Why Women Need Good Theology - Amy Gannett
This article was originally posted here. It is reposted with permission from the author.
Women get a lot of blog posts.
Sometimes, I think there are too many blog posts devoted solely to women’s ministry topics. I have searched over the past several months to find blogs written by Christian women that are edifying and nourishing. What I came up with was, unfortunately, really disappointing. While I found thousands – literally, thousands – of Christian blogs for women, I founds that many of them spouted similar half-truths, and were more concerned with whether or not I wear leggings or the validity of shopping at Costco over Sam’s Club. Even Christian feminist blogs with the express purpose empowering women in the church often come with a faulty hermeneutic and careless theology, if either can be defined at all. The evidence of what was sorely lacking was painstakingly obvious. In the vast sea of the blogesphere there are too many Christian blogs devoted to “sideline” issues of faith, and very few that teach truth.
(Want to check out the blogs I discovered? Scroll to the bottom for my recommendations!)
At first, I was a little irritated. It felt as if maybe the Christian blogs that were devoted to good theology were leaving women out of the conversation. But the more I read, the more I realized: ladies, this one is on us. I cannot tell you the countless times I read on Christian women’s blogs the notion that theology was too hard, too dull, or too uninteresting (or worse, unimportant) and better left to others. Sisters, let me tell you: nothing could be further from the truth.
As a women who loves theology and loves women’s ministry, this search sent me into a kind of mental spinning as I analyzed some of the reasons why women need good theology. I am a firm believer that every person on God’s good green earth is edified and bolstered by good theology, and that we are left spiritually adrift when we do not give our attention to it. And I’ve come to three reasons that women, in particular, need good theology. There are more, but maybe we should start here:
1) Because it orders our love.
Descartes famously said, “I think therefore I am.” Descartes was wrong. What he meant by the statement is widely speculated, but at the foundation of his thinking was the notion that we are formed most by what we think. Taking this to the utmost degree, he concluded that since we are thinking things, we, therefore, exist. And while I agree that our thoughts are formative, I would argue that we are formed by what we love more than by what we think.
Consider the women in your life. Even as you mentally list each one, along with their name comes a description about their personhood: “Caity is my organic-eating, hiking-enthused friend, Angela is my perpetual-student, nerdy-book-loving friend, Lori is my compassionate, born-with-maternal-instincs friend …” And the list could go on. Why? Because we are formed, defined, ordered by what we love. That’s why when you think of Caity, you think about her love for the outdoors and Whole Foods.
And some of this is out of place. Because many of us women have been formed by misplaced, misdirected loves. Women need good theology because it orders what we love. Good theology will (re)form our minds with the wonders of God, it will enthuse us with the character of God, and will awe us by the mysterious, crazy-cool ways in which God is at work. And as we sit in the star-struckness of it all, we will slowly but surely turn our faces toward this God. We will love Him. We will love Him for His Word, His ways, His work. Good theology turns us towards God in love, and as we love Him, we are formed by Him.
2) Because it is for us.
Something strange happened when my husband and I left seminary. While we were in school, most of our mutual friends were male. And that never bothered anyone. Simply put, more men go to seminary than do women, and so the people around us were mostly men. I was always included in conversations in the classroom and outside of the classroom. When our friends came over for dinner and we would have riveting theological debates, the women there, though few, passionately participated. But when we left and joined a new church, theological conversations seemed to happen sparsely, and only my husband was invited. At first, I couldn’t put my finger on why I felt left out. But as time went on I realized it was because people kept inviting my husband into theological conversation, to theological conferences, and to theological studies, and they weren’t inviting me.
My guess is because they have not met many women who would want to be invited, and that is a fair assessment. But the truth is, ladies, theology is for us, too. Good theology – the rich and painstaking process of reveling in the wonders of God – is for us. God delights in His people’s delight of Him, and so we need to put down the self-help, bible-ish studies and participate in the divine calling to know God and His Word – His deep truths and character.
3) Because we can do better.
I love women’s Bible studies. I really do. I cannot think of anything I would rather be a part of than a group of women who are digging into God’s Word and letting it transform their hearts. But here’s the brutal truth: there have not been many studies that I have been a part of that are, in fact, a women’s Bible study. Though they come with the guise of a Biblical text or topic, what is found in the circle is often a far cry from a study of Scripture. I can think of few other places that theological heresy is permitted more pervasively in the church than in a women’s study. Often the pattern looks much like this: read the text, ask each women what she thought it meant or what it means to her, applaud each and every interpretation of the Word, no matter how untrue to incorrect, pass a plate of scones, and leave.
And, friends, we can do better! We can cultivate an environment in which we are reading the Word and seeking to understand what it means, not just what it means to us. We can study the Scriptures with a passion to know it in truth, even if it means we take the uncomfortable step of telling someone that their interpretation is misguided. We can do the hard thing of thinking well, teaching well, and speaking well about our great God. We can be the kind of women who love God and His Word enough to think on the hard things of the faith, and challenge each other to do the hard things of faith.
Find some good theology on these blogs by women:
Hannah Anderson, author of Made for More, writes over at Sometimes a Light
Ann Voskamp’s, A Holy Experience
A group of educated and strong women started Citizen’s Press, which is expressly a theology blog for women.
My college friend, Maggie, writes about marriage and theology on Sparks from the Soul.
Gospel Taboo is edited and authored by three very qualified women, and is guest authored by many others.
Amy will be speaking at Story & Soul’s event & KNOW: An Accessible Theology Event for Women. Learn more here.
Amy Gannett
is a writer and Bible teacher passionate about equipping women to study and teach the Bible. She is also the founder of Tiny Theologians, a line of discipleship tools for children. Amy and her husband, Austin, are church planters in Greenville, North Carolina. You can read more from her on her blog and follow her on Instagram.