CONTENTS For the Survival of the Church: What Our Theology Has to DEPARTMENTS 4 Do with Persecution Research shows the connection between Christian belief about men and From the Editor women and religious persecution. Everything Is Connected by Helene Fisher and Elizabeth Lane Miller 7 Refl ect With Us A Timely Transformation: Tamar’s Quest for Justice in Genesis 3 9 Ministry News 8 Tamar, in Genesis 3, subverts her culture’s expectations in her search for justice. 9 Praise and Prayer by Grace Al-Zoughbi 3 President’s Message Building Strong Ministry Teams: Women and Men Planting eology and 13 Churches Together Human Flourishing A vision for mutuality in church planting and evangelism. by Jenn Williamson Was Love the Motive for Women’s Silence in Corinthians 4:34– EDITORIAL STAFF 35? A Lawyer’s Study 17 Editor: Ellen Richard Vosburg An honest investigation into a puzzling passage. Graphic Designer: Margaret Lawrence by Andrew Bartlett Publisher/President: Mimi Haddad Jesus Didn’t Die for Marriage: Why Churches Need to Address 22 Domestic Violence Mutuality vol. 27, no. 2, Summer 2020 Christians must work to hold abusers accountable and respond Cover design by Margaret Lawrence compassionately to survivors of domestic violence. Mutuality (ISSN: 1533-2470) exists to by Mandy Marshall make egalitarian theology accessible to the non-scholar and to explore its Pandita Ramabai’s Legacy: How a Gender-Conscious Bible intersection with everyday life. 25 Translation Impacts Christian Ministry One woman’s ministry shows the connection between theology and Summer humanitarian work. by Boaz Johnson Men and women serving and leading as equals Mutuality is published quarterly by CBE International, Advertising in Mutuality does not imply organizational 122 W Franklin Ave, Suite 218; Minneapolis, MN endorsement. Please note that neither CBE 55404-2451. International, nor the editor, nor the editorial team is responsible or legally liable for any content or We welcome your comments, article submissions, any statements made by any author, but the legal and advertisements. Visit cbe.today/mutuality. responsibility is solely that author’s once an article appears in Mutuality. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the 2011 revision of the Holy Bible, New CBE grants permission for any original article (not International Version®, NIV®.Copyright © 1973, 1978, a reprint) to be photocopied for local use provided Aligning Christian Faith and Women’s 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All no more than 1,000 copies are made, they are Equality with Humanitarian Work rights reserved worldwide. distributed free, the author is acknowledged, and CBE is recognized as the source. 2 MUTUALITY | Summer 2020 WEBSITE: cbeinternational.org From the Editor by Ellen Richard Vosburg Everything Is Connected Our theme for this issue intersects with our evidence for how this odd passage may have made it international conference in London, “Men, Women, in our Bibles today gives us much to ponder. Grace and God: eology and Its Impact,” which we have Al-Zoughbi interprets Genesis 3, walking us through rescheduled for the fall and may delay further. e Tamar’s world and experiences to show us how Tamar timing of this issue may now feel strange, but we are subverted the patriarchal expectations of her community excited to expand on these ideas with you. Our goal is so that she could nd justice for herself. to gather theologians, humanitarians, pastors, and social justice advocates to explore the connection between Other articles show us how our theology plays out in what we believe about women’s calling and giing for the lives of real women and men around the world. leadership and how that impacts the way we work with Helene Fisher and Elizabeth Lane Miller of Open Doors and empower women around the world. We want this International introduce their research on gender-based issue of Mutuality to introduce you to some of our religious persecution around the world. ey illuminate speakers and the ideas we will address at the conference the ways men and women are persecuted based on gender when it takes place. inequalities endorsed by their theology and culture. Jenn Williamson casts a vision for how to build equitable As I edited these articles while sheltering in place, I church-planting teams that include both women and have struggled with how a magazine can connect with men in leadership and evangelism. Mandy Marshall the lives we’re currently leading—let alone articles for a lays bare the truth of domestic violence in churches and deferred conference, a meeting intended to gather lots of shows us how our overly simple and glib responses about people. I have wondered to myself whether we even still divorce hurt women with abusive husbands even more. live in the same world where these articles were written. Some days, I am overcome with the disconnection I feel Finally, Boaz Johnson introduces us to Pandita Ramabai, from the city where I live, friends and family, and even an Indian Christian who founded Mukti Mission for our mission as egalitarians. People are sick and dying, low-caste and outcaste girls in India near the turn of losing their jobs and livelihoods, and we are all grieving the twentieth century. Ramabai’s life and work clearly and in pain. Yet, I am reminded constantly of the ways demonstrates how our theology directly impacts the that women are and will continue to bear the brunt of lives of girls and women. Her work was jumpstarted this pandemic, and I feel resolved to continue with the during the bubonic plague in India, and Ramabai has work of empowering women and men “to promote the much to teach us about our present circumstances amid biblical message that God calls women and men of all pandemic today. Ramabai is an outstanding model cultures, races, and classes to share authority equally of how correct theology has the power to spiritually, in service and leadership in the home, church, and the socially, and physically liberate women and girls from world.” We need to work together now more than ever. danger and mistreatment. ese articles were written explicitly to show you how I hope that as you read this issue, you and your loved ones everything is connected. What we believe, our theology, are safe and well. But all is not safe and well in this world, is not separate, not something we can compartmentalize and one of our sicknesses is a theology that keeps girls away from how Christians minister to the problems of and women from realizing their full potential as beloved our world. In this issue, you will encounter articles that children of God. So, I also hope that these articles bring focus on interpreting the Bible with clarity to upli you some holy discomfort and show you the connection women. Andrew Bartlett draws on his investigative between dismantling theological patriarchy and the skills as a lawyer to examine the puzzles we nd in lived realities of women and girls and men and boys Corinthians :–. His insightful study of the around the world. BOOKSTORE: cbebookstore.org MUTUALITY | ”Freedom to Flourish” 3 For the Survival of the Church: What Our Theology Has to Do with Persecution By Helene Fisher and Elizabeth Lane Miller What Christians believe about men and women matters Watch Research annually investigates to compile the to the literal survival of the church. at’s not just an World Watch List (WWL)? interesting hypothesis. At Open Doors International, it’s our job (our being Helene and Elizabeth) to answer the By cataloging and analyzing patterns of what happens to how, why, and what-can-we-do-about-it questions about Christian men and women in the WWL’s most di cult gender and religious persecution. By investigating the countries to practice Christianity, we have found that gender-speci c aspects of religious persecution, we’ve religious persecution is almost completely di erent for uncovered the complex and detrimental impact that women and men in outward, characteristic manifestations. gender stereotypes and inequalities have on the stability In our ndings, the top ve most common forms of the Christian church under pressure for their faith. of persecution globally for men are physical violence, Protective and cultural prejudices make both men and economic harassment, incarceration by government, women more vulnerable to religious persecution. psychological violence, and military/militia conscription. For women, the top ve are sexual violence, forced Over the past three years, our research has enabled us marriage, physical violence, forced divorce, and house to de ne more precisely why the loss of men in Syria, arrest (which we catalog as domestic incarceration). the rape of women in Nigeria, the targeted seduction of girls in Egypt, and the prejudicial inheritance practices Religious persecution looks di erent for men and women regarding women in sub-Saharan Africa are especially because how it might happen is based upon the di erent e ective tools of religious persecution. e negative way sociocultural roles and rights of men and women in churches respond to these kinds of attacks is the key to their speci c contexts. O en these sociocultural roles understanding their e ectiveness. and rights de ne the value of men and women in a given society. is assigned value in turn de nes how men The Research Question and women will be nurtured, trained, protected, and promoted. We began our research journey with one question: What is characteristic of persecution facing individual Christians e countries mentioned speci cally in this article are in the seventy-three countries where Open Doors’ World visibly at the forefront of Christian persecution, but the same pattern extends to countries where the attacks and We have found that religious persecution is pressures on men and women take more subtle forms.