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"Anthropology is the defining issue of the 21st century."
–Joe Rigney
Last month Joe Rigney, who is John Piper's successor as the new president of Bethlehem College and Seminary, tweeted the quote above in the midst of the ongoing confirmation hearings of Joe Biden's nominee to the US Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.
What prompted Rigney's tweet was a series of questions that were asked to Judge Jackson about her basic, definitional understanding of human dignity and personhood. Judge Jackson's responses were not encouraging. She not only refused to answer when she believed equal protection under the law attaches to a human person, which obviously implicates her beliefs about abortion and the unborn, but she also obfuscated to the point of absurdity when she was asked a direct question about the definition of the word "woman."
By now, this remarkable exchange has become infamous:
Senator Blackburn: "Can you provide a definition for the word 'woman'?"
Justice Jackson: "I can’t."
Senator Blackburn: "You can’t?"
Justice Jackson: "Not in this context. I’m not a biologist."
Many wish that Senator Blackburn would have followed up with the question, "Are you a woman?" And then, if she answered yes, which she almost certainly would have — especially since Joe Biden [not a biologist] had promised to nominate a "black woman" to the Court — she Blackburn should have asked, "How do you, a non-biologist, know you are a woman?"
Of course, Judge Jackson's confusing and intentionally muddled answers probably do not represent what she actually believes. But what her answers do represent is the disorienting cultural climate we live in — a climate where the very basic definitions of man, woman, and person have become completely untethered from reality and are increasingly politically charged. Which brings us back to Rigney's statement:
"Anthropology is the defining issue of the 21st century."
This is what we believe at CBMW. Whereas past generations of Christians faced other battles over orthodoxy, such as the Trinity, or Christology, or even Ecclessiology, today, the mettle of truth and orthodoxy are being tested the most in the realm of anthropology. This is not to say that other doctrines are not important — they are of extreme importance to the continuance of biblical fidelity and orthodoxy. But it is to recognize that orthodoxy and its confessors are threatened with capitulation today not only from the world, but also from within our ranks at exactly the issue of anthropology — including what it means to be created male and female in the image of God.
And that is why we do what we do at CBMW; it is why we renamed our journal in 2019 to Eikon: A Journal for Biblical Anthropology. We are aiming to equip this generation and future generations with biblical answers to contemporary questions about marriage, men and women, and even what it means to be a human person — about biblical anthropology.
We may not be biologists, but we do know what a woman is. Because God made us male and female for a purpose, and his Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path.
This month, we are finalizing our Spring 2022 issue of Eikon. Be sure to check this space for its release and to read past issues (for free!) and sign up to receive a physical copy of Eikon in your mailbox. Also, check out the resources linked below. If you or your church finds our ministry beneficial, I would encourage you to pray about supporting us financially so we can continue the work God has called us to.
Thank you for standing with us. May God bless you, your church, and your family for his glory and our good.
In Christ,
Colin J. Smothers
CBMW Executive Director
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Progressives Seem Willing to Erase Women. Are We Going to Let Them?
By David Closson
"Although the assertion that women’s rights should be protected would have been uncontroversial only a few years ago, it is now seen as divisive and hateful even to suggest that biological males are robbing biological females of opportunities and awards. Incredibly, many progressives are in favor of accelerating this trend. But unless people are comfortable with Lia Thomas winning national championships meant for women and Rachel Levine being heralded as a pioneer for women, Americans of every background and political persuasion must be willing to stand up to gender identity ideology. If we don’t, girls today will be the first generation of women in the United States to have fewer opportunities than their mothers. We cannot let progressives erase women. It’s immoral, unjust, and unfair."
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Why Christians Resist Transgender Speech-Codes
By Denny Burk
"I write this post to explain briefly why Christians are resisting the totalitarian speech codes of transgender propagandists. It’s not because we hate transgender people. On the contrary, we love them, and love always rejoices in the truth (1 Cor. 13:6). Which is another way of saying that love always rejoices in the good and flourishing of our neighbors, and we do not seek their good and flourishing by lying to them about what God has revealed about male and female. What has God revealed?"
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That Was Then, This Is Now: Aimee Byrd Preaches Her First Sunday Morning Sermon
By Colin Smothers
"Nevertheless, the Bible’s teaching remains the same. God has created men and women with distinct but complementary callings. To be sure, both men and women are called to ministry. Women have spiritual gifts, and God intends for those gifts to be used for his own glory and to edify the church. Likewise, men have gifts, and God intends for men to use those gifts for the glory of God and the edification of the church. God’s beautiful but distinct design is something celebrated in Scripture, and it is something we must learn to embrace and celebrate as well."
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C. S. Lewis, “Complementarian”
By Colin Smothers
"A few years back, I drew attention to C. S. Lewis’s “complementarian” argument on the question of ordaining women to the priesthood in the Anglican church. I would encourage everyone to read Lewis’s original essay, which is linked here — especially in light of the recent upsurge and interest in historical angles on the complementarian-egalitarian debate. I also rely on Lewis’s excellent reasoning in this essay for Eikon, “The Fallacy of Interchangeability.”
"But recently I have been re-reading Lewis’s Mere Christianity with a class I am teaching, and I have been struck afresh by how, well, complementarian it is."
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