Beatnik Christianity Sees the Redemptive Movement for Women in the Biblical Story

Here’s a disturbing quote from John MacArthur in 1976: “A woman, whether she is married or single, must recognize the fact that in general, as a woman, she must have a spirit of submission to all men.” Oh, but that was a long time ago. Surely the guy’s thinking evolved over time, right? Yeah, not so much. Here’s MacArthur again in 2000: “There was an original, divinely planned subordination for the woman: this was to be a blessing for her.” That theology is utterly horrific, but at least the guy is giving us the unvarnished truth about the complementarian worldview.1

MacArthur and his Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood cronies, Piper and Grudem, get this stuff dead wrong at every possible turn. We’ve already covered the ground that 1) a more faithful translation of Genesis 2:18 into modern English would be partner instead of helper, 2) male authority over females clearly was not the created order but was an explicit result of a curse, and 3) that curse most certainly is not a divine blessing reflecting God’s original design. Sadly, their erroneous biblical interpretations go far beyond the opening chapters of Genesis.2

While I don’t agree with all of his conclusions, I love the overall theological framework put forth by William Webb in Slaves, Women & Homosexuals: Exploring the Hermeneutics of Cultural Analysis. Webb calls for Jesus followers to read the full sweep of Scripture through the lens of a “redemptive-movement hermeneutic.” The redemptive story of a particular social dynamic may bend, morph, and take time to solidify, but there is nevertheless an identifiable biblical trajectory toward justice, restoration, and kinship.3 One example of this being the subversion of slavery.

The same is true of women. Eve was created not as Adam’s subordinate helper but as an equal partner.4 Then the fall from grace occurs and God’s restoration project begins. With slavery the story doesn’t end with the close of the biblical canon. Instead the trajectory toward wholeness seen from Exodus to Philemon continues into Church history. Likewise, we’ve got a redemptive movement from Eve to Deborah, then Deborah to Junia.5 Finally Paul in Galatians 3:28 voids tribalism, slavery, and female subordination even though the restoration clearly ain’t done.6

The originals beatniks didn’t include women as full and equal partners in their countercultural movement, but female authors certainly did have important voices in the Beat Generation. That alone was a step in the right direction, especially considering the cultural context of the atavistic 1940s and ’50s. Having said that, beatnik Christianity recognizes the male tendency to oppress and suppress women is, biblical speaking, a cursed ways of thinking.7 It jives with neither the redemptive trajectory of Scripture nor countercultural lifestyle of love that is The Way of Jesus.