In May, 2023, I wrote an extended book review of Andrew Bartlett’s, Men and Women in Christ: Fresh Light from the Biblical Texts. Andrew is an author from “across the pond,” with a background as a barrister in the U.K., with expertise in international arbitration. He has written perhaps one of the most thorough books on the complementarian/egalitarian controversy, a divisive issue among evangelical Protestants today. Andrew Bartlett is articulate, and has written a blog post on Scot McKnight’s Jesus Creed blog, hosted by Christianity Today magazine.
This is pretty rare, but Andrew discovered that I had written a pretty lengthy review of his book, and so he wrote a detailed rejoinder to address my criticisms. Let me tell you, Andrew is a really smart gentleman and a sharp writer. He presents some very good arguments. After all, he is a lawyer, so I confess to feel a bit intimidated.
But Andrew loves Jesus, and he is quite charitable as you will read. While we share a lot in common, we differ substantially on the topic of women serving as elders in a local church. In fairness, I also differ substantially with certain complementarians on the exact opposing side of Andrew’s position as well; that is, particularly those who tend to needlessly minimize the gifting and role of women in the life of the church.
Andrew Bartlett’s rejoinder is not a quick read, and I hope not to botch the formatting, but his attention to detail is important to engage for those who care about what the Bible teaches about men and women ministering together in the local church. I have offered to publish his critique of my review here on Veracity. I will refrain from commenting until the very end, after Andrew’s footnotes. So, if you see flames flying out of your phone or computer as you read this, just know that they are not harmful ( I am poking some fun here, though I know that this is an important issue for some).
I am writing this just days after the October, 2023 horrific tragedy in Israel and Gaza unfolded. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it would appear that we have peoples who are irreconcilable with one another. Most sadly still, much of the conflict has theologically-ideological roots underneath, bound up with different perspectives on history, that perpetuate the conflict. Hopefully, this engagement among fellow Christians, Andrew and myself, will model what healthy disagreement should look like in the wild, wild world of the Internet.
If Andrew wants to respond to me again, I will go ahead and include at the end of this post his rejoinder to my rejoinder of his rejoinder to my book review of his book , and allow him to have the last word. This post is already very long as it is, but I want Andrew to have a chance to clear up any leftover points, if he chooses. Otherwise, I plan on focusing away from this topic in future blog posts towards other issues that in my view need to receive more attention. Until then, it is my privilege to present to you, a guest blog post from Andrew Bartlett, author of Men and Women in Christ: Fresh Light from the Biblical Texts:
UPDATE: November 1, 2023. Andrew sent to me some “concluding words” to our on-going discussion about his book, in response to my rejoinder posted towards the end of this blog post. Since this blog post is already long enough, I decided to post Andrew’s “last word” in a separate blog post.
Veracity 