Pete's Blog

C.J. Mahaney asked Dr. Wayne Grudem a few questions and posted them with Grudem's answers (it's four parts: 1, 2, 3 and 4). One of the questions that Mahaney asked was what area of ministry Grudem was typically most tempted to feel discouraged in. At the end of his answer (I think this was the question that Grudem gave the longest answer to), he told this story (it's in the fourth part):

One event that still puzzles me concerns my book Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth (2004). I had been involved in the controversies over biblical manhood and womanhood for over 20 years at that point, and during that time I had compiled a list of 118 objections that egalitarians (evangelical feminists) had made to the biblical teachings on men's and women's roles in marriage and the church. I then researched and wrote detailed answers to those objections, and added a number of appendices that could not easily be found anywhere else, key documents on the controversy over men's and women's roles. Many evangelical leaders gave strong endorsements to the book.

I had hoped the book would provide a final answer to the manhood/womanhood controversy in the evangelical world, but instead I don't think it had much impact or visibility, due to some mistakes that were made so that it was not sent out for review to influential journals, and I didn't find this out until over a year later, when it was too late for reviews. I believe that God is still sovereign, and in his wise providence he will yet use this for good, but I don't understand it at this point. I leave it in the Lord's hands.

I'm very familiar with the book, so I know how significant it is for the book not to have been peer-reviewed. I remember listening to him talk about the book in 2003 with Mark Dever and sound very excited about it almost being done (though I only listened to the interview for the first time within the past year since I wasn't even a Christian when they had the interview). The book's free online and I refer to it whenever I have a question about the gender controversy going on within evangelicalism. It's super readable, and though scholarly, totally accessible to readers of all brands and types. Imagine working months and months, and years and years on something, and then seeing nothing come of it. I thank God that Dr. Grudem found enough encouragement in Romans 8:28 to go on.

I pray that I learn that when things don't go as I plan, that God is still sovereign, and that He means it for my good.

(HT: Justin Taylor)