This is the book you have to read if you find yourself in lots of discussions about what the New Testament says about gender (sorry, very little about the Old Testament). This was our principle text in a course on Sex in the New Testament by an instructor who studied under Martin at Yale.The book has all the apparatus of a good scholarly text, such as end-notes, bibliography, scriptural references table, and index. While the book is created by combining articles written at different times, for different audiences, the author has endeavored to smooth over the differences in tone.The use of end notes instead of footnotes makes this very easy for the casual reader, and the author is skillful at putting things in just the right way to pick up his ideas easily.One thing which may annoy the casual reader, but which delights the professional, is how Martin engages other writers in biblical exegesis, such as Richard Hayes (Martin and Hayes were colleagues once at Yale.) Hayes premise for the whole book, and the nub of his disagreement with Hayes, is that there is no undeniable, fixed meaning to scripture. It is all up for interpretation, until a community of believers comes to accept a particular interpretation.Some of the articles deal with especially famous passages, mostly in Paul's letters, such as the well known statements which sound like they are about homosexuality in the first chapter of Romans. Turns out, Martin makes a very good case for saying Paul's statements are primarily about idolatry, not homosexuality. Martin also discusses the seemingly straightforward end of the third chapter in Galatians which, contrary to a commonsensical reading, is often interpreted as meaning that the equality of men and women, slaves and freedmen, is only in spirit, not in our earthly day to day life.If one gets nothing else from the book, it is the reassurance that elucidating the meaning of the Bible is not straightforward, and the Bible does not always mean what we have often taken it to mean.