New commentary offers woman-to-woman exposition of Bible
Feminists and egalitarian proponents often interpret scripture through a gender lens, but editors of a new commentary offer a conservative woman-to-woman approach to scripture interpretation. The Women’s Evangelical Commentary New Testament from LifeWay Christian Resources’ B&H Publishing Group offers verse-by-verse exposition of the Bible for women, by women.
With the help of more than 15 contributors, editors Dorothy Kelley Patterson and Rhonda Harrington Kelley systematically explain the purpose of the New Testament texts. The commentary is designed for women to use when teaching a class, directing a small-group Bible study or studying scripture.
“Although the commentators are all women and write from that perspective, the word of God is not to be interpreted through the ‘gender lens,'” write Patterson and Kelley. “God’s word is for women and men, but this particular resource, without apology, is prepared primarily for women to use.”
Kelley serves as professor of women’s ministry and director of the women’s ministry and student wives programs at New Orleans Baptist Seminary where her husband, Chuck Kelley, is president. Patterson is professor of theology in women’s studies at Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, Tex., where her husband, Paige Patterson, is president.
Church movement focuses on men
A recent article in the Orlando Sentinel highlighted a movement geared toward balancing the gender gap in churches, where the typical congregation is 61 percent female and 39 percent male.
Mike Ellis, a direct-marketing consultant in Port Orange, Fla., told the Sentinel Jan. 28 that nearly one-fourth of married women attend church without their husbands, and he was inspired by the book “Wild at Heart” by John Eldredge to bring men back to church. Ellis also cited David Murrow’s book “Why Men Hate Going to Church.”
The Sentinel noted that such men “don’t like contemporary Christian praise music, railing against ‘dreamy songs with lovey-dovey words.’ They don’t like the sermons, which they say are boring, or the image of a sweet, loving Jesus. And they even complain about the sanctuaries’ decor, which reminds them of Martha Stewart.
“Instead, they want more martial music such as ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ and ‘Rise Up O Men of God,'” staff writer Mark I. Pinsky reported. “They want short services and short sermons, with masculine, athletic metaphors, mostly about a rebellious and manly Jesus. They want swords and battle axes on the walls of their sanctuaries, and they want to call their spiritual leaders ‘coach’ instead of ‘pastor,’ and see them dressed in camouflage or orange hunting vests.”
Churches that have caught on to the movement are hosting barbecues, fish frys and wild game dinners for men, the paper said.