The purpose of this forum is to facilitate communication and mutual support and edification among those who strive toward gender justice in Churches of Christ. If you would like to join the forum, send an e-mail (including your first and last name) from your primary address to forum@gal328.org.
Readers,
In Leaven 13.2 (2005), 106-107, Carson Reed reviews Sarah Sumner, Men and Women in the Church: Building Consensus on Christian Leadership (Downers Grove: IVP, 2003). He says that, while Sumner engages both sides in the gender debates, she remains firmly committed to the Bible over any preformed ideological agenda, something we might all appreciate. Here is an excerpt:
"Those who follow the ongoing debate between egalitarians and complementarians will find her chapter on Thomists and Scotists an insightful analysis on the failure to hear well the distinctions between the two points of view. Though she takes a few apt pokes at egalitarians, her main focus is on what she percieves as a major disconnect that occurs whithin the complementarian point of view. She states that complementarians begin with the traditional viewpoint upheld through much of church history: (1) women are inferior and (2) therefore they should not take leadership roles within the church. Then the complementarians state that Point One—women are inferior to men—is not biblical and should be discarded. . . This creates a logical quagmire. If the reason that women have not held leadership roles no longer holds true, then why would churches refuse to explore the gifts and calling of women?"
Reed preaches for the Northlake Church of Christ in Tucker, Georgia, outside Atlanta. You can find the full text of his review in the current issue of Leaven or online at:
http://www.carsonreed.squarespace.com/book-reviews/
Happy reading,
Chris
:::posted by Christopher on 5/31/2005 03:06:00 PM
Some online musing in reply to Scott:
It's a good question, the really central question, and probably this whole website is in a sense an attempt to answer it... Of course one paradigm of attempting to effect change (that we're all, alas, much too familiar with) is, debate, argument, rational overpowering of the opposition. Another would be prophetic speech. Prophetic speech isn't necessarily irrational, but it isn't rational debate, either. More of a reminder of the way things ought to be than an argument for changing how things are. It is personal but also communal--it appeals not only to an individual's experience but also the vision that the community shares about how God intends to live with and for each other. This can provide a bridge between incommensurable individual experiences, because that vision is itself shared, and the role of the "prophet" is to rearticulate, or reinterpret, that vision to the community, in a way that both makes sense and challenges the community to change.
Comments? Like any good religion student, this little "sermonette" comes straight out of the paper I'm currently writing. Contributions to the cause are welcomed. :)
:::posted by Jennifer on 5/19/2005 01:23:00 PM
Did women preach in tongues along with Peter and other men at Pentecost?
Peter quotes the prophet Joel as saying that sons and daughters would prophesy; the Lord would pour out His spirit on both men and women.
Earlier, Acts 2:4 says that “all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
Would God have left open an opportunity for some devilish smart-mouth like me to thrust a hand up and interrupt: “Excuse me, Peter! I don’t see any women prophesying. Are you sure this is the day Joel spoke about?”
:::posted by Keith Brenton on 5/15/2005 09:37:00 AM
I was surfing the net (much easier than the ocean) in some down time today and came across the Emerging Women Leaders page, which may be of interest to readers of this forum. They are part of the Emergent conversation and can be found at www.emergingwomenleaders.org.
Are there any lurkers out there that attended the Women in Ministry Conference at Pepperdine? We'd love to hear your reflections on the weekend.
Peace,
Chad
:::posted by Chad on 5/13/2005 04:49:00 PM
It strikes me as I read through the portions of Scott's letter posted here on the forum how often personal encounters seem to fuel the realization that something is wrong with the way we've structured our churches and worship time, and the motivation to do something about it. This is certainly true for me, and I would guess is true for a lot of us on this forum as well. It seems to point to the fact that it's people, real concrete individual people, who matter in this, rather than abstract ideas of justice or right arrived at after long contemplation of our bellybuttons in solitude. It's not "just an ideal" we're struggling for, in other words. It's our daughters and mothers and sisters in Christ, the fourteen-year-olds who ask us, why...?
Yeah, I guess this counts as "preaching to the choir," again, but re-reading Scott's letter, this struck me very profoundly.
Thanks again Scott for sharing a thoughtful letter and for being willing to involve others (both here and "out there" in the real world) in this discussion, and for highlighting the real point of it all.
:::posted by Jennifer on 5/11/2005 10:08:00 AM
Hi Scott. I graduated from Harding too, in 2001.
:::posted by Indie on 5/10/2005 11:02:00 PM
Just want to say a quick welcome to Scott. And a little commiseration: I have a paper to write, too.
Thanks for sharing your letter.
Jen
:::posted by Jennifer on 5/10/2005 10:41:00 AM
Scott -
Welcome, comrade! Your young, strong, (and male) voice is welcome here!
I can hear the winds of change now...
:::posted by Vicki on 5/09/2005 11:48:00 PM
Welcome to our forum, Scott, and thanks for your post. I have long admired the Lakeview Church of Christ for their strong commitment to helping the poor, and I join you in hoping that they will be able to translate their concern for addressing the economic inequalities of our society into thinking just as deeply about gender inequalities. After all, racism, economic exploitation and gender discrimination are just three sides of the same coin, so to speak. The gospel challenges us to address all of these.
But I'm preaching to the choir. Can you tell us a little about how, "in recent years," you came to realize that gender justice was an important issue?
Also, for other listers out there, we're hoping to hear from some who attended the first ever Women in Ministry Conference last week at Pepperdine. If you were there, please give us a report.
--Chris
:::posted by Christopher on 5/09/2005 02:48:00 PM
Readers,
Don Haymes calls attention to a couple of articles about women overseers in the New Testament in the current issue of the journal Theology:
Charlotte Methuen, "Vidua — Presbytera — Episcopa: Women with Oversight
in the Early Church," Theology 108 (May/June 2005): 163-77.
F. Gerald Downing, "The Nature(s) of Christian Women and Men,"
Theology 108 (May/June 2005): 178-84.
Don says, "These scholars write from a Church of England context, but they are reading Scripture and early documents." These might be worth a trip to a nearby seminary library.
—Chris
:::posted by Christopher on 5/03/2005 02:16:00 PM
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