MISOGYNY + HERMENEUTICS = MISOGYNEUTICS

Misogyneutics (mi-soj-uh-NOO-tiks) is a term I coined to describe the practice of reading misogynistic assumptions into Scripture and then presenting those interpretations as though they were the plain meaning of the biblical text. The word combines misogyny with hermeneutics—the discipline of biblical interpretation—to name something I believe many people have experienced but struggled to describe.

For much of my life, I didn't realize there was a difference between the Bible and someone's interpretation of the Bible. I sincerely wanted to be faithful to Scripture, so when I was told, "The Bible says women were created to follow men," or "The Bible clearly teaches women cannot lead," I assumed those conclusions were simply what the text said.

Then I went to seminary.

The more I studied hermeneutics, church history, literary context, and the history of biblical interpretation, the more I discovered that many of the teachings I had accepted with certainty were not the only faithful readings of Scripture. Again and again, I found places where cultural assumptions about women had become intertwined with interpretation, often becoming so familiar that they were treated as though they carried the same authority as the biblical text itself.

That realization changed everything.

I coined the term misogyneutics because I needed language to describe this pattern. Not every interpretation I disagree with is misogyneutics. Faithful Christians will continue to disagree about difficult passages. Misogyneutics is something more specific: it occurs when assumptions about female inferiority, male dominance, or rigid gender hierarchies are read into Scripture without sufficient textual warrant and are then defended as though they are the unquestionable voice of God.

Naming a pattern is important because unnamed patterns are difficult to examine. Once we have language for something, we can begin asking better questions: Is this conclusion actually demanded by the biblical text? Or have cultural assumptions shaped the way we've been taught to read it?

My goal has never been to persuade people to think less of Scripture. Quite the opposite. I want people to distinguish between God's Word and our interpretations of God's Word. I believe Scripture is worthy of our deepest study, our greatest humility, and our willingness to reconsider conclusions when the evidence leads us there.

This conviction has become the focus of my doctoral research. As a Doctor of Ministry candidate, my dissertation explores how interpretive conclusions can become functionally unquestionable within evangelical culture and how the Church can cultivate more accountable, historically informed, and intellectually honest approaches to biblical interpretation.

Whether you ultimately agree with my conclusions or not, my hope is simple: that we become people who love Scripture enough to examine not only what we believe it says, but also why we believe it says it.

Because sometimes the most faithful question we can ask isn't, "What have I always been told this passage means?" but, "What does the text actually say?"