Why Run with Only One Leg? A Review of "Half the Church"
Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at 12:04PM 
The winners of the book give-away are, appropriately, two women! Stephanie wins the "clean" promotional copy of "Half the Church" and Adrienne wins my review copy, "dirtied" with pencil marks and notations. Stephanie and Adrienne: please contact me at Ray dot Hollenbach at Gmail dot com with shipping addresses and I'll send you your books!
Christian books for women usually fall into one of two dreadful categories: either a North-American evangelical perspective that sees women as little more than a marketing niche within Christendom, or a feminist-driven perspective that contains a Rosie-the-Riveter “I’ll show you” subtext. Books about the role of women in the church usually fall into a dreary debate between highfalutin words like complimentarianism or egalitarianism. Carolyn Custis James’ Half the Church: Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women falls into “none of the above.” That’s refreshing.
Christian books for women usually fall into one of two dreadful categories: either a North-American evangelical perspective that sees women as little more than a marketing niche within Christendom, or a feminist-driven perspective that contains a Rosie-the-Riveter “I’ll show you” subtext. Books about the role of women in the church usually fall into a dreary debate between highfalutin words like complimentarianism or egalitarianism. Carolyn Custis James’ Half the Church: Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women falls into “none of the above.” That’s refreshing.
James invites North American Evangelicals to lift our eyes and see women’s issues in global and Biblical perspectives. “I was determined to find out if God’s message for women was universal,” she writes, “encompassing the full spectrum of every woman’s life regardless of her demographics or circumstances.” In fact, much of our gospel presentation--beyond gender issues--would benefit from James’ perspective. Is the good news good news for everyone? Prosperous or poor, socialist or capitalist, male or female?
Half the Church challenges the comfortable reader to think not only globally, but Biblically as well. While avoiding the tiresome debates over whether the opening chapters of Genesis are meant to be “taken literally,” this book focuses instead on the meaning of the creation account, especially the meaning of how humanity bears God’s image. “[God] gives both male and female the exact same identity--to be his image bearers. He gives both the exact same responsibilities when he entrusts all of creation to his image bearers.”
Even if creation is broken (and it is) God’s purposes and methods remain unchanged, and we would do well to excavate the foundations again. James does so by challenging traditional interpretations of the phrase “suitable helper” found in Genesis. She points out that the problem is not with the Biblical record, but rather the meanings we have attached to these words, applying culturally-bound meanings to what should be culture-changing revelation from God.
James borrows heavily from the work of Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn, creators of the Half the Sky movement. Kristof and Wudunn would never fit into an Evangelical mold yet they are about God’s work, sometimes to the shame of the prosperous North American church: “Like quarreling siblings,” she writes, “we are arguing over how to divide a pie so everyone gets their fair share while the neighbor’s house is on fire.” The fire she describes is the systematic negation of the value and role of women around the world, and the opportunity wasted by Christians, who possess a universal answer. James is aware of the debate over women’s roles in ministry, but refuses to allow herself to be pulled into that swamp: the world of the church is too big for both men and women for us to ignore our missional call while settling matters of doctrine--especially doctrine that is secondary to the mission God has given us. She calls for a “Blessed Alliance” of the sons and daughters of God, who will focus on their creation-mandate instead of culturally-generated arguments.
If there are weaknesses in the book, they are weakness of technical merit, not heart or mind: some illustrations she provides may come across as trite, while others perhaps too emotionally laden. Yet her call to action is unmistakable and the larger vision of the Church is laudable in every respect.
James states her case clearly in the introduction and stays on point throughout the work: “When half the church holds back--whether by choice or because we have no choice--everybody loses and our mission suffers setbacks. Tragically, we are squandering the opportunity to display to an embattled world a gospel that cause both men and women to flourish and unites us in a Blessed Alliance that only the presence of Jesus can explain.” Who could argue with that?
You can earn a chance to win a free copy of Carolyn Custis James’ "Half the Church: Recapturing God’s Global Vision for Women" by leaving a comment below. A winner will be chosen at random on Saturday.
Monday's Meditation: What Makes God's Word Living & Active?
Monday, April 11, 2011 at 09:42AM 
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. ~ Hebrews 4: 12 Since my earliest days as a follower of Jesus I’ve heard this passage quoted. The same night I came Christ someone put the Bible in my hands and told me God would speak through the book. Yet my experiences with the scripture were decidedly uneven. Sometimes it felt as if the secrets of the universe were unfolding before me. Other times I was clueless as Republican at Burning Man.
Why is this book so special and such a mystery at the same time? What makes the word of God living and active? How can we enter into the life of the word?
It’s not enough to read the scripture with our mind, because we are body, soul, and spirit. Coming to the scripture is more than reading literature. If we want to hear the words of God it requires all of our being. Last weeks’ posts explored the power of imagination in reading the scripture and suggested some avenues to stimulate the imagination. Perhaps these posts helped some to engage the narrative and poetic passages of the Bible, but other people asked me if it’s possible to bring our imagination to bear upon the letters which make up such a large part of the New Testament.
This week’s Meditation invites you to engage the Epistles with your imagination. Consider this exhortation from the Apostle Paul:
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. ~ Colossians 3: 12-14
We know Paul is giving us more than good advice. These are life-giving commands. “Do you want to please God?” thunders the PreacherMan, “Then follow the instructions!” Perhaps you’ve even seen someone shake the book, declaring that the Bible is God’s Owner’s Manual. Yet I've never seen an owner's manual capable of changing my life.
I'd like to suggest there are at least five pathways to use your imagination--inspired by the Holy Spirit--as you come to this passage. To help get you started, why not live with this passage in the coming days, and ask these questions:
- If the Word of God is living and active, where is the life in this passage, and how is it acting upon me?
- What doors are open to me through these words--and what doors are closed?
- Can I apply my imagination to cut-and-dried commands such as the ones in this passage?
- How can I engage these words with something other than my understanding?
I invite you to suggest some possible answers in the comments below, and come on back Thursday as I share a few pathways I’ve found as well.
Four Hopeful Imaginations: How to read the scripture with your heart
Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 10:15AM The hillside is bathed in golden light as pilgrims walk up the dusty hill. They gather and sit as the Teacher begins to speak. The camera pulls back slowly from the Teacher, revealing a vast multitude of listeners, fixed upon every word of the Sermon on the Mount. Still the camera pulls back. The crowd is very large. There, at the very back of the crowd, at the edge of the desert hillside, one family strains to hear the blessed words.
“Eh? What’d he say?”
“I think it was ‘Blessed are the cheesemakers?’”
“Aha, what's so special about the cheesemakers?“
“Well, obviously it's not meant to be taken literally; it refers to any manufacturers of dairy products.”
Did you ever think about the people in the very back of the crowd, trying to listen to the Sermon on the Mount? John Cleese, Terry Gilliam and four of their friends did, and their imagination grew into this famous scene from The Life of Brian. Such frivolity provides an example of listening to the word of God with our imaginations as well as our intellect. Monday’s Meditation suggested “Godly hope springs from a Biblically informed imagination,” and while some would dispute whether Monty Python qualifies as a Biblically informed imagination, Cleese and the boys will act as our spiritual formation guides today.
I’d like to suggest four ways to engage the inspired text with our imagination.
Imagine the setting: Jesus worked and taught in a real world. He walked real hillsides and felt the heat of the day on his body. The Son of God sweat. He thirsted. One way to hear the word of God anew is to put yourself into the setting. You needn’t be a Biblical archeologist to do so: the important thing is to take the words off the page and wrap yourself in the setting. Monty Python imagined what it must’ve been like for those who found themselves on the edge of the crowd. Their imagination inspired laughter. What could yours inspire?
Join the party: You don’t need an engraved invitation. Come in, sit down, and put yourself in the setting. It does no disrespect to the Biblical narrative to add one more person to the scene. You could be the thirteenth disciple. Or the woman with five husbands. Or the rich young ruler. Dallas Willard observed that one of the first steps in hearing God in the scripture is the ability to recognize that the people of the Bible were real people, no different from you or me. Even the narrative sections of the scripture are addressed to us personally. The trick is to re-create the setting, then accept the invitation to the party.
Stay yourself, be real: Jesus isn’t speaking to other people, he’s speaking to you. Each person who heard the actual words of Jesus was a real person with a real life. This one was fisherman, who thought and responded like a working man. That one was a wife and a mother, who thought and acted in ways very different from a fisherman. If the words of Jesus are truly the word of God, they should speak to us where we are: man, woman, rich, poor, depressed, confident, gay, straight, black, white, Asian, Latin, rested, fatigued, desperate or self-sufficient. Some people engage in conversation while others ponder words in their heart. How would you have reacted if you were actually there, listening to him speak? A stained-glass answer will not do, only a real answer prepares our heart for the word.
Respond to the word. Perhaps you’ve never noticed it, but everyone in the Biblical narrative responded to the word of God. The rich young ruler went away unhappy; the woman at the well returned to town and told everyone how her life had changed. The implicit message of the Biblical narratives is simply you cannot walk away from the word of God unchanged. Yet modern readers of the Bible close the book and walk away unaffected. It’s the difference between an intellectual exercise and experiencing his words. It’s the difference between reading and living the word.
Hope comes from an imaginative engagement with the word of God. If we place ourselves in the text, be begin to imagine ourselves as real people, engaging with a real Lord. After all, we’re real, aren’t we? He’s risen and real, isn’t he? An imaginative encounter with the text produces hope because we imagine ourselves differently as a result of meeting Jesus. It’s just another way of saying, “the inbreaking of your word brings light.”
Monday's Meditation: Dreaming of Reality
Monday, April 4, 2011 at 10:29AM
Some people are realists, others dream. I want to be both kinds of people: first I want to dream, then I want to bring reality to what I’ve seen. I have a dreambook, more popularly known as the Bible.
Jesus understood the power of imagination and dreams. His teaching invited people to combine their thoughts with his words and imagine a world born anew. I believe this is how we should listen to the word of God: combine our imagination with his words, producing Biblical dreams of the way things are in heaven and should be on earth:
Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Luke 12: 27-32
Can you imagine living a life convinced of the Father’s good intentions toward you? How would such a life differ from one in which we worry about daily needs? It’s like throwing your anchor into the future. With each passing day you are pulled closer to reality, swayed less and less by the currents of this life. But hearing his words requires that we engage our imagination, and see ourselves living such a life right now. It produces hope: Godly hope sprung from a Biblically-informed imagination.
Walter Brueggeman emphasized the idea that our dreams must spring from a source other than our wants and desires. He reminds us we are not free to imagine just anything. We receive the Biblical witness and become invested in the vision. Nor do we do it alone. Brueggeman suggests that the church becomes “a place where people come to receive new materials, or old materials freshly voiced, which will fund, feed, nurture, nourish, legitimate, and authorize a counterimagination of the world.”
Both realists and dreamers face the same questions, the same meditation for the week: What is the source of your reality? What is the source of your dreams?
What dreams have you derived from God's promises? How have those promise-dreams changed your life? I'd love to hear your story.
Hanging Out With the Cool Kids
Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 08:09AM  |
| The actual Rachel Held Evans! |
The post is about the tension between our desire to follow Jesus and our certainty that we cannot live up to his example. It’s become the central focus of my writing over the past year because I see so many believers convinced that their spiritual walk must be characterized by failure.
I was intrigued by the comments of Rachel’s readers, which ranged from deeply insightful to incomprehensible. But then, I’m a bear of very little brain. My thanks to Rachel, and Sunday blessings to you all!