A Must-Read Contribution to the Gender Role Discussion in the Church
Any time we find that a member of our Asbury family has published a book, we feature it in our Events, Updates, and Publications article. (So let us know if you have one!) Once in a while, we pull one and make an entire article out of it if we feel it is a pivotal contribution to a conversation in the church. This month, we would like to feature Dr. A. Sue Russell’s new book, Relationshift: Changing the Conversation between Men and Women in the Church. You can click the title to go to the purchasing page on Amazon.
Navigating gender roles and relationships within the Church can be sticky business. It is difficult to decide how to function freely without exposing yourself to gossip or temptation. Dr. Russell and her co-author, Jackie Roese, have entered this conversation through their book, and it will change the way you approach the question entirely. The Amazon description reads:
“The authors take a fresh look at the gender debate in the church. Rather than roles, the authors examine the Scriptural emphasis on relationships, specifically brother-sister type relationships based on love, humility, and mutuality. Instead of defining structured roles for men and women as argued by complementarian or egalitarian positions, this “relationarian” approach can be lived out in the existing structures of any culture. Focusing on relationships can enable the church to move beyond the divisions of the gender debate. Rather than two camps, complementarian and egalitarian, we can be unified in one camp by focusing on the type of relations that are an attractive missional witnesses to the world.”
The Art of Permanence: Mate Selection and Marriage in a World of Brokenness by Tim Swick
I sent a copy to the ATS library and the AU library. I am now working on the video format so that it can be used by study groups.