In seminary, you don’t typically get to read a full book; a chapter here and there from world renowned theologians and scholars, but never something from start to finish. But this one book is one that I have been able to delve deep truly cover to cover. Encountering God in Tyrannical Texts: Reflections on Paul, Women, and the Authority of Scripture by Rev. Dr. Frances Taylor Gench. This book helped us explore the difficult patriarchal text of the Colossian household code in my sermon from last September.
This book reminded me that wrestling with cringeful texts is necessary for growing with our faith; because our faith isn’t a stagnant thing, it’s constantly ebbing, flowing, and changing. That even the most painful text deserves for us to do the hard work to find the good news present within them.
I think that’s why Encountering God in Tyrannical Texts is one of my favorites because it helps me, being a woman in ministry, wrestle with texts that say I should learn in silence and full submission, and that I have no authority to teach and to keep silent. (1 Tim. 2:8-15) I have found peace with these painful texts, and I hope you may be open enough for a new and ever changing interpretation of the Scriptures. Amen.
Katie Carboni