Craig

Hi Gengwall,
I think you have understood Webb’s view fairly well (as far as I can tell).
I agree with you in that I think he is mistaken in his views on Gen and 1 Tim 2. But I am still wondering if there is some value in his book.
You know when you are discussing a passage with a comp. He says his view and you say your view. You disagree and reach an impasse. You have to agree to disagree.
Well, I am wondering if it is possible to use some of the material in Webb’s book to say “I don’t agree with you about the meaning of this passage, but let’s assume for a moment that you are correct. Can you really show me why you think we should still apply it in exactly the same way today.”
In a recent Sola Panel discussion I tried to use this reasoning and see where it ended up. I asked several times in various ways why slavery is considered cultural and patriarchy is considered transcultural. What are the indications from the scriptures that patriarchy is normative for today, in contrast to slavery (and several other issues that we now consider cultural)?
Unfortunately, the comp fellow leading the discussion was snowed under with lots of other comments, and he got sick, and was unable to answer before time ran out. He said he would email me privately with an answer but unfortunately I haven’t received it yet. I am sure that he will have an answer (he has thought a lot about his position and seems very intelligent) and I am interested to see it.
As I say, I am not sure if this approach would be useful or not. There may be big holes in it and comps may be able to answer these things quite satisfactorily. I have just started reading CBMW on it and I think some of there criticisms of the book are valid, but I am still thinking…….
It is interesting also to me that this comp himself said that he found the “hermeneutical” explanation of the egal position more feasible than the “exegetical” explanation although he didn’t agree with either.