Abigail

It took my THIRD time through this massive resource to realize -------- while there are many good and true illustrations and points in 5 Aspects of Woman, I do not recommend it because it is hermeneutically flawed in its premise. Barbara Mouser states she asks this question as she waded through each biblical passage that mentions a female: “what does this teach us about womanhood?” However, not every passage in Scripture that talks about a woman is necessarily teaching us a universal principle about gender. That is a flawed way to approach Scripture, as any Bible student would know. We can’t go to the text assuming it answers the question we bring to it. You can not force an answer on a passage. She uses eisegesis (using things other than the biblical passage's original context to determine the meaning) to make all the verses fit into her “5 aspect” structure. One of her aspects “Glory of Man” is based on one verse she plucked from I Corinthians 11 (which is a controversial chapter), and she struggles to keep the same definition of glory throughout her own chapter. She makes a very big deal about studying Eve, and how things were originally, making that the starting basis/even motivation for searching out our identity as women. While this is important, she overemphasizes it. Christ is our supreme example and where our identity is found. Barbara Mouser creates her own definitions, and changes how she means them throughout the study (at least in the young woman’s version). She put a lot of thoughts on what the image of God means, defining it in a way the Bible never does. She tried to compare attributes of God to characteristics of humans. (I. e. He is immutable = like how we have character stability, etc.) pg 4, "5 Aspects of Femininity for Young Women." Mouser claims that masculinity is rooted in God (eternal), and femininity is rooted in creation (mortal), which, in my opinion, she was unable to adequately back up Scripturally and this raises a host of logical and biblical problems in our understanding of Scripture. She also wanted to pull gender absolutes from the fact that Wisdom is personified as a lady in Prov 8. She often uses her own observations about general revelation to interpret Scripture. Pg 96 in the teacher's manual: “The personification of the “glory of man—created” deliberately focuses on the creation (not on grace), and on general revelation (not special revelation). Some have found this passage excessively secular and not “spiritual” enough. It must be remembered that Five Aspects attempts to provide a framework for all of gender, not only as we find it in the Bible, but also as we find it in the world.” This study repeatedly brought about confusion instead of clarity on the precious truths and topics she brings up, without giving good context. Praise God that Scripture does contain encouraging truths about womanhood and gender and gives us instruction and clear commands. And Barbara highlighted many good and important things about our worth, roles, and equality as image-bearers. But the Word of God chooses not to completely answer the question -- “What is the essence of masculinity and femininity?” and we should tread cautiously if we set out to speak as an authority on things God leaves as mysteries. Barbara puts a LOT of words on things that aren’t explicitly proclaimed in the Bible, using philosophy and personal observations rather than accurate hermeneutics.