charlieDEAN’S Blog

On Sunday night a few of us who had recently read William Webb’s book Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis, gathered at my house to have dinner and discuss the book.  In the near future, I am planning a series of posts on “Why I am an egalitarian,” but for now, let me just reference the book a little bit.

•  I’d say that the subtitle to this book is more significant than the title.  The central question Webb seeks to answer is “how does one determine whether something you read in the Bible is culturally bound or trans-cultural?”  I think that for most of my life, I’ve does this intuitively, but that’s probably not good enough.  Webb, gives a structure, with his 18 Criteria to think through a host of cultural issues.
• I was reminded that everyonetreats parts of the Bible as cultural.  Sometimes, conservatives, like to play the “we just read the Bible and do what it says,” and yet they don’t greet each other with a holy kiss (Romans 16:16), disallow braided hair for women (1 Timothy 2:9), or lift their hands in worship (1 Timothy 2:8).
• I’d probably have to claim ignorance as to whether Webb’s criteria are the right criteria or the bestcriteria.  I’m not engaged in the academic realm enough or smart enough to think that comprehensively.  Although, I would say that his criteria seem to be solid.
• I think that Webb’s 18 criteria work well against “slippery slope” arguments.  Whenever you start talking about what cultural and what’s trans-cultural, some people start arguing that if you say something is cultural, than you can slide down the slippery slope to saying that everything in the Bible is cultural and can therefore be ignored.  Webb’s framework works against this particular logical fallacy.
• Ultimately Webb’s book, has helped me formulate my egalitarian views — I’ve been riding the fence on this one for a while…feeling stuck in my own mind and heart, pitting Galatians 3:28 vs. 1 Tmothy 2:11-15.

Overall — this is a good read — I’d say an essential read for anyone who teaches the Bible on a regular basis or who is interested in “digging in,” a little deeper.