Untie the Cords of Silence

Christians often feel they are faced with a choice: "Either I compromise my commitment to biblical authority, or I embrace male authority over women, as the Bible teaches." Such a dilemma tends to prod Christians, often reluctantly, down one of two paths. One path involves relegating the Bible's teaching to an antiquated past. Certain passages are labeled artifacts of a "patriarchal" culture and deemed irrelevant for today. The other path involves a doubling-down, in which Christians commit themselves to the Bible's perceived teaching about male authority, and thereby set themselves over against a full commitment to equality. Untie the Cords of Silence shows through careful readings of relevant biblical passages that Christians need not go down either of these paths. It is possible to hold to both biblical authority and the full equality of men and women. In fact, doing so is the most logically coherent way of applying the Bible's message to the Christian life. This book does not merely provide a way to tolerate the "problem" texts. Instead, it restores these texts to their rightful place as coherent, integrated parts of the Bible's message of salvation and freedom in Christ.