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Women, Authority & the Bible

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"How can we speak of a necessary subordination of status without implying a necessary inferiority of person?" This is the challenge raised and addressed in this collection of essays.

Traditional Christianity supports such a view, that though women are fully redeemed by Christ, they are unfit to participate in some teaching and preaching roles.

Women, Authority & the Bible is a collection of essays by several scholars of varying backgrounds. There are articles about the meaning of the Greek word for head ("man is the head of woman"), the meaning of authority under Christ, the culture and mythology of the day, and the relevant passages.

Though the views of a traditionalist are represented in one article, it is mainly a multipronged study on why women should be allowed full participation in ministry. It does so, however, with a respect for the Biblical texts that wouldn't offend a conservative evangelical.

Your interest in the various topics will determine how readable you find each chapter. I found most of them to be very well written. Most of the arguments put forth are also very well thought out and consistent.

By the end, I was in full agreement with one of the contributors who said that (paraphrased) "the burden of proof is now on those who would support the traditionalist position rather than on those who support women's full participation in ministry."

An essential women's roles essay collection, even if you are not a feminist like me. This varied collection will help you see all the weaknesses and strengths of the feminist and patriarchal positions ... raising new questions.

Filled with many extensive thoughtful essays, showing many different perspectives of the issue of women's role(s) in the church. It is highly intellectual and goes into great depth with the original Hebrew and Koine Greek of the Bible. Very understandable, though, since I myself have never studied Hebrew or Greek formally.

I was really excited to find this book; I first checked it out from my library and after having it around my house for a few days, I knew I wanted to own one. The essays are well-sourced, and so this book could lead you to hundreds of other valuable books and essays.

The book quickly rose into my top 5 books written in the last 40 years.

Reading some conclusions here is amazing, that it is now incumbent upon the traditionalists to prove their case. The exegetical papers included here do not solve the issues. But to just raise many questions for others to answer does not make the case suddenly shift in the other direction.

What is at the core is one's view of the authority of Scripture. Pinnock, himself no supporter of inerrancy, has to me the best take of this entire colloquium. He took two feminist books and two nonfeminist books and he concluded: "If this is a war of ideas, biblical feminists face not only traditionalist but also radical feminist exegetes on this crucial question. These four authors press the same point: unless the Bible is edited along feminist lines, it cannot be made to support feminism."

Gundry's response to Pinnock is weak and founded upon a typical begging the question of the authority of scripture. Harmonization of the Scriptures cannot be sidestepped with some fancy legwork about presuppositions to exegesis.

Pinnock's determination in my thinking is still pervasive.

Having read most of this book (I don't think I'll waste my time finishing it!), I can say that not a single one of the many contributors argue against women pastors or teachers. J. I. Packer says towards the end of the book that "none" of those who support "the exclusion of women from the office of teaching and ruling within the congregation...were present at the colloquium" (p. 298). For a more balanced book with contributors who argue both for and against women teaching and speaking, I would recommend "Women in Ministry: Four Views" (edited by B. Clouse & R. G. Clouse). For a modern defence of the ultra-conservative view that women should not even pray (audibly) in church, I would recommend "Scripture Twisting in the Seminaries, Part One: Feminism" (by John W. Robbins). This book, however, is divided into six sections:

1. "Why are we here?";
2. "Biblical Authority";
3. "Biblical views of authority & headship";
4. "Difficult passages";
5. "Changing the Church"; and
6. "What have we accomplished?"

In each of these sections there are essays and so-called 'responses', though it would be better to call the 'responses' 'appraisals', since all they do is agree with the main points and attempt to refine the peripheral points.

In section 1, Patricia Gundry basically makes an emotional argument that women being excluded from Church ministries is "torture" (she compares it to a woman who was not given pain-killers during child-labour [centuries ago] because the pain of labour was thought to be a punishment from God which shouldn't be stopped).

Section 2 seems to assert that the Bible is authoritative, but that the words Jesus said when He was a man are more authoritative than the words Jesus said through his mouthpiece, that is, the apostle Paul.

After section 2 has argued that some parts of the N.T. are more important than others, Section 3 then explains how Galatians 3:28 ("there is neither male nor female, for all are one in Christ") is more important than what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, Ephesians 5:23-24, Colossians 3:18, 1 Peter 3:7, 1 Timothy 2:8 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12 (though there is no thorough exegesis of these passages). Section 3 is divided into two subdivisions; the second is entitled "what does kephale [the Greek word for 'head'] mean in the N.T.". Here you will at least find a detailed exegesis, though it does seem a bit of a waste of time to spend 35 pages discussing a word which does not even appear in the main proof texts for conservative Christians which are 1 Cor. 14:34-35 and 1 Tim. 2:11-12 (though they do use an odd interpretation of "kephale" to explain away 1 Cor. 11:3, "the head of woman is man", without giving any attention to what it says a few verses later in this chapter, "a man ought not to cover his head since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man").

Section 4 does discuss 1 Timothy 2:11-12 ("Let a woman learn in silence with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather she is to remain in silence") and 1 Corinthians 14:34-34 ("Let your women keep silent in the churches. For it is not permitted them to speak, but they must be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church."); this section basically argues that Paul's (or rather, God's) commands concerning women are a sop to the cultures at the time: it was an embarrassment to their husbands for Corinthian women to speak in church, so rather than rebuking the husbands for being wrongfully embarrassed, Paul tells the women to respect the 'sexist' views of the culture -these people seem to think the same apostle who died for his faith would have been afraid to go against the morals of the ancient world when it came to women!

Section 5 I haven't read.

Section 6 is titled, "What have we accomplished?" The answer: Nothing.