I’m going to be away from the blog next week. I want to continue discussing gender and the church. Let me throw out some questions for you to solve between now and then:

• What do we do with the fact that a patriarchal system is not only portrayed but is actively taught in the Bible?
• What do we do with the exceptional women of the Bible, like Deborah, Huldah, Philip’s daughters, and Junia?
• What do we do with the weight of history and tradition and their teaching about women?
• What about the fact that history has been proven wrong at times, as in the case of slavery?
• How do we deal with the passages that seem to limit women’s activity in the church?
• How do we deal with the concept of Spiritual giftedness, with gifts being given to both sexes?
• Is God’s call based on ability? Does not being chosen by God for a task mean that one is inept for that task?
• How do we balance the home and the church? What does biblical teaching about motherhood, male headship, and raising children have to say about this topic?
• How does biblical teaching for the first century apply to the twenty-first century?
• How does teaching addressed to a home church setting speak to modern assemblies?

That should be enough to hold you. I want 5-7 pages, typed (no computers), double-spaced with a one inch margin. Sources should be quoted in Turabian format. Footnotes, not endnotes.

No, seriously… feel free to throw out more questions or to take a stab at answering some of these.