The church I'm a part of is blessed by the many energetic, gifted, hardworking, and spiritually deep women. Valley would certainly not be able be what it is without them. Our Christian sisters serve, teach, lead, care, pray, sing, give, sacrifice, coordinate, communicate, and so much more. I'm so grateful for all they are and all they do.Talking about the role of women in the life of the church is an easy way to stir up controversy, especially in conservative Christian circles (whether Catholic, Protestant, or Evangelical). I'm not looking to provoke an argument today, but I would certainly like to provoke some constructive thinking on the subject.
To do that, I'm passing along two short and surprisingly thorough videos from New Testament scholar, Ben Witherington. He covers a lot of ground in a tiny amount of space. He obviously doesn't answer all the questions, but he certainly demonstrates that the questions are more complex and have more possible answers than many people have considered. Then, as a humorous and thoughtful poke in the ribs, I'm also passing along a list of 10 Reasons Why Men Should Not Be Ordained that Tim Stafford posted on his blog a couple months ago.
Just a reminder, I moderate all comments for this blog and won't be publishing anything unedifying. I do welcome thoughtful, respectful, and helpful comments and questions.
Ben Witherington - Video 1
Ben Witherington - Video 2
Tim Stafford's Blog - 10 Reasons Why Men Should Not Be Ordained (by Paul Neeley)
10. A man’s place is in the army.
9. The pastoral duties of men who have children might distract them from the responsibility of being a parent.
8. The physique of men indicates that they are more suited to such tasks as chopping down trees and wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do ministerial tasks.
7. Man was created before woman, obviously as a prototype. Thus, they represent an experiment rather than the crowning achievement of creation.
6. Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. Their conduct at football and basketball games demonstrates this.
5. Some men are handsome, and this will distract women worshipers.
4. Pastors need to nurture their congregations. But this is not a traditional male role. Throughout history, women have been recognized as not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more fervently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.
3. Men are prone to violence. No really masculine man wants to settle disputes except by fighting about them. Thus they would be poor role models as well as dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.
2. The New Testament tells us that Jesus was betrayed by a man. His lack of faith and ensuing punishment remind us of the subordinated position that all men should take.
1. Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep sidewalks, repair the church roof, and perhaps even lead the song service on Father’s Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the church.
Dave, thanks so much for this post. I think that Dr. Witherington is a great resource – he wrote his thesis on this stuff! The “Women and Church” subject has been, in my opinion, debated myopically when non-contextual understandings of scripture have been passed down through generations of church history. Not everyone will know (or care to understand) that Paul’s instructions to Corinth and to Timothy were to aid in correcting some day-to-day problems and issues in running the new church. Witherington does a fantastic job explaining it all (in two seven minute segments, nonetheless).
ReplyDeleteBut the historical context is unnecessary. As Willingham also points out – as have thousands of other scholars – women have a prominent role in the early church, as recorded throughout the New Testament. Priscilla, Phoebe, and Tabitha are all super examples, and how many others are not recorded? Could we dare imagine that such women were independently leading people to Christ? Perhaps they had their own “small groups” of men and women to whom they evangelized? How about the idea that they inspired other women to do the same? Is that so hard to believe in our post-modern society?
Each local congregation of Jesus’ church needs to recognize that women have served in important leadership capacities of the church since 1 AD. The historical context, as well as the outright documentation of female church leadership, cannot be ignored. Church polity that excludes women from such roles needs to be modified. Otherwise, those women who are gifted with the ability to teach, lead, and testify to the Gospel will be stifled in times when they may be needed the most.