A really good post on biblical manhood and womanhood

Quick note to point out a provocative post by Steve Holmes on ‘biblical family life’ – and one that I agree with.

What he says needs said and brings much clarity.

There are many assumptions, Christian sub-cultural expectations and just plain confusion about supposedly ‘biblically defined’ gender roles of men and women in a Christian marriage. Holmes has a pretty devastating critique of one of the most influential books in evangelical circles that argues for those defined roles – Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

Such defined roles he suggests are nothing more than an

idealised picture of mid-twentieth-century, mid-Western American, nuclear family life is in fact what is driving everything; the book is a celebration of a passing tradition of American family life, with a fairly feeble attempt to claim that this tradition had some interesting connection to the Bible.

No point repeating it all here – have a read here.

One quote I loved:

But defined gender roles? I think of an old friend of mine … When asked what roles he thought should belong to his future wife in their marriage, he responded ‘pre-natal childcare. And breastfeeding.’ The rest was up for creative re-interpretation in the light of the gospel and the circumstances in which they were called to live.That’s Biblical. Far more so than the strident attempts to impose cultural idolatries with which I began.

Can’t say he doesn’t have a point of view.