A very comprehensive work, taking a look at the many Pauline passages that speak to gender related issues and concluding that there is nothing in the Pauline corpus that prescribes or suggests gendered roles and limitations within the church.

The writing is quite technical, but excellent in bringing together thoughtful exegesis, critical examination of Jesus' teachings and Paul's own broader teachings, Jewish and Greco-Roman cultural considerations, and a critique of traditional Christian interpretations of "reading through" lenses that a priori assume gender roles in scripture.

At times I thought the material was repetitive, seeing the same subjects discussed across multiple chapters. On the other hand I found within these pages new ways of reading passages that other writers tackling the gender question may have missed or interpret differently.

Cynthia Westfall takes a traditional, conservative approach the the Pauline corpus, accepting that they are all authoritative and penned by Paul or at most by someone within his close circle. Therefore, passages that more liberal interpreters have deprecated as non-Pauline are dealt with in this book as authentically expressing Paul's message. She explores how even the most controversial passages regarding gender can still be explained satisfactorily as not limiting any church and spiritual roles to a particular gender.

Throughout the book, Westfall is emphatic that placing any kind of limitations on service and roles within the church based on gender does violence to Paul's intent and theology. It would be difficult to find any kind of reasonable hermeneutic that could argue against the conclusions expressed in this book.

Paul and Gender
Reclaiming the Apostle's Vision for Men and Women in Christ
by Cynthia Long Westfall

This is a well written and argued text with substantial documented references.

The book aims to explore Pauline passages that concern gender. While I agree with some of Westfalls’s arguments, and disagree with other conclusions, this body of work summaries and adds to the body of work on the theology of Pauline concepts and Biblical gender roles, which has polarised scholars in recent decades.

Cynthia Westfall is generally regarded as a respected scholar of the New Testament.