Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 177:706 (Apr 2020)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Matthew S. DeMoss

BSac 177:706 (April-June 2020) p. 247

Book Reviews

By The Faculty And Staff Of Dallas Theological Seminary

Matthew S. DeMoss

Editor

Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: How the Church Needs to Rediscover Her Purpose. By Aimee Byrd. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2020. 235 pp. $18.99.

Byrd is an author, speaker, blogger, podcaster, and former coffee-shop owner. She is a published author of several books and the cohost of Mortification of Spin podcast.

This book has a provocative title. It is much more than a response to the work of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (hereafter CBMW, https://cbmw.org/), although it surely is that. Byrd writes, “When we go to the riches in his Word, we don’t find a masculine and a feminine version, but one Bible to guide us all. We don’t find that our ultimate goal is biblical manhood or womanhood but complete, glorified resurrection to live eternally with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We don’t find a command anywhere in Scripture for all women to submit to all men. We don’t find directions for women to function as masculinity affirmers. We find that men and women are called together to the same mission: eternal communion with the triune God” (25). In short, “this book presents an alternative to all the resources marketed on biblical womanhood and manhood today, focusing on the reciprocity of the male and female voices in Scripture, the covenantal aspect to Bible reading and interpretation, and bearing the fruit of that in our church life” (25).

Byrd does not deny that there are differences between men and women; she denies that there are different Bibles, one for men and one for women. She is also not averse to marketing the Bible with different covers for men and women; she is concerned that one impact of different Bibles for men and women is that it “puts a lens of interpretation of God’s Word—the lens of biblical manhood and womanhood. The underlying message is that there is a men’s version and women’s version to read. There is a male and a female way to meditate on the Bible’s teaching. And this separates the sexes by our cultural gender paradigms” (41). This is almost certainly an unintended consequence of the marketing: “While the intentions of reaching men and women may be good, it conditions men and women to constant reflection on how God’s Word is relevant to their own sex. The emphasis is on the differences between men and women. I affirm that there are differences between men and women. God made male and female. But we need to be careful not to reduce us by our

BSac 177:706 (April-June 2020) p. 248

distinctions. . . . Men and women are not opposi...