Questions and “Biblical
Womanhood”
After reading some recent webpages devoted to Biblical Womanhood and a charge that 'women teachers and preachers' were not teaching/speaking about 'Biblical Womanhood', I began to do some studying of the subject. I found that a common problem of people attempting to promote a view they purport to be 'scriptural' is a failure to measure scripture by other scripture. In the case of 'Biblical Womanhood' - popularly used to promote a complementarian view of the role of woman in life, marriage, and church - it is clear that 'proof texts' are allowed to define 'Biblical womanhood' when a wider reading of scripture offers a much broader and multi-faceted image.
Just What Is "Biblical Womanhood?"
Part 1 – Definitions
Definitions
for the meaning of the phrase ‘Biblical Womanhood’ range from the literal life
of women as seen in the pages of scripture to more catchword explanations that
are weighted with tensions based on complementarian vs. egalitarian views of
women in scripture and accompanying prejudices and bias about roles, authority,
and submission of female to males.
Part 2 – The Scope of
Women’s Activities in the Bible
There
appear to be two prevailing views of understanding the approved scope of female
activity in scripture. One is the view that only those lists of behaviors and
traits in 1 Timothy, Titus , 1 Peter, and 1 Corinthians apply to Christian
women. The other view is that in order
to fully grasp the activities of women the entire corpus of scripture must be
considered before defining ‘Biblical Womanhood.’
In
scripture, women were recognized as –
1.
Gifted artisans and skilled in many crafts
(Exodus 35:25-26)
2.
Prophets (numerous prophets and wise women appear. Just the big 'names': Deborah in Judges 4:4-16; Huldah in 2
Kings 22:13-14; Noadiah in Neh. 6:14 Anna in Luke 2:36; Philip’s daughters in
Acts 21:9 and future ‘sons and daughters’ in Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17)
3.
Judges and Military leaders (Deborah and Jael in
Judges 4:4-16)
4.
City Builders (Sherah 1 Chron. 7:24)
5.
Queens and rulers (Esther, Sheba, Ethiopian
Queen )
6.
Business women (Prov. 31:24; Lydia in Acts)
7.
Diplomat (Abigail)
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