Resources by Renée Sproles:
On Gender and the Bible: Where Does Egalitarianism Lead? (Part 9)
Books which propose a “third way,” whether Christian or secular, can easily come across with a bit of arrogance. Many of you are too liberal and the rest of you are too conservative, but I’ve figured out the perfect balance between the two, they seem to say. However, with secular philosophies like Critical Theory and...
How Can We Treat the Bible like Jesus Did?
In times of increasing skepticism about the Bible’s authority, we need to return to who Jesus is and how he viewed the Bible. (See articles 1 and 2 here.) How can we treat the Bible like Jesus did? We respond as Jesus did: We submit to Scripture by believing and acting on it. Believing It...
Renée Sproles
What Did Jesus Believe about the Bible?
In light of increasing skepticism about the Bible’s authority in our lives (see article one here), we should take a fresh look at why we claim that Scripture is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting and instructing us. By looking at who Jesus Christ is and what He says about Scripture, we can have confidence and...
Renée Sproles
Are We Turning into Skeptics of the Bible?
In May of 2017 the satirical Christian website, The Babylon Bee, published this headline: “Man Sitting Literally Three Feet Away From Bible Asks God To Speak To Him.” The article began, According to sources, local man Steve Harrison fervently prayed Thursday that the Lord would speak to him and make His will for the man’s life...
Renée Sproles
On Gender and the Bible: Practical Advice by Complementarian Women for Local Churches (Part 7)
“Change is at the heart of leadership because a leader’s job is to take people from where they are to where they need to be. You can’t do that without ushering in change.” –Carey Nieuwhof. For those who have followed this series of articles over the past weeks, you know that Renew upholds gender complementarity...
On Gender and the Bible: What about Husbands and Wives? (Part 6)
This is the sixth in a series of articles dealing with gender and the church. Previously, we engaged with John Mark Hicks’s book, Women Serving God, and Scot McKnight’s, Blue Parakeet. (See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.) This article focuses specifically on gender and marriage. While Paul honors and...
Book Review: Jen Hatmaker’s Fierce, Free, and Full of Fire
“Well-behaved women seldom make history.” So wrote Harvard professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, in a scholarly article about the funeral sermons of Christian women. When she penned that phrase in the 1970’s, I bet she never imagined it would capture the imagination of generations to come. Do a quick Google search and...
Renée Sproles
On Gender and the Bible: Can Women Be Elders? (Part 5)
“If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.” —Margaret Thatcher. “Women have discovered that they cannot rely on men’s chivalry to give them justice.” —Helen Keller. “It’s time to see what I can do, to test the limits and break through, no right, no wrong, no rules...
On Gender and the Bible: Does God Allow Women Preachers in 1 Timothy 2? (Part 4)
This is another in-depth post where we examine what the Word of God teaches about men and women in the church. This the fourth installment and it is focused on the vitally important teaching of 1 Timothy 2. We will continue to engage with John Mark Hicks’s book, Women Serving God: My Journey in Understanding...
On Gender and the Bible: Why Do Women Stay Silent in 1 Corinthians 14? (Part 3)
This will be another in-depth post where we examine what the Word of God teaches about men and women in the church. It is the third installment in a series engaging with John Mark Hicks’s book, Women Serving God: My Journey in Understanding Their Story, and Scot McKnight’s book, Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read...
On Gender and the Bible: What’s Up with Head Coverings in 1 Corinthians 11? (Part 2)
(For Part 1, click here.) This is the second installment in a series engaging with John Mark Hicks’s book, Women Serving God: My Journey in Understanding Their Story, and Scot McKnight’s book, Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible. In the first post, we critiqued the methods and tools used by both authors to...
On Gender and the Bible: What John Mark Hicks and Scot McKnight Get Right and Wrong (Part 1)
Who doesn’t love a good story? John Mark Hicks’s new book, Women Serving God: My Journey in Understanding Their Story in the Bible, is full of them. We find the story of Hicks’s journey from rigid patriarchy to egalitarianism, the stories of church history and its various positions on the subject of women in ministry,...
Help! I’m Stuck at Home Teaching My Kids!
I have friends who, like my husband and I, prayed for God’s direction for their child’s education. Some of them enrolled their children in public school, some in private school, and some, like us, homeschooled. It goes without saying (and yet I’ll say it): God places His people in all kinds of places to be...
Renée Sproles
Push-Ups: A Parable of Spiritual Growth
With the start of a new year, the pressure to begin a new diet or exercise routine is great. Most years I ignore all of the options laid before me via email and social media, choosing to eat and to move the way I always have. One year, however, was different. On January 1, 2013,...
Renée Sproles
Kingdom VS Democracy
Just what did you sign up for when you became a citizen of Jesus’ Kingdom? And how much authority is given to your opinions and inclinations?
Renée Sproles
Renée Sproles
Your Invitation to Holy Places
It’s been gone for seven years now, but that doesn’t matter. Every time I drive by the empty, green field, I return to those hours that changed everything: the white linoleum tiles, the large window to the right of the bed, the trees just outside, branches bare, the music of James Taylor wafting through the...
Renée Sproles