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Revisiting the Topic of Women in Public Ministry: My Recommended Resources (2022)
For more than two decades, I’ve taught a course on gender and its ramifications in the church and for women in public ministry. Since #MeToo and #ChurchToo combined with Christian leaders saying women have to endure abuse to be biblical and also that women shouldn’t teach in seminaries, I’ve seen a shift in attitudes. Add to that the one-two punches of Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez with Beth Allison Barr’s book, The Making of Biblical Womanhood: People are revisiting what and why they believe on the topic. Some have sat up and said, basically, “Evangelicals have barred the front door against radical feminism while leaving the back door wide open to misogyny.”…
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Do Women Have to Be Quiet?
What does Paul mean when he twice enjoins women’s quietnesss in 1 Timothy 2:11–12? First, let’s look at the context: 2:1I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper…
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Paul, Artemis, Ephesus, and 1 Timothy:
Today I’m happy to announce I have signed a contract with IVP Academic to publish my dissertation work (plus updates) on Artemis of the Ephesians at the time of the earliest Christians. My working title is: Nobody’s Mother: Artemis in First-Century Ephesus and Why She Matters. I expect the book to release in the fall of 2023. Wendy Wilson, the Mission Advisor for Development of Women and the Women’s Development Track Exec Director at Missio Nexus asked me to write the following for their audience, and it provides a sneak preview of what you can expect when my book comes out. Many have undertaken to explain how understanding the identity…
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Resources for Revisiting the Question of Women in Public Ministry
For more than a decade, I’ve taught a course on gender in the church. And especially since #MeToo and #ChurchToo combined with Christian leaders saying women have to endure abuse to be biblical and also that women shouldn’t teach in seminaries, I’m seeing a shift in attitudes. Some of the more moderate folks are saying, “Stop already. That misrepresents us.” I’m hearing pastors get up and say, “I was wrong” in slut-shaming Bathsheba. I’ve been told by radio hosts, “If I had talked with you a year ago about this, I would not have heard you, but now. . . .” Something has changed. I’ve been inundated by requests from…
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Who Was Artemis and Why Does It Matter? Part II
In modern cities when a woman goes into labor, relatives squeal, cheer, and celebrate. But in first-century Ephesus, the response would have been much different. Think terror. Childbirth in the ancient world carried legitimate fears of writhing and death—as is still true in much of the developing world today. In Part One, I said first-century Ephesians worshiped a uniquely Ephesian Artemis whose re-built temple was the crown jewel of the world’s Seven Wonders. This Artemis was the illegitimate daughter of Leto and Zeus, sister of Apollo, goddess of the hunt, and a confirmed virgin. Yet Artemis Ephesia had additional characteristics. And one of these was her association with childbearing. Many…
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Who Was Artemis and Why Does It Matter?
Artemis of the Ephesians. Most commentators refer to her as a fertility goddess. Yet that’s probably incorrect. So in this two-part series we’ll explore her identity. In Acts 19 we read that Paul’s evangelization of the Roman Empire threatened the Artemis silver workers’ trade in Ephesus. In Paul’s day Artemis’s temple in Ephesus stood as the most preeminent of the Seven Wonders of the World. People came from all over to see it. Ancient images of Artemis, the virgin goddess, abound. Yet on coins and paintings that depict “Artemis of the Ephesians,” we often find an altogether unique image from that of the typical short-skirted Artemis carrying a bow. The…
