Gender Roles and the People of God: Rethinking What We Were Taught about Men and Women in the Church

Most women in the church don't aspire to "lord it" over men, nor do they want to scramble for position. Instead, they want to be accepted as full participants in God's work, sharing in kingdom tasks in ways that use their gifts appropriately.

In Gender Roles and the People of God, author, radio host, and professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Alice Mathews surveys the roles women have played in the Bible and throughout church history, demonstrating both the inspiring contributions of women and the many hurdles that have been placed in their path. Along the way, she investigates the difficult passages often used to preclude women from certain areas of service, pointing to better and more faithful understandings of those verses.

Encouraging and hopeful, Mathews aims for an "egalitarian complementarity" in which men and women use all of their gifts in the church together, in partnership, for the glory of God.

Alice Mathews (PhD, Iliff School of Theology/University of Denver) is the Lois W. Bennett Distinguished Professor Emerita and former academic dean at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. The author of several books, including Preaching that Speaks to Women and Marriage Made in Eden, she was co-host for many years of the national radio program Discover the Word and also served until recently as academic dean of Christian University GlobalNet.