Women in Ministry by James

¶ … Women in Ministry by James R. Beck

In Two Views on Women in Ministry, editor James R. Beck presents several different viewpoints about what the Bible says about the role that women should play in the Bible. The editor, James Beck is a professor at Denver Seminary and has written a number of books and articles about Christianity. The Egalitarian View supports the notion that men and women are equal in the eyes of Jesus and of the church and that there should be no gender distinctions. As a result, those with an Egalitarian View are generally going to support women in the ministry, and the right of priests or preachers to marry. In addition, they may be more likely to support things that are seen as socially progressive, such as access to birth control, homosexual rights, and other gender-related issues. Those with the Complementarian View believe that women and men have different and distinct roles in Christianity, and that women should not be in the clergy. From a social perspective, this group is likely to be more conservative on social issues related to gender. The point-counterpoint perspective of the book helps explain the support for and arguments against each of the two positions, without drawing a conclusion as to which one is correct.

Summary

After an introduction explaining the format of the book, each chapter presents the author's perspective of the role of women in the ministry and gives the other three authors the opportunity to respond to the article. Linda Belleville opens the discussion with an Egalitarian perspective of the role of women in the ministry. First, she discusses the changes in how even traditional churches now approach women and acknowledges that few churches talk about the flawed nature of woman or cast women in the role of temptress that was once a common portrayal of women in the Bible. She examines the portrayal of male and female roles in the Bible and comes to the conclusion that the Bible distinguishes between the sexes, but does not support the idea of male superiority. She discusses the role that women played as prophets and the centrality of the prophet to religious tradition and to the development of the clergy. However, she does not discuss the fact that female prophets were discussed as anomalies (France 1995, p.75). Furthermore, she points to evidence of women in the clergy in the early years of the Christian church, to suggest that women should be involved in the ministry.

In the second chapter, Craig Blomberg presents a Complimentary perspective of women in the ministry. What is interesting is that he begins his essay with an acknowledgment that what he is writing is based upon his conclusions of the evidence and that he recognizes that other people can study the same material and come to a different conclusion. In that way, Blomberg begins his essay with a rebuttal to many of the arguments people make against people who take the Complimentary perspective. He discusses the complicating factors that interact with the resolution of the issue and make it difficult to resolve from a purely Biblical perspective. He comes to the conclusion that women should serve a Complimentary role based largely on the patriarchal practices throughout the Old Testament.

In the third chapter, Craig Keener presents an Egalitarian perspective of women's role in the ministry. One of the points that Keener makes is that an individual's background substantially impacts how he or she reads and interprets the Bible. Therefore, he finds it difficult to separate the impact of secular society from Biblical interpretation. He also acknowledges that the Bible offers support for both interpretations, and has passages that seemingly contradict each viewpoint. However, much of Keener's support for the Egalitarian perspective comes from his ability to empathize with women who feel called to the ministry.

In the fourth chapter, Thomas Schreiner presents another Complimentarian perspective of women's roles in the ministry. Interestingly enough, he begins by acknowledging that he feels his viewpoints about what Scripture says about the role of ministry conflict with his secular views of equality for women outside of the context of the Church. Ultimately, he concludes that it is not his job to interpret the Bible in a way that makes the most people happy, but to interpret the Bible in a way that he feels is consistent with Scripture.

Critique

This book is difficult to critique because it is a point-counterpoint book. As a result, it is impossible to challenge the conclusions in the book, because the book, itself, does not draw any particular conclusions, but presents different arguments and invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. The editor is not making a single point or supporting a thesis in his book, but instead is making an effort to provide support for the two differing viewpoints of the role of women in the ministry. Therefore, the editor's goal is to provide the reader with the arguments for and against the Egalitarian and Complimentarian perspectives of women in the ministry. By providing two different essays supporting each perspective, as well as by providing the other authors the chance to comment upon each of the essays, the editor does provide an opportunity for the reader to come to his or her own conclusion. However, it would be incorrect to say that the editor made his point, because the entire goal of the book was to present arguments allowing the reader to draw his own conclusion.

First, it was interesting to see that the book largely ignored the academic history behind the Egalitarian and Complementarian perspectives of women's role in the ministry. This is a relatively new debate since the Complementarian perspective was the accepted perspective for hundreds of years of Christianity. However, it is critical to realize that one cannot view this perspective without looking at the historical results of that religious view of women. The Complementarian perspective, which suggests that women should not be viewed as equals, went hand in hand with some horrific treatment of women, such as the witch hunts, while the Egalitarian perspective has accompanied some of the social movements that have been seen as the most threatening to evangelical Christianity. Therefore, by failing to present an argument that comes to the conclusion that the Bible may support a patriarchal approach to women in the ministry, but that the Bible is wrong, the book fails to present a very vocal part of modern Christianity (Doriani 2003, p.136).

One of the weaknesses in the book was that it began from a Biblical perspective, without fully explaining the context in which the Bible was written. How is it possible to really understand the role that women should play in the church without understanding Jesus' approach to women, which would necessarily be influenced by the role of women in Palestine during his lifetime. For example, Ben Witherington begins his own discussion of the role of women in the Christian church by examining the role of women in first-century Palestine. His conclusion after an examination of the source material supports the idea of a very patriarchal view of women in the family; women were property to be conveyed by fathers to husbands (Witherington 1984, p.2). Therefore, it seems that any argument from an Egalitarian perspective has to explore the lack of Scriptural support for the notion that Jesus argued against the gender roles and norms of his time period.

Another weakness of the book is that the authors do not stop to explain what Bible they are using. There continues to be tremendous debate about which books can and do constitute the Christian Bible. There is certainly more support for a strongly female role in some books that have been excluded from the traditional canon. For example, there has long been speculation that Jesus was married. In fact, it would have been extremely unusual for a devout Jewish man in his 30s to have failed to marry, but the doctrine for many churches depends upon an unmarried Jesus. Those potential books of the Bible, some which were historically considered part of the Bible that support the idea that Jesus was married, have largely been excised from modern Bibles. However, within the last week there was news of a discovery of a fourth-century papyrus writing that may provide support for the idea that Jesus was married (Krosny 2012). It would have been interesting to see the various authors tackle the possible impact of what it would have meant for Jesus to have been married and if such a marriage would change the modern interpretation of what role it was for women in the ministry.