a review of Rachel's book and not a","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/10\/a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood\/","og_site_name":"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt","article_published_time":"2012-10-30T14:57:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":419,"height":639,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/941\/2012\/10\/A-Year-of-Biblical-Womanhood11.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Zack Hunt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Zack Hunt","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/10\/a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/10\/a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood\/","name":"A Response To The Gospel Coalition \"Review\" Of 'A Year Of Biblical Womanhood'","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-10-30T14:57:33+00:00","dateModified":"2012-10-30T14:57:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226"},"description":"    I'm still waiting for someone from the complementarian\/Neo-Reformed tradition to actually write a review of Rachel's book and not a","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/10\/a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/10\/a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2012\/10\/a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition-review-of-a-year-of-biblical-womanhood\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Response To The Gospel Coalition “Review” Of ‘A Year Of Biblical Womanhood’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/","name":"The Semi-Official Blog of Zack Hunt","description":"Zack writes about the intersection of faith and politics\u2026and sometimes BBQ.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/92d888feb798c511bc3c9cb2fc4a4226","name":"Zack Hunt","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7a3db085a35a483a38418a4937abcd6?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Zack Hunt"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/author\/zhunt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3437"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}