Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 38:2 (Spring 2024)
Article: Hierarchy And The Biblical Worldview
Author: Alan Myatt

PP 38:2 (Spring 2024) p. 3

Hierarchy And The Biblical Worldview

Alan Myatt

Alan Myatt, Ph.D. is a graduate of Denver Seminary with a PhD in Theological Studies and Religion from Denver/Iliff School of Theology. He is currently a professor of Theology at the Baptist College of Curitiba, Brazil. He taught at Baptist Theological College of São Paulo, Brazil and was chair of Theology and Philosophy of Religion at South Brazil Baptist Theological Seminary. His publications include Teologia Sistemática (awarded two Arete prizes) and numerous articles such as “Fides Reformata,” “Religion and Social Policy,” and “Vida Acadêmica” and his article titled “On the Compatibility of Ontological Equality, Hierarchy and Functional Distinctions” pages 22–28, in the special edition publication titled “The Deception of Eve and the Ontology of Women,” published by CBE. He also contributed to CBE’s “An Evangelical Statement on the Trinity.”

This article is an enlarged version of the presentation “The Worldview of the Bible vs. the Worldview of Hierarchy,” delivered at the CBE conference in São Paulo, Brazil, 2023.

After decades of discussion, the evangelical debate over the roles of women and men in church and at home shows no sign of resolution. Both sides affirm the final authority of Scripture but arrive at very different conclusions. It is as if each side is looking at the Bible through a different set of lenses. Here I will examine the interpretive lens that leads to a male-female hierarchical reading of biblical texts. I aim to show how theological patriarchy can be said to ground female subordination in a view of the creation order that bears relation to ancient Greek philosophy, and, as such, is incompatible with the biblical doctrine of creation. Therefore, the hierarchical structure of family and church supported by complementarianism replicates an unbiblical worldview that distorts God’s intention for church, home, and society.1

The Greek Roots Of Hierarchy In The West

The ancient Greeks observed that the world is composed of a wide diversity of individual things grouped together into larger categories. What makes aspen, elm, or pine trees all trees when they are individually distinct? Greek philosopher Plato (428/423–348/347 BC) reasoned that there must be a universal principle, such as “treeness,” that unifies all particular trees. These principles are abstract ideas that represent the “true essence” of individual things. Hence, the idea of a thing is its most perfect reality, not the individual tree growing in your front yard. Plato traced each category to a higher and more abstract level of unity until he concluded that ultimate reality itself is the pure ...