Is God a Misogynist? was a breath of fresh air after struggling through Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.  Although I don’t agree with it 100%, it’s far more balanced and the tone is more positive.

My Disagreements

I’m going to begin with my notable points of disagreement for the very practical reason that they’re few.  Although there are a couple other detail things here or there where I might not be completely on the same page with author David Wilber, for the most part my disagreements fall into two areas.

First, in the discussion of polygamy, he makes an argument for a textual interpretation of “nor shall you take a woman as a rival to her sister” in Leviticus 18 as a turn of phrase forbidding polygamy* across the board.  While I’m willing to concede that this interpretation may be within the realm of possibility (and I certainly don’t advocate for polygamy), I’m not convinced by the argument.

In the grand scheme of things this is probably a minor point, but it comprises a substantive portion of a chapter, making it a notable objection within the book.

Second, and more significantly, Wilber views patriarchy as a human construct at odds with creation.  “Man-made societal systems like patriarchy are not God’s creation ideal for humanity.” As regular readers will know, I strongly disagree; I believe that patriarchy is the creation ideal. However, he does view patriarchy as being regulated by God, indicating that, “the biblical portrayal of the husband’s/father’s leadership in the family is not one of domination and power over women but of loving responsibility for those in his care.  He is the servant-leader of the family to whom the wife voluntarily and lovingly submits.” With this I wholeheartedly agree (and I would argue that this is the patriarchy established at creation).

This dichotomy filters through the rest of the book, so that “patriarchy” is viewed as something inherently manmade and faulty, but there is an understanding of the Bible’s endorsing a form that’s centered around responsibility for loving care of the family as a whole, not a heavy-handed exercise of power.

The Good — and the Purpose of the Book

Despite those caveats, this book as a whole is excellent, well worth the read, and certainly of benefit for its intended purpose.  What’s that?  To clear up certain misconceptions about what the Bible teaches regarding women.

In particular, it focuses on certain rather “obscure” Old Testament passages, which most Christians typically choose to just ignore, while pagans fling them at us as attempted “gotchas.”  We need to be able to address these concerns.

After an introductory chapter building a general argument that God doesn’t view women as inferior to men, four respective chapters tackle difficult Old Testament passages and concepts.

First is the question of polygamy.  As previously noted, much of this passage leans on an interpretation of “nor shall you take a woman as a rival to her sister” that sees “sister” as referring to any other women — which I don’t find convincing.  Consequently, I think this chapter is a little weak, even though I agree with the other points within it.  (Polygamy is a departure from God’s design and consistently painted in a negative light.  There’s one other point, but it’s related to the previous three.)

Next is a discussion of the “test for adultery” in Numbers 5.  This is where we see a husband accusing his wife of unfaithfulness although there are no witnesses and she hasn’t been caught.  Those who take issue with this passage usually fail to note that God acts as judge in this situation — God who knows all and who always judges righteously.  Wilber unpacks the passage to effectively demonstrate that this law actually protects the innocent wife who’s wrongfully accused.  (He also addresses the misconception about this passage and miscarriage.)

The next chapter tackles the “test for virginity” — the rule permitting a man to confront his new wife’s parents if she was represented to him as a virgin but she isn’t.  Wilber’s argument here is surprising, but well-supported, essentially turning everything we think we know about the passage on its head.  He points out that this actually puts the accusing husband “on the stand,” and that the ease with which evidence in the wife’s favor could be fabricated makes this entire law essentially a mere deterrent to husbands making foolish accusations.  That might be stretching things just slightly, but at the very least it demonstrates that the wife’s position is much stronger than the naysayers tend to acknowledge.

We then turn to the Bible’s instructions regarding rape.  These can be especially difficult passages if for no other reason than that people often bring very strong emotions to the table and may not be thinking clearly and fairly about the text as they read.  The book’s discussion of the relevant passages is firm but compassionate.

Some of the Scriptural texts in question are simply misapplied by skeptics, with people incorrectly viewing instructions regarding (consensual) fornication as instructions regarding rape.  Others are interpreted simplistically.  Here the author breaks both down, illustrating how God’s law, carefully read and rightly applied, was designed to prevent men from being able to use women and then discard them.

The remainder of the book returns to more general treatments of God’s view of women, as well as a discussion of whether Scripture excludes women from ministry.  In this chapter (on women and ministry), as well, I have some disagreements here and there, including the same issue I saw in Recovering from Biblical Manhood and Womanhood of making too much of a passing reference to Phoebe.  It’s probably the section I find the most “mixed.”

At the same time, I find this the least essential part of the book.  What we have in this chapter is a brief overview of a subject that has been the thesis of multiple entire books, so I consider it more of a bonus to the dedicated chapters on Old Testament hard topics than as a critical part of the book’s overall argument.  Your mileage may vary.

Rooted in Scripture

One of the most gratifying aspects of Is God a Misogynist? is how heavily rooted it is in Scripture.  All too often today we see “women” books that react against what the authors believe are (and sometimes actually are) misinterpretations or misapplications of Scripture — but which then consist largely of opinion and emotion instead of a reexamination of Scripture.  This book, by contrast, is dominated by exegesis of Scripture.

It’s a worthy addition to your library.

*Technically, it’s a particular subset of polygamy called polygyny — “multiple wives.”