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Traditionalist Views of Women: A Little History Lesson
Theological issues relating to women—the texts, the interpretations, the history, the challenges—lie in an area of teaching and thus of academic interest for me. Because seminary degrees cannot shoehorn every single topic into a set number of credit hours, often people looking at deep-dives into history or the history of ideas must go outside of seminary walls to learn chronologies, read the primary documents, and learn social contexts. Such was the case when I took a doctoral course on women’s history. Acknowledging that I taught at a seminary, my professor let me consult with a historian at my own school to create a supplementary reading list. She ran it by…
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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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Celebrity-Driven Christianity?
Aspire to lead a quiet life (1 Thess 4.11). “It’s the seemingly unimportant people who determine the course of history. The greatest forces in the universe are never spectacular. Summer showers do more good than hurricanes, but they don’t get a lot of publicity. The world would soon die but for the loyalty, creativity, and commitment of those whose names are unhonoured and unsung.” —author James Sizoo For seventeen years I served as editor-in-chief of a magazine for Christ-followers. In that position I constantly faced pressure from myself and others to gain followers by running a big-name profile on the cover. But I had to resist the temptation, because I…
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Did Jesus Have Women Disciples…and other questions
Were any of Jesus’s disciples women? Yes. Dorcas (Greek), also called Tabitha (Aramaic), lived in Joppa, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. We find Dorcas’s story beginning in Acts 9:36. And the author introduces her as “a disciple.” This reference to Tabitha is the only time in the NT that we find the feminine form of the Greek word, μαθήτρια. The plural masculine form of the word, “disciples,” appears many times in the NT, including in contexts where women are included in a group. So Tabitha is certainly not the only woman disciple in the NT. But in this case she is singled out. She lived with widows, ministered to widows, and clothed them with lovely…
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Re-Introducing Five Women
Florence. Ever since the third century, an area in the north of Florence was dedicated to Christianity; up to the Middle Ages it represented the city’s most important religious center. From the 500s on, a building complex there included three churches, one of which was Santa Reparata. Around 800, Sta (Santa) Reparata became the new seat of the bishop. “Raparata” is a name known to few Americans, but her story is well known in Italy. A Christian martyr from third-century Palestine, she was the patron of the city of Florence (Firenze) up until the late Middle Ages. Today people can visit the remains of the church named for her—underneath the Duomo…
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Lost in Translation: Are Women Really Missing?
Jesus Wants Male and Female Disciples Years ago, during Vacation Bible School, I learned a little song based on Jesus’s words to his fisherman-followers. It went like this: I will make you fishers of men, Fishers of men, Fishers of men. I will make you fishers of men If you follow me… Men, men, men, men. Four times. I must have unconsciously internalized that, because I heard this: the male Jesus told his male followers to go find other males and invite them to follow the Lord. These words of Jesus to which I’m referring are recorded by Matthew (4:19). The English Standard Version (ESV),…
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Don’t Bring Toxic Shock to Your Workplace
Are you kind to your Christian friends on Sunday but mean to your co-workers on Monday? Do you tend to talk about other women behind their backs, especially the other women in your workplace? Are you emotionally miserable and take that out on others around you? You might be the one bringing “toxic shock” to your workplace, a poisonous condition that is lethal to relationships and to your purpose as a Christian at work. Toxic Shock Syndrome Years ago, a condition called “toxic shock syndrome” suddenly appeared in the news during the late ‘70s. Toxic shock syndrome is a potentially fatal condition caused by the release of toxins from the…
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Women’s History Month: Meet Some Female Martyrs from the Early Church
When I spoke to a class of seminary students recently about women in public ministry in the early church, someone asked me to share some names and narratives about our foremothers. It seemed fitting to provide a sampling here during Women’s History Month. (Some day I hope we will simply learn “history”; but until women are included in the telling of history, we’ll continue to need a special annual focus.) You can find all the women listed below in the mosaics of Ravenna’s “new” (6th c) Basilica of Sant’Apollinare. I’ve included a summary of the stories that usually accompany them, as well. You will notice a theme of women exercising…
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Welcome the Outsider
Of the four Gospel writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—Luke devotes the most real estate to women. And he does so as a larger pattern of highlighting Jesus’s ministry to “outsiders.” Luke’s original audience would have seen themselves as insiders, and he pressed them to be like Jesus and open their sphere of community. Here’s a sampling: Widow bereft of her son. A widow lost her only son. Few were more vulnerable than widows. Especially those who had no male relatives. But Jesus raised him back to life and restored him to his mother (Luke 7:11–17). Widow who gave her mite. Jesus commended the actions of a widow who put all she had in…
