The ninth chapter of Waltke’s An Old Testament Theology is entitled “The Gift of the Bride” and focuses on “the Creator’s intention for the social relationship of man and woman as they together rule the earth” (232). The current debates surrounding the place of women in church leadership linger in the background and are definitely the aim of Waltke’s argumentation. Although Waltke upholds the traditional view of women in the church (i.e. women cannot be ordained), he also parts ways with many traditionalists in his views on the gifts which women are given by the Spirit, which I will point out later in the review.
Waltke argues that the creation “accounts present the man and woman as having equality in their beings and the husband as having leadership in government and a wife to help him in their heavenly mandate to subdue the earth and keep the garden” (233). The hermeneutical issues when reading the creation accounts are then Read the rest of this entry »
