Reformed women ask: what is a woman?
Natalie Brand
The Reformation Fellowship has hosted its second theological conference for women. The subject of the conference was ‘What is a Woman? A Biblical Theology’ led by Dr Ros Clarke, who was the keynote speaker.
Dr Clarke, associate director of Church Society and adjunct lecturer at Union School of Theology, outlined a Biblical theology of woman from creation and revelation to salvation. Clarke carefully defined woman as ‘a human being, created by God for the purposes of revealing (together with men) what God is like, showing us how God loves and saves us, and what the eternal woman, the bride of Christ will be like.’ From this a typology of unfaithful Israel and redeemed Zion as bride of the Lord was developed.
Do we sanitise the story of Jonah?
Natalie Brand
Jonah’s wandering away from God is somewhat legendary … and a little fishy.
He didn’t just stray from God; he ran. And he ran from God because he was disobeying Him. As a prophet of God, Jonah was supposed to be one of God’s elite. Yet when God sends him off to be a street preacher in what is modern-day Iraq, to a people who are Jonah’s equivalent of the Islamic State, Jonah hauls off in the other direction (Jonah 1:3). And who can blame him? A holiday in the Mediterranean sounds a lot more appealing.
