In 2007, Brother Ian and Sister Averil McHaffie published the booklet ‘All One in Christ Jesus’ (hereafter ‘All One’), a consideration of Biblical teaching regarding the role of sisters in the service of Christ.[1] Their conclusion was that the Scriptures support the full participation of both genders in all aspects of ecclesial life. The most recent edition of ‘All One’ was issued in October 2010, after some additions and revisions to the text. It has become the most well-known publication within the Christadelphian community advocating an egalitarian position.
In ‘Rightly Dividing the Word’, Brother Jonathan Burke critically examines twenty-eight of the claims made in ‘All One’. The claims examined touch on many key issues in the debate. These include, among others, the interpretation of passages such as Gal 3:28, 1 Cor 14:34-35 and 1 Tim 2:11-15, the historical evidence concerning first century Greek, Roman and Jewish attitudes towards women, the historical background regarding Gnosticism, the meaning and usage of words such as adelphoi and kephale, the alleged corruption of the New Testament texts by misogynist translators, and the Bible’s teaching on slavery.
In addition, Burke explains misleading methods of argument used in ‘All One’, addresses several other issues relevant to the subject, cites egalitarian scholars who agree with complementarians regarding the claims examined, and provides evidence to counter the suggestion (‘All One’ is not referenced in this section) that complementarian views increase the likelihood of domestic abuse.
As noted in his ‘Introduction’, Burke has not included his own exposition or personal views, nor does he insist that readers must hold a certain view in order to be consistent with Scriptural teaching. Rather, he presents the reader with evidence relevant to certain claims, and then leaves the reader to assess the evidence and decide for themselves. Though all of the claims selected from ‘All One’ for examination are refuted by the evidence provided, Burke avoids drawing any conclusions on the issue overall. As he points out, many notable egalitarians do not accept these claims either, proposing alternative approaches to promoting the egalitarian cause.
Burke has taken pains to minimise the possibility of bias against the egalitarian position. Where commentators are quoted, he notes whether the commentator’s personal views are complementarian, egalitarian or neutral; and the great majority of commentaries used are by egalitarians. Of English Bible translations, only those dating from 1970 onwards have been used, and a broad spectrum of translation styles is represented.
Burke necessarily quotes extensively from the latest scholarly commentary in the relevant fields. However, his book has evidently been designed with accessibility to the non-scholar in mind. The language used is clear and simple, the body of the examination of each claim is succinct, and definitions and explanations are included wherever potentially unfamiliar terminology or concepts are referenced. The last section of the book, ‘Sources used in this work’, will also be helpful to the non-scholar as it includes brief descriptions of all the translations, lexicons, journals, commentaries, early Christian writings, historical documents and other works from which evidence has been sourced.
‘Rightly Dividing the Word’ contains a wealth of information which is not found in ‘All One’, and which many readers would find it difficult to locate and access otherwise. Although not likely to put an end to the debate, this is arguably the most thoroughly researched and authoritative contribution produced within our community to date. As such it merits the attention of all those who are seeking to make a balanced assessment of the differing claims made on this issue.
[1] See review by J. Burke published previously in Christadelphian E-Journal of Biblical Interpretation, Vol. 5, No. 4, October 2011.
Review of “The Early Earth” by John Whitcomb (1972)