Transfiguring Headship: A Figural Theology of Gender

“The man is the head of the woman” (1 Cor 11:3). There was a time when this claim was uncontroversial, taken as part of the fabric of the “good news” announced in Christ, and bound up with claims concerning the church’s salvation in him (Eph 5:23–33). But this time has long passed. This book explains how it came to be that the language of the Scriptures concerning male and female generally, and the naming of the man as “head” specifically, has come to be heard not as good news but as a word of offense, even for Christians. A significant part of this study traces, historically and sociologically, the genealogy of “headship” and its waning acceptance as a compelling theological and civil category. What we will find is that, scripturally speaking, the “head” is to be understood not as the “ruler” over the body (as is commonly supposed and argued for) but rather as the representative member of the body, and the body as the glory of the head.