Here’s my thesis: A more diversified account of the social roles of men and women, and a more expansive account of the nature, forms, and ends of our social life will not only better account for a traditional understanding of the roles of men and women in family, church, and society. It will also offer a richer array of opportunities for our mutual agency in realizing God’s purposes for man as male and female.
If conservatives typically worry that expanding agency threatens to erode traditional roles, progressives typically worry that defending traditional roles threatens to restrict agency. Contrary to both worries, I believe that a more expansive theological anthropological framework will better ground traditional roles and further expand the vistas of mutual, personal agency for men and women seeking to live a life that is pleasing to God.