Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis
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Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis   -     By: William J. Webb

Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis

InterVarsity Press / 2001 / Paperback

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Product Description

In Slaves, Women & Homosexuals William J. Webb tackles some of the most complex and controversial issues that have challenged the Christian church (and still do). He leads the reader through the maze of interpretation that has historically surrounded the understanding of these three specific categories of people, and he evaluates various approaches to these and other biblical and ethical teachings.

Throughout, Webb attempts to "work out the hermeneutics involved in distinguishing that which is merely cultural in Scripture from that which is timeless" (Craig A. Evans). By the conclusion, Webb has introduced and developed a "redemptive hermeneutic" that can be applied to many issues that cause similar dilemmas. Darrel L. Bock writes in the foreword of Webb's work, "His goal is not only to discuss how these groups are to be seen in light of Scriptures but to make a case for a specific hermeneutical approach to reading these texts....This book not only advances a discussion of the topics, but it also takes a markedly new direction toward establishing common ground where possible, potentially breaking down certain walls of hostility within the evangelical community."

Product Information

Title: Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis
By: William J. Webb
Format: Paperback
Number of Pages: 320
Vendor: InterVarsity Press
Publication Date: 2001
Dimensions: 9.00 X 6.00 (inches)
Weight: 15 ounces
ISBN: 0830815619
ISBN-13: 9780830815616
Stock No: WW15614

Publisher's Description

In Slaves, Women & Homosexuals William J. Webb tackles some of the most complex and controversial issues that have challenged the Christian church--and still do.

He leads you through the maze of interpretation that has historically surrounded understanding of slaves, women and homosexuals, and he evaluates various approaches to these and other biblical-ethical teachings. Throughout, Webb attempts to "work out the hermeneutics involved in distinguishing that which is merely cultural in Scripture from that which is timeless" (Craig A. Evans).

By the conclusion, Webb has introduced and developed a "redemptive hermeneutic" that can be applied to many issues that cause similar dilemmas.

Darrel L. Bock writes in the foreword to Webb's work, "His goal is not only to discuss how these groups are to be seen in light of Scriptures but to make a case for a specific hermeneutical approach to reading these texts. . . . This book not only advances a discussion of the topics, but it also takes a markedly new direction toward establishing common ground where possible, potentially breaking down certain walls of hostility within the evangelical community."

Author Bio

William Webb is an adjunct professor of New Testament/Biblical Studies at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, Ontario. He has also written Returning Home: New Covenant and Second Exodus as the Context for 2 Corinthians 6:14--7:1 (Sheffield) and Slaves, Women and Homosexuals (InterVarsity Press).


Darrell L. Bock (Ph.D., Aberdeen) is research professor of New Testament studies and professor of spiritual development and culture at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. He has written the monograph Blasphemy and Exaltation in Judaism and the Final Examination of Jesus and volumes on Luke in both the Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament and the IVP New Testament Commentary Series. Bock is a past president of the Evangelical Theological Society. He serves as a corresponding editor for Christianity Today, and he has published articles in Los Angeles Times and the Dallas Morning News.

Editorial Reviews

William J. Webb's Slaves, Women and Homosexuals is a hermeneutical tour de force. Webb severs ties with traditional hermeneutical textbooks by offering intra-scriptural and extra-scriptural criteria and a case study approach (akin to W. M. Swartley's Slavery, Sabbath, War & Women) rather than a step-by-step methodology. Webb tackles these issues collectively (i.e., there is no specific chapter on homosexual hermeneutical issues), modeling that interpretative issues need to be grappled with corporately (read here biblically—both testaments) rather than individually, as isolated pericopes. Exhaustive word analyses rarely win hermeneutical arguments (think of all the ink spilled on the Greek word headship); rather, it is reading texts holistically (vís-a-vís "cultural analysis") that determines interpretation.
Webb's holistic approach is a redemptive-movement hermeneutic that is the engagement of "the redemptive spirit of the text in a way that moves the contemporary appropriation of the text beyond its original-application framing" (p. 30). A key component of a redemptive movement is the idea of movement. Thus, Webb sketches this movement as an "XYZ model," beginning with the Original Culture (X) → Bible (Y) → Our Culture → Ultimate Ethic (Z). Webb then appropriates eighteen criteria, ranging from seed ideas (persuasive criterion) to contextual comparisons (inconclusive criterion) to evaluate interpretive issues indicated in the title of his book.
Webb's most stimulating chapter is his final one: "What If I Am Wrong?" where he develops his default position, or, in other words, plays "devil's advocate." I appreciate his disposition here. Often hermeneutical textbooks suffer from foreclosure, rather than foresight, when involved knotty interpretative issues are involved. This is not to say Webb is hermeneutically ambiguous and adrift: he makes decisions based on his criteria. But he is also aware of the complexity of the cultural issues. He maintains a "complementary egalitarian" position on women, yet notes that "ultra-soft patriarchy" is a "significant possibility" (p. 250). This kind of dialogue (and courage) is needed by more biblical scholars.
Webb's book should be read, discussed, and digested by everyone who is interested in understanding what Krister Stendahl once remarked forty years ago as the descriptive task of biblical theology: the process of moving from "what it [the text] meant" to "what it means." This is a critical journey to embark upon as Christians, especially in a culture that diminishes the authority of the Bible. Webb is an outstanding tour guide. Let the journey begin!
---Joseph B. Modica, Chaplain and Assistant Professor at Eastern University, St. Davids, PA.
---Used with permission from Christians for Biblical Equality

Editorial Reviews

"Teaching hermeneutics will never be quite the same after one reads this thought-provoking book. The ethical issues it explores raise even deeper questions of how to apply 'cultural background' in interpreting the Bible. Even those who differ on some details will find most of the book's arguments persuasive and helpful, and no one can afford to ignore the issues it raises." -- Craig Keener, professor of New Testament, Eastern Seminary

"Webb has tackled some of the most difficult and controversial issues that have faced the Christian church. Some of these issues, such as the role of women in the church and the question of homosexuality, are especially hot topics today. What makes Webb's book special is that it attempts to work out the hermeneutics involved in distinguishing that which is merely cultural in Scripture from that which is timeless. In my estimation, Webb's insights constitute major, positive progress. This book is must reading." -- Craig A. Evans, professor and director of the graduate program in biblical studies, Trinity Western University (Langley, British Columbia)

"This book successfully walks the reader through the hermeneutical maze that accompanies the treatment of each of these areas. The goal is not only to discuss how these groups are to be seen in light of Scripture but to make a case for a specific hermeneutical approach to reading these texts. Slaves, Women Homosexuals not only advances a discussion of the topics beyond current literature, it takes a markedly new direction toward establishing common ground where possible, potentially breaking down certain walls of hostility within the evangelical community." -- Darrell L. Bock, research professor of New Testament studies, Dallas Theological Seminary (from the foreword)

"The book is well focused, thoroughly researched, carefully argued, meticulously fair to differing views and profoundly biblical. I find it very persuasive." -- Stephen R. Spencer, professor of systematic theology, Dallas Theolocial Seminary

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