Hundreds of pages have been written on this chapter, with almost as many interpretations, proving this to be one of the least understood and most contested passages of all time. Yet many Christians continue to cite 1 Timothy 2 as the foundation for their belief in male only leadership in the church. In today’s post Gail shares her “elevator speech” about why we need to stop using this passage in the debate.
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What I Would Tell My 12-Year-Old Self About Gender Roles
It wasn’t until I started attending a private Christian school as a 12-year-old that I became aware of the spectrum of views regarding the roles of men and women in the church and in the home. In seventh-grade Bible class, I was taken aback to learn that some Christians believe that the roles of teaching and authority in the church, and the sole leadership role in the home are reserved for men only. A small number of my classmates and I were more interested in carrying on the lively discussion than others, so our teacher agreed to mediate a debate on the issue outside of class time.
Who Killed Junia? Part One
When I first began wondering how to harmonize my church’s restrictions on women with some of the passages I found in scripture, I came across a mention of “Junia, a female, who was also an apostle” and it startled me.
Defusing the 1 Timothy 2:12 Bomb: More on Authority (Authentein)
In my recent post on 1 Timothy 2:12, discussion about the word “authentein” (often translated as authority) was especially rich. Here are some highlights:
Defusing the 1 Timothy 2:12 Bomb
A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man;[b] she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one who was deceived, it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But […]
Footnoted: Was the Bible Written Only for Men? Part 2
In Part One Rebecca wrote about her experience of reading the ESV translation of the Bible in a month, and the impact of realizing that the Greek word “adelphoi” had been intentionally translated as “brothers” rather than as “brothers and sisters” 135 times with the following footnote added: “Or brothers and sisters. The plural Greek […]
6 Reasons to Include Women Elders on Your Church Board: Part 2
In the end, you see, it’s not about effectiveness, although adding women to your church board will certainly have an impact on that. It’s about justice and about righting what is wrong in this world. It’s about faithfulness – being faithful to the ethic and value system of the Kingdom of God.
Lost In Translation: A Look at 1 Timothy 2:12-15
In Lost in Translation, Part 1, Bob showed that some words in the Bible are translated differently when they refer to women as opposed to when they refer to men. Case in point: Phoebe’s depiction as servant and helper rather than minister and leader. Today he addresses the impact of translation on our understanding of […]
Lost In Translation: Phoebe, Servant or Minister?
Though inequality makes some of my complementarian friends uneasy, they hold fast to their beliefs nonetheless. They do this, some tell me, because they must remain true to the word of God, even if it makes them uncomfortable. On one level, I think their steadfast loyalty to the Bible is commendable…In the case of a complementarian belief system, however, I think loyalty to God and his word has been misappropriated.
Taking the Backseat of Christianity
I was a freshman in college and I believed that I needed to take the backseat of Christianity.
I was headed to Columbia, Missouri with some peers to do homeless ministry. People were piling into cars, and it came down to who was getting shot gun. Without a fight, I took the backseat. I told one of my peers: “I will take the back seat, I guess I am going to have to get used to this submission thing.” Defeated, I quietly slid into the back seat.
Male-Female: Equality in the Gospel of Luke
When we view scripture from the 30,000 foot level we see it moving in the direction of a more equal partnership of men and women, defying the convention of the times. The male-female pairings in the book of Luke are one intriguing example of this movement. In today’s post Gail takes readers on a quick trip through Luke pointing out male-female pairs in the narratives, the parables, the miracles, and Jesus’ public teaching. It is an intriguing look at how Jesus elevated the status of women.
Egalitarian Marriage: More Than An Equal Division of Roles
On the third Wednesday of each month I set up camp in a conference room at the hospital where I work. I set out water bottles, a tray of cookies, and boxes of tissue. I post signs throughout the hallway, and then sit down and wait. As the clock nears 6:00 pm they start to arrive – the surviving spouses of the hospice patients I have served. Sometimes they smile when they see me, other times they make it through the door just barely, a bewildered and tired look in their eyes.
It seems odd that I, a 29 year old with less than 5 years of marriage under my belt, would be tasked with running a support group for bereaved spouses. In reality I do very little to ease the burden of grief. I give group members permission to talk about their loved ones and their loss. I sit and bear witness; sometimes I have to tell myself to stay and be present, and other times I am captivated and drink in their stories.
The latter was the case with a man who attended my group in March. He was old enough to be my parent and then some, but by far the youngest person in the group. He was also the most reserved.
Paul’s Egalitarian Reading of the Old Testament
For years I struggled with my relationship with the apostle Paul. On the one hand, as a teenager, I was completely taken with books like Galatians and Philippians and studied chart after chart of the missionary journeys (I am a missionary kid, after all). But as an adult I had trouble reconciling the “clobber verses” often used to […]
Miss & Carry: Towards a Theology of Unrealized Motherhood
In this personal and moving post, guest author Hannah Helms makes the case that the Church needs a better theology to address the grief and pain of unrealized motherhood…
My husband, Ben, and I were living in my parents’ guest bedroom at the time, in the middle of our first year of marriage. We were both in-between jobs and graduate school and not having any idea what we were doing. However, the prospect of a baby-to-be was so grounding – in the midst of our uncertainty was the promise of new life and a goal for us to focus on. We waited until I was all of eight weeks along before we made the announcement to my entire extended family on the first day of our annual camp out-reunion at the Jedidiah Smith State Redwood Park.
The day after the announcement I woke up with a tiny spot of blood in my underwear. I ignored it, refused to give in to the worry that sat at the edges of my mind. I mentally reviewed all the normal pregnancy symptoms that I could think of. Spotting is normal. Nothing to worry about here.
Confessions of a Closet Egalitarian
I never heard the words egalitarian or complementarian until last summer. At 50 (first of my true confessions) I’m a little late to the dance, but my 22 year old daughter has been my inspiration and encouraged me to write this.
