Loren Cunningham and David Joel Hamilton have a single goal which permeates Why Not Women: A Fresh Look at Scripture on Women, in Missions and Leadership. These men are missionaries with a heart for God and the lost. Their purpose is the sharing the Gospel. Why Not Women is a biblical study of women in the church and has information on mutual submission in marriage, but the context is reaching the lost for Christ. Cunningham founded Youth with a Mission and Hamilton, the biblical scholar of the book, serves as a missionary.

Cunningham sets the stage in the fist chapter, "It's High Time!". He points out some of the bizarre lengths the church has gone through to avoid "women teachers". He recounts stories of entire movements of God being halted because the church didn't want women to "lead". He addresses the consequences of a worldwide church comprised primarily of women not allowing women to minister, and the consequences for men for whom God said "alone" was not good. In the broad context, this issue is part of the battle between good and evil. Cunningham writes, "Ever since the Garden of Eden when God told Satan that the seed of the women would bruise his head, the devil has been ferociously attacking women all over the world." The result? What Cunningham calls the "Secret Holocaust". Female children are being aborted and left to die around the world because they are female. He reports a statistic that over a 100 million girls are missing from the demographics. Few people know or care. He then shows negative attitudes toward women in the church besmirch the reputation and character of our just and loving God, because offering a brief overview of the women in Jesus' life.

The second chapter gives a brief outline of how to study the Bible. Again, Cunningham starts with the very nature of God. He writes, "The letter of the law kills. The Spirit gives life. The Bible didn't come before God. God came before the Bible."

I am partial to chapter three, because it begins with a story about one of my favorite heros of the church--Duncan Campbell. The story Cunningham shares has church members asking the Lewis revival and Campbell not recounting the extraordinary events in Barvas---because the movement was lead by women and the church members dismissed women leaders. If for no other reason I would love this book for this account. Through out my studies on the Lewis revival, I had a hard time getting information on women's participation, yet the leader of that revival openly acknowledged their work! Cunningham moves on to address the gifts of the Spirit and that all are to be gifted.

The next chapter covers biblical women in ministry. Cunningham writes, "Did you know that at least 886 verses of Scripture came to us through women? One example is Mary's beautiful words glorifying God in Luke 1:46-55. Paul told Timothy that all Scripture was given by God for teaching. If God really did prohibit women from teaching, then men must not read verses that came through women, such as these words from Mary, for then they will be taught by those women! In fact, if we follow this argument to its logical conclusion, to avoid being taught by a woman, those 886 verses should be cut from our Bibles." Frankly, I had never considered this point because.

Hamilton takes over in the next chapter, "Daughters of Pandora". He reviews the perception of women in various biblical cultures and in cultures that influence our thinking today. He shows that many societies showed women as "defective" or created as punishments for men. Chapter 6 continues the theme, showing how and why ancient cultures viewed women as lascivious. In contrast "Daughters of Eve shows that women are created in the image of God not as punishments, but as equal helpers in shared destiny. Hamilton shares, "God's design for each of His created beings, not the sequence of their arrival, is what gives them value. He also makes a point I've not read before. When the serpent speaks to the woman, he uses "you" plural, which added to the "who was with her" even more strongly suggests Adam was with Eve during the temptation.

Hamilton goes on to contrast cultural view with Jesus' actions and teachings. Jesus was radical in teaching and in deed.

Paul, of course, takes up the last few chapters of the book. Hamilton discussion the language of Ephesians 5:15-23. He shows that submission is a reflection of the Holy Spirit, writing, "The Holy Spirit doesn't know any other way to live. He has lived throughout eternity in mutual submission with the Father and the Son. If the Holy Spirit is active in our lives, we'll have the same attitude." He also addresses Ephesians 5:33. "In the original, this verb is in the subjunctive mood, which is used to express desire, a wish, or a hope. Furthermore, this phrase is introduced by the Greek word that means 'in order that.' This is a dependent clause, built upon the first half of verse 3. Paul tells the husband to love his wife in order that she may respect him." Another point Hamilton makes that I have not seen stressed before is Paul's command to husbands to love their wives "as Christ loved the church". As Hamilton writes, "It's one thing to love someone as much as you love yourself. But to love someone as much as Christ loved us is setting the highest standard of love possible

Hamilton addresses some translational issues in "Brining the Gospel to Sin City, AD 50". Corinth was the Sin City in questions, and certainty Vegas is mild by comparison. Here he discusses Stephana, the first discussion of the name I've seen, and the meanings and gender politics of "household" as well as Phoebe. This chapter also explores 1 Corinthians 7. In my view, however, the most powerful point in this chapter was, "Submitting to one another in the Body of Christ is a normal part of life in the Spirit.

"The Question of Headship" addresses the question of "kephale" and the structure of 1 Corinthians 11-12. That theme continues through the next chapter. "Should Women Keep Silent?" looks at 1 Corinthians 14 as a chiasm (A-B-C-D-C-B-A). While the next chapter addresses "Silence" itself before Hamilton turns to 1 Timothy 2. Again Hamilton looks at the structure of the passage and the contrast of singular and plural nouns in the passage. He asserts that the singular "she" in the passages who is not to have authority or teach was a particular woman and not representative of all women. He suggests that this particular unnamed woman was being compared to Eve not because woman are inherently easily deceived or deceptive. "Paul explained what Timothy was to do with this deceived woman. Then, just to make it really clear to him, Paul used the word for or because to compare her situation to that of Eve in the Garden. He reminded Timothy that Adam sinned with his eyes open, but Eve did so because she was deceived. Paul held Adam more accountable for his sin because Adam wasn't deceived when he decided to disobey God."

In "Paul's Gracious Solution", Hamilton points out that Paul expected women to "profess" their faith and that Timothy learned from women and was expected to continue in that teaching. He also points out that childbearing has a definite article in Greek which makes it "the childbearing". The last full chapter look as the requirements for leadership, which included women.

I enjoyed this book. This is a fun read, not an in-depth study of ancient languages, with the primary motivation of gaining more workers for the field. I'd strongly recommend this for the middle of the fence lay reader or a newly interested clergy-person. However, I do have a couple of quibbles. All the footnotes are in the back of the book under chapter numbers, yet the pages having chapter title headings. This means you have to flip to the front of the chapter, get the number, then flip to the back of the book to search for the footnote. I much prefer footnotes to be on the bottom of the page. More seriously, the Scripture references are in the footnotes. I want Scripture references to be on the page, and I'd prefer the full quote to be with it. Yet those are minor quibbles with an otherwise enjoyable book. In fact, the greatest strength of this book, is the missionary heart of its authors. They aren't angry, they aren't participating in an academic debate. They are trying to reach the world for Christ and want to cut through the barriers to that mission.

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