A new beginning

After a weekend of slight panic, I forced myself to sit down on Sunday night and being the task of re-writing my project.

Here is what I am now trying to do:

The theological significance of gender
In the opening chapter of the bible we read: ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.’ (Gen 1:27). The gendered nature of humanity is part of the creation that God affirms as being ‘very good’ (Gen 1:31). Yet this positive view of gendered humanity is juxtaposed with Paul’s claim in Gal 3:28: ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ To what extent does gender have any theological significance?

The dimorphically sexed body is the basis of an understanding of gender. Human beings are embodied as either male human beings or female human beings – sexual differentiation is the norm. The Bible unambiguously affirms this differentiation of the sexes. It is the embodied nature of this differentiated humanity that provides the basis for gender differentiation, for gender is a facet of sexuality, predicated on sexual differentiation. Humanity is found to exist in two genders – male and female.

In the current context there is substantial controversy over the implications of humanity’s genderisation. For some, gender has little theological significance. While humanity is created as male and female, there is nothing inherent in our gendered nature that is significant about who we are or what we can do. Whether male or female matters little – our humanity has priority over our gender. On the other hand, it is argued that gender is fundamental to our humanity, for every human being is either male or female. Rather than gender being an accident of history or culture, as irrelevant to our humanity as whether we speak English or French, whether we are male or female is essential to our existence. Furthermore, the bible then assigns roles or functions based upon gender distinctions, thus affirming the theological significance of gender.

In this project we will seek to disprove the view that gender has minimal theological significance and sketch some of the implications that gender has for us as human beings created in the image of God. It is beyond the scope of this project to articulate a comprehensive view of maleness and/or femaleness, manhood and/or womanhood. Its task is more preliminary. Before the distinctive features of either gender can be explored, the establishment of the significance and essential nature of gender is an important and more primordial step.

In establishing the significance of gender this work will begin by examining the biblical data, firstly outlining the case that gender is of limited significance, secondly examining some of the key biblical texts (Gal 3:28; Gen 1&2 and 1 Cor 11) to establish what they say about gender and thirdly outlining the general biblical patterns about gender.

The second section will then seek to set the discussion of the theology of gender in its wider theological context. By examining the doctrines of the trinity, sin and redemption, and the bodily resurrection we will see that these provide a framework for coming to terms with the gendered nature of humanity.

In the final section, having established the theological significance of gender, we will then seek to draw out some of the implications of the gendered nature of humanity.

Counting Sunday as day 1, have to write approximately 1000 words a day for the next 15 days. This will give me a week to edit and tidy up before submission. Scary.
It is half way through day 3 and my draft currently sits at 2,500 words. Progress.