So, when I stumbled across a ~25 minute interview on Focus on the Family w/ the Eggerich's discussing their Love & Respect book, I checked it out.
If the book coheres with the interview, I'm underwhelmed.
Bottom line: their thesis seems primarily an appeal to pragmatism (and to a lesser degree what might be termed natural law), even though it starts with what appears to be exposition.
As I've noted previously, any purely Biblical understanding of male and female must carefully consider (a) the historical events that led to this feature in nature, and (b) God's explanation of the meaning of those events.
I just don't see how you deny distinctive male & female roles in (a) the family and (b) the church, unless you insist that your experience, context, and reason trump God's explanation of what was created.
Which is why the Eggerich's reasoning makes me uneasy...it seems to drift toward a synthesis of Biblical and cultural perspectives (e.g., see www.cbeinternational.org for one such synthesis) instead of clearly stating trans-cultural Biblical truth (e.g., www.cbmw.org does an excellent job in this area).
Disappointing, but not surprising. Most popular "Christian" non-fiction these days is weak theologically (and occasionally, flat-out heretical).
If the book coheres with the interview, I'm underwhelmed.
Bottom line: their thesis seems primarily an appeal to pragmatism (and to a lesser degree what might be termed natural law), even though it starts with what appears to be exposition.
As I've noted previously, any purely Biblical understanding of male and female must carefully consider (a) the historical events that led to this feature in nature, and (b) God's explanation of the meaning of those events.
I just don't see how you deny distinctive male & female roles in (a) the family and (b) the church, unless you insist that your experience, context, and reason trump God's explanation of what was created.
Which is why the Eggerich's reasoning makes me uneasy...it seems to drift toward a synthesis of Biblical and cultural perspectives (e.g., see www.cbeinternational.org for one such synthesis) instead of clearly stating trans-cultural Biblical truth (e.g., www.cbmw.org does an excellent job in this area).
Disappointing, but not surprising. Most popular "Christian" non-fiction these days is weak theologically (and occasionally, flat-out heretical).
I've been working my way through David Wells' trilogy on the death of theology the past few months...when I get around to posting some thoughts on it, I'll elaborate.
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