Nikolai Kuvshinikov

Professor Couglin

REL-1010

10 April 2020

Reading Response

First of all, I loved this article! I feel like it really solidified for me what this class is

about and also finally showed me a new way of interacting with the Bible, something I have

always felt was “wrong” somehow. As for gender dynamics, my family is the typical Evangelical

Christian family, so I have seen so many of the women in my family pushed off to the side. It

amazes me that even my mom will not speak up for herself when my dad gives the final word of

an issue, because, as the Bible says, according to my parents, women are to submit to their

husbands. To further illustrate how my family interprets the Bible so literally, when women

began becoming ordained, my parents even went a far as to call those women not true believers –

because, of course, their way is the “correct” Christianity – completely ridiculous!

This chapter by Gench (I am actually really interested in reading the full book) brought

up some important issues with this passage in Ephesians. The main take-away I got from her

interpretation is that the Bible is a living book – it changes with time, society, and culture. Why

this statement is controversial in my faith community is beyond me, but it is a very important

one! Gench argues that, even though this text does establish a hierarchy for the marriage in the

New Testament, that it shouldn’t be tossed aside because we don’t like it. It was written for that

time and place – plain and simple. She finished this chapter with the idea that this passage shows

how God can touch our daily lives so intimately, and even though this specific passage is
outdated, it still holds truth in the broader sense of how we interact with God and live the

Christian life.