Event creates place for unity in the middle of the gender role debate

Assignment for communications class allows for discussion on egalitarian and complementarian views.

Macie Cummings, News Editor (Fall 2018) • December 4, 2018

Professor Old Testament Ronald Pierce speaks to students in the Collegium on Dec. 3 about his egalitarian views. Professor of Old Testament David Talley also shared his complementarian views at the same event.

Photo courtesy of Yehju Park/THE CHIMES

A group of communication studies students hosted a discussion on the gender role debate that featured the viewpoints of two faculty members. Their event, “A Call to Unity: Egalitarian and Complementarian Views,” created a space for respectful dialogue between each side of the gender debate spectrum. The dialogue featured professors of Old Testament David Talley and Ronald Pierce as they discussed their views on the gender debate with an audience of students in the Collegium on Monday night.

AN OVERVIEW OF POSITIONS

The first half of the night began with both Talley and Pierce each giving an overview of their views, Talley as a complementarian and Pierce as an egalitarian. Talley explained his complementarian view that men should take leadership and headship in marriage and in the church, while still emphasizing the importance of the distinctive roles of each gender.

“There’s a sense in which together [people] are to live out their distinctive characteristics of what it means to be male and female, but for the purposes of actually doing God’s work in this world. There’s a togetherness in that,” Talley said in his overview.

Pierce explained his egalitarian position of mutuality between genders in marriage, the church and beyond, and what he believes it looks like to live it out both in marriage as well as the church.

“Angry arguments, flaunting of personal privilege and domineering teaching have no place in our Christian gatherings, whether it’s a formal church or a church as we are gathered here together as believers tonight,” Pierce said to the audience. “Instead we should celebrate our full oneness in Christ, in both status and function.”

The second half of the night shifted to a question-and-answer format. Audience members were given the opportunity to write down any questions they had for either professor based on their discussion.

DISCUSSION WITH LOVE AND RESPECT

Both Talley and Pierce agreed that despite what side of the argument people stand on, this conversation is important and must be handled with love and respect.

“Don’t make this about winning. When you win there’s no winners. When you’re talking about theology, talking about things that really matter, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, talking about unity of the body, you really don’t win,” Talley said to the audience. “We need to walk into this with a lot of humility, and humility needs to always be the lead for us.”

Pierce explained that he believes there is hope in terms of how the gender debate is approached.

“That’s where dialogue comes in. The debate is fun. I like that as well. It helps to clarify viewpoints. But dialogue, genuine listening and conversation together moves us toward… a better understanding of what the Bible does teach about gender,” Pierce told the audience. “Probably in the end when we stand before God, we’re gonna find out we were both a little bit wrong and both a little bit right on some of what we’ve been working on, but that’s part of the journey in Christ.”

ADVOCATING FOR UNDERREPRESENTATION

Senior communication studies major Jennifer Smith was part of the group that hosted the event. She explained that this event was for an assignment for professor of communication studies Timothy Muehlhoff’s class. Small groups were required to find something on campus that is underrepresented or seen as a problem and to advocate for that.

“I had seen, and then also other people in our group had seen hostility about this topic,” Smith said. “We’re not talking about these things, and after talking to people, all of us came to the conclusion that we should really do something to figure out a way to have unity and have these conversations better.”

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About the Contributor

Macie Cummings, News Editor (Fall 2018)

Macie Cummings is a senior journalism major on a mission to find the best iced vanilla latte. She is passionate about all things Disney, the Dodgers, and the Office. [email protected] Four years ago, I never would have thought my Biola experience would turn out the way that it did. I am from the small town of Visalia, California, and if you don’t know where that is, just picture cows in the middle of the Central Valley and you’re there. I am the oldest of three girls, and we are incredibly close. However, I was ecstatic about the opportunity to move down to Southern California. The fact that I would only be living nine miles away from Disneyland may have been a key factor when choosing a school. While wrapping up my senior year of high school, I was confident in my decision to become an elementary school teacher. At some point that summer, I had an epiphany: I did not want to be in school for the rest of my life. I decided to take a huge risk and apply for Biola’s film program. After a year of only taking general education courses, I found out I had been accepted, only to go and switch my major yet again. The journalism program sparked my interest, when I realized that film was not for me. I have a passion for creating videos, so I chose an emphasis in broadcast journalism. After a semester of broadcast classes, and a lot of prayer, I decided to switch my emphasis to visual media, which is where I’ve planted myself. I have learned that I thoroughly enjoy many different aspects of the journalism and content creation industry, so this seemed like the best fit. I am looking forward to my year as a news editor for the Chimes, and the opportunity to grow in my writing and storytelling abilities. I know this year will be a year of learning and growth, and I cannot think of a better way to spend my last year at Biola.