9Marks Journal (December 2019) on Complementarianism

The latest issue of the 9Marks Journal, available from here in various formats, is devoted to the topic of ‘Complementarianism: A Moment of Reckoning’.

At 278 pages long, it’s a hefty beast, and appears to gather together several short articles written at different points over the last few years, making this a useful resource regardless of where one might stand on the issues involved.

Here are some lines from Jonathan Leeman’s long Editorial:

‘It seems to be a moment of reckoning for complementarianism. One can tell since the loudest questions aren’t being asked from outside the camp, but from inside... Step into a group of complementarians these days and it’s likely that one or more will say something about not being that kind of complementarian...

‘In retrospect, it was perhaps inevitable... that the complementarian tribe would splinter moving from the 1980s and 1990s to the 2000s and 2010s, as one generation gives way to another, particularly when Western culture itself has changed so dramatically on matters of gender...

‘A significant part of pastoral wisdom, then, involves self and cultural awareness. It also involves knowing which problems are the big threats and which are the small threats, which are immediate and which are long term, and knowing how to calibrate our responses to each...

‘A better path forward, I believe, means expecting the world, the flesh, and the devil to attack both gender equality and gender difference, at different times in different ways. Therefore, Christians must continue to search the Scriptures for a better understanding of each, always paying attention to new horizons and new threats.’

Andrew Bartlett on Men and Women in Christ

Andrew Bartlett, Men and Women in Christ: Fresh Light from Biblical Texts (London: IVP, 2019).

Having read through several drafts of the pre-publication manuscript of the above book, I was asked to write a commendation for it – and was very happy to do so. Now that the book is out, I’ve pasted the commendation below. The comprehensive nature of Andrew Bartlett’s treatment means I think many readers will genuinely change their minds on some of the pertinent passages as a result of Andrew’s reflections, even if they might end up preserving their overall stance on the topic. However, wherever we stand on the issues, it does us good to revisit them every so often. That, at least, was my experience of engaging again with the biblical texts through Andrew’s work, and I tried to capture that in my commendation:

‘If, like me, you thought there was very little new to say on this topic, here’s a book to make us think again. If, like me, you’ve become somewhat jaded by the sterile trading of arguments back and forth between the two main sides, here’s a book which invites both parties to reassess where they stand, and why. If, like me, you thought you’d pretty much settled your views on the main biblical passages, here’s a book to remind us that the Lord always has “fresh light to break forth” from his word. As befitting a scholar and writer who is concerned for unity in our witness to the good news of Jesus, Andrew Bartlett’s treatment of this most crucial of issues is elegant, clear, winsome, and gracious. Even where I disagree with him, I’m profoundly grateful for the challenge to look more closely at the Scriptures. I’d encourage you to do the same. Read it. Read it with an open Bible. Read it with others. Read it with a Berean-like curiosity to see if these things are so.’