Women of the Bible

I am reading another interesting book about this gender issue in the church: 10 Lies the Church Tells Women: How the Bible Has Been Misused to Keep Women in Spiritual Bondage. (J.Lee Grady, 2000, Charisma House Publication). The following is taken from pg. 36:

In conservative Christian circles women are expected to live contentedly in the background - presumable to focus on domestic duties - because this is their humble, god-ordained "place" in life. It's a place of invisible service and of godly but quiet influence over children and the home, or perhaps over the church nursery, Sunday school class or women's bible study.

Women, of course, are told it is an honor to live in the shadow of their husbands or other male authorities and a disgrace for them to assume a place of significant spiritual authority. But we need to ask: Where did we get this warped idea when it was not the perspective of Jesus Christ, nor is it promoted anywhere in the Scripture?

The bible, in fact, contains a rich record of women who were placed in authority by God. We must consider the way God used them before we attempt to pull an isolated Scripture out of context to build a doctrine that restricts the ministry opportunities of women. Consider the following biblical women and the level of authority they were given;

Miriam (Exodus 15:20)
Deborah (Judges 5)
Huldah (2 Kings 22:14)
Esther (Book of Esther)
Phoebe (Rom. 16:1-2)
Pricilla (Acts 18:24-26)
Philip's Daughters (Acts 21:9)
Lois and Eunice (1 Tim. 2:12)
Junia the Apostle (Rom. 16:7)

I will stop there but the list goes on. Women had major roles of leadership all through the Bible. Yet women today are denied roles of leadership except under the auspices of men. Women can lead as long a man says it ok to lead. As long as he has the final authority to say when to stop leading. As long as she does it with the approval of a man who remains in the room to observe that she does not overstep her authority over man. Now, obviously, not all women in the Bible were leaders. Not all women today are called into leadership. However, for some women, this will be a role that she feels especially equipped to fulfill and since there is clearly a model of female leadership from the Bible, it would be wrong to prevent her from filling a role for which she has been prepared for by God.

Women of the Bible

I am reading another interesting book about this gender issue in the church: 10 Lies the Church Tells Women: How the Bible Has Been Misused to Keep Women in Spiritual Bondage. (J.Lee Grady, 2000, Charisma House Publication). The following is taken from pg. 36:

In conservative Christian circles women are expected to live contentedly in the background - presumable to focus on domestic duties - because this is their humble, god-ordained "place" in life. It's a place of invisible service and of godly but quiet influence over children and the home, or perhaps over the church nursery, Sunday school class or women's bible study.

Women, of course, are told it is an honor to live in the shadow of their husbands or other male authorities and a disgrace for them to assume a place of significant spiritual authority. But we need to ask: Where did we get this warped idea when it was not the perspective of Jesus Christ, nor is it promoted anywhere in the Scripture?

The bible, in fact, contains a rich record of women who were placed in authority by God. We must consider the way God used them before we attempt to pull an isolated Scripture out of context to build a doctrine that restricts the ministry opportunities of women. Consider the following biblical women and the level of authority they were given;

Miriam (Exodus 15:20)
Deborah (Judges 5)
Huldah (2 Kings 22:14)
Esther (Book of Esther)
Phoebe (Rom. 16:1-2)
Pricilla (Acts 18:24-26)
Philip's Daughters (Acts 21:9)
Lois and Eunice (1 Tim. 2:12)
Junia the Apostle (Rom. 16:7)

I will stop there but the list goes on. Women had major roles of leadership all through the Bible. Yet women today are denied roles of leadership except under the auspices of men. Women can lead as long a man says it ok to lead. As long as he has the final authority to say when to stop leading. As long as she does it with the approval of a man who remains in the room to observe that she does not overstep her authority over man. Now, obviously, not all women in the Bible were leaders. Not all women today are called into leadership. However, for some women, this will be a role that she feels especially equipped to fulfill and since there is clearly a model of female leadership from the Bible, it would be wrong to prevent her from filling a role for which she has been prepared for by God.

Dominating women?????

I am reading another interesting book about this gender issue in the church: 10 Lies the Church Tells Women: How the Bible Has Been Misused to Keep Women in Spiritual Bondage. (J.Lee Grady, 2000, Charisma House Publication). The following is taken from pg. 36:

In conservative Christian circles women are expected to live contentedly in the background - presumable to focus on domestic duties - because this is their humble, god-ordained "place" in life. It's a place of invisible service and of godly but quiet influence over children and the home, or perhaps over the church nursery, Sunday school class or women's bible study.

Women, of course, are told it is an honor to live in the shadow of their husbands or other male authorities and a disgrace for them to assume a place of significant spiritual authority. But we need to ask: Where did we get this warped idea when it was not the perspective of Jesus Christ, nor is it promoted anywhere in the Scripture?

The bible, in fact, contains a rich record of women who were placed in authority by God. We must consider the way God used them before we attempt to pull an isolated Scripture out of context to build a doctrine that restricts the ministry opportunities of women. Consider the following biblical women and the level of authority they were given;

Miriam (Exodus 15:20)
Deborah (Judges 5)
Huldah (2 Kings 22:14)
Esther (Book of Esther)
Phoebe (Rom. 16:1-2)
Pricilla (Acts 18:24-26)
Philip's Daughters (Acts 21:9)
Lois and Eunice (1 Tim. 2:12)
Junia the Apostle (Rom. 16:7)

I will stop there but the list goes on. Women had major roles of leadership all through the Bible. Yet women today are denied roles of leadership except under the auspices of men. Women can lead as long a man says it ok to lead. As long as he has the final authority to say when to stop leading. As long as she does it with the approval of a man who remains in the room to observe that she does not overstep her authority over man. Now, obviously, not all women in the Bible were leaders. Not all women today are called into leadership. However, for some women, this will be a role that she feels especially equipped to fulfill and since there is clearly a model of female leadership from the Bible, it would be wrong to prevent her from filling a role for which she has been prepared for by God.

Mary Magdalene's image

I have resisted reading The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, however, I believe some of the discussion generated from this best-seller is worthy of consideration. In the article excerpted below, the author argues that the myth of Mary Magdalene the whore has had a great impact on the way women were viewed culturally by both the secular and religious world. As we consider some of the historic representations of Mary Magdalene, what we see is a wanton prostitute repenting at the feet of Jesus. Mary Magdalene and the story of the prostitute forgiven by Jesus have been linked in the minds of many due to these artistic renderings. A closer look at the scriptures denies that link. These were two separate women; still, we often confuse Mary Magdalene with this woman. Watt believes this whore myth of Mary Magdalene has served to denigrate her unique position as a close companion of Jesus in her own right and has further served to reduce the status of women in the church. The myth perpetuates the fallacy that women are second-class citizens in need of rescuing from their uncontrolled sexual passion. He even goes on to state that the early church fathers used this myth to their advantage in advancing a patriarchal attitude toward women that placed women as inferior beings in need of guidance and overseeing.

As noted in earlier posts, it is important to examine the social factors that contributed to the status of women today in the religious world. This is just one example among many of how biblical truth was twisted by men to suit their need to control women and place them in subservient roles. It is important to examine the real role of Mary Magdalene in the ministry of Christ on earth. While I vehemently reject the notion that Mary Magdalene was the wife of Jesus, I just as strongly reject the image of her as depicted in many of the images of classic art. Jesus elevated the role of women during his walk on earth and Mary Magdalene is a prime example of this. She was a strong supporter and friend of Jesus and carried an esteemed position in his ministry. Consider the following excerpt from John Watt's article on the influence that the distorted image of Mary Magdalene has had on us today.

The Strange Fate of Women in Christian Culture (excerpt)by John Watt © 1997
Editor's note: "The Strange Fate of Women in Christian Culture" is a chapter in a larger, unpublished work called "In Search of the Covenant: Rediscovering Biblical Ethics," and only a portion of it is excerpted below. The author outlines some of the relevant history of Mary Magdalene, and discusses the complexities in discovering her place within Christianity. The section in which he discusses Magdalene's depiction in art is not to be missed.

"There is a great need in contemporary Christianity to rethink and reformulate from the ground up the role of women as bearers of religious and spiritual tradition. In terms of progress in this matter among the general public, we are still close to zero. The appointment of a few women to ministerial positions does little more than tinker with a closed system and does not get at the question of women as bearers and transmitters of divinity. The language, culture and traditions of modern Christianity are still fundamentally patriarchal. This was evidently not the intention of its founder. The renewal of Christianity will occur when the energy, language, spirituality, and recognition of women as carriers of divinity are fully engaged, as Jesus had intended."

The full article can be viewed by clicking on the link with the author's name.

Social Factoring

In the early 19th century, Fredrick Franson writes,

Brothers, the harvest is great and the laborers are few. If the ladies want to help out in the fields during the harvest time, then I think we should let them bind as many sheaves as they can. It is better that women bind the sheaves than that the sheaves get lost. When one has been sent out on the field and heard the real cries for help from dozens of places, places to which one cannot possibly reach, then one cannot help but think, "It seems strange that only such a few verses of Scripture, about which there are so many disputes, should be made such obstacles to hinder those who otherwise would have responded to these calls for help."
(Fredrik Franson, quoted in Edvard P. Torjesen, Fredrick Franson: A Model for Worldwide Evangelism, Pasadena CA, William Carey Library, 1983, pg. 47)

And we see that many women did indeed answer that call to join with men in ministering the Word of God to the world. Women like Phoebe Palmer, Catherine Booth, and Hannah Whitall Smith, to name a few, were pioneers in this challenge. Preaching at places like the Winona Lake Bible Conference and forming the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, these women are recognized for outstanding preaching that led thousands of souls to Christ. Yet, by the 1930's we see a gradual withdrawal of women from the forefront of the pulpit.

Janette Hassey, in her article entitled Evangelical Women in Ministry a Century Ago, lists several reason why we saw this decline of women from the pulpit. She cites the emergences of a fundamentalist subculture which took a hard stand against women's involvement, a backlash against the social values arising in the dominate culture due to the feminist movement, and finally, a more literalists view of Scripture concerning those passages in the scriptures dealing with women. These factors combined to effectively wipe out women's involvement and we see the effect of the minimizing of women's voice during the last 50 years or so.

As a sociologist, I find it incredibly interesting that social factors played such a huge role in this battle of women to be heard. Many try to wrap the argument in Scripture and while there is a place for this discussion, we must also consider our culture, our subculture, and our reactions to both of these when making what we deem to be moral decisions about right and wrong. Many times our decisions are tempered by the events of the social world around us. Our individual experiences, especially what happens in our own families, shapes us in such strong ways that we come to believe that what our parents taught us as right or wrong must be validated in the Word. Sometimes this is not always the case and it is our responsibility to step back, examine our culture, and try to determine its impact on our moral decisions.

While one can never completely separate from the culture around us, I will attempt to do this as I pursue my thoughts on gendered reality.

Bush at Calvin

Many of you know that Cedarville had high hopes that President Bush would deliver our 2005 comencement address. He turned us down - in favor of Calvin. This week he will be at Calvin to speak and it appears that there is some resistance to his politics. More than 100 professors have signed a letter protesting Bush's politics. Calvin has 300 professors, so this represents about 1/3 of their faculty. It is interesting to note that even though evangelicals have all been assumed to be on the bandwagon with Bush, there are still some out there who resist! I have included the letter written by the faculty:

An Open Letter to the President of the United States of America, George W. Bush
On May 21, 2005, you will give the commencement address at Calvin College. We, the undersigned, respect your office, and we join the college in welcoming you to our campus. Like you, we recognize the importance of religious commitment in American political life. We seek open and honest dialogue about the Christian faith and how it is best expressed in the political sphere. While recognizing God as sovereign over individuals and institutions alike, we understand that no single political position should be identified with God's will, and we are conscious that this applies to our own views as well as those of others. At the same time we see conflicts between our understanding of what Christians are called to do and many of the policies of your administration.
As Christians we are called to be peacemakers and to initiate war only as a last resort. We believe your administration has launched an unjust and unjustified war in Iraq.
As Christians we are called to lift up the hungry and impoverished. We believe your administration has taken actions that favor the wealthy of our society and burden the poor.
As Christians we are called to actions characterized by love, gentleness, and concern for the most vulnerable among us. We believe your administration has fostered intolerance and divisiveness and has often failed to listen to those with whom it disagrees.
As Christians we are called to be caretakers of God's good creation. We believe your environmental policies have harmed creation and have not promoted long-term stewardship of our natural environment.
Our passion for these matters arises out of the Christian faith that we share with you. We ask you, Mr. President, to re-examine your policies in light of our God-given duty to pursue justice with mercy, and we pray for wisdom for you and all world leaders.
Concerned faculty, staff, and emeriti of Calvin College .

This letter will published as an advertisement in The Grand Rapids Press on Saturday

Herstory

Throughout history, a hidden thread of women's voices interweaves between the dominate voice of males. At times the thread runs wide and brillant but more often, it is thin and disguished. Still, it is interesting to look at the voice of women from the past - perhaps voices you have never heard. Ruth A. Tucker writes a chapter in a new book I am reading, Discovering Biblical Equality. Her chapter is entitled The Changing Roles of Women in Ministy: The Early Church Thought Through the 18th Century. In this chapter, she traces the role of women from the begining of the New Testament church. From early Christian martyrs such as Perpetua and Felilcitas to medival women monasteries led by women such as Hildegard or Catherine of Siena, we see women taking forefront roles in the church. One of the most interesting stories told by Tucker is the role of Suzanna Wesley, mother of John and Charles as well as seventeen other children. Most of us have heard her lifted up as the godly influence of a mother on the development of men of God, however, Suzanna was a leader in her own right and even called a "preacher of righteousness" by her son Charles. In fact, Tucker recounts that when Suzanna preached in the pulpit, only standing room remained in the churches. Even in the early days of bible institutes such as Moody Bible Insitute, it was quite acceptable for women to occupy and be trained for pastors, evangelists, Bible teachers, and even ordained ministers. This all leads me to again question where and what caused the changes we observe in the last century that places women in subordinate roles in the church and family. At one time, women served side by side with men in full equality. It is this and other themes I will attempt to explore in coming days.

A low regard for women

Today, a blog from Lilypad2 reminds us of the infamous Jack Hyles and his treatment of women in the name of religion. This site includes audio files of an expose of Hyles and his followers in the 90's which document incidents of child sexual abuse, severe corporal punishment, and Hyles recorded responses from the pulpit. Admittedly, this is an extreme example of the experiences of women in Christianity today. However, it does remind me that this kind of "low regard for women" in Hyles brand of fundamentalism sets the stage for these kinds of happenings. When women are not included on an equal basis in the celebration of religion, it is very likely that some kind of abuse will occur. Women have been indoctrinated for centuries to believe that if they follow the lead of men, they are submitting to a biblical model. Yet, if we examine the scriptures, we see women in the Bible who were leaders in the early church. How did we come to this model of exclusive male leadership? Sadly, examples like Jack Hyle remind us how devastating the reality of gender is for women in these churches.

Questions

Always asking questions!
Why is there such a gap between men and women?
As we look at the world, we see a history of women being overpowered, domineered and abused by the men they live with - all to various degrees. Why? The NY Times ran an article on Friday about women who are compelled into a "cleansing ritual" after the death of their spouse. This includes having sex with some designated male in either the family or the tribe. Women are forced into this ritual against their wills. It is one source of the spread of AIDS in Africa today. Again, I must ask why?

My quest

Lately I have been questioning what it means to be a woman in the world of Christianity today. For most of my life, I have rarely questioned the reality of my gender. That is not to say that I do not accept nor embrace being a woman today. What I do question is how my reality differs from my fellow brother believers. I do not long for missing parts (sorry Sigmund!) but I have come to realize that my life is quite different because of the biological sex I was born into. All my life, my Christian experience has revolved around male leadership. Rarely have I experienced watching how women lead. My most crucial spiritual moments corporately have been under the tutelage of male ministers. It has been their words that inspired me to spiritual mountaintops and their words that lifted me from the valleys. Lately though, I have realized that I long for the female voice - it is like a piece of me is missing. Searching for female voice in the spiritual context has left me more than a little unfulfilled. As a young wife, I remember clearly reading Marabel Morgan's Total Woman and quickly rejecting her image of femininity. Many more like Marabel have followed. The reality of Christian women in today's world and church is that we have been taught that our voice is not important in the weightier issues of life. This is not acceptable to me. It will be my search to find and bring to this weblog some of the voices of Christian women that need to be heard today.