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 of this forum may enjoy logging onto the web site of the Stamford (CT) Church of Christ. Stamford minister and sometime gal328 contributor Dale Pauls is in the middle of a series of weekly articles called "A Future We Can Trust."
Part 17, dated on November 27, is "Neither Male Nor Female: My Own Spritual Oddyssey." The title is self explanatory.
Part 18, dated December 4, is "Neither Male Nor Female: The Quest Continues." This piece reflects on the problem of domestic violence in our country, which brings home in a graphic way why we must rethink our theology on gender justice.
Look for Part 19 to continue on the general topic of "Neither Male Nor Female" next week.
--Chris Hutson
:::posted by Christopher on 11/29/2005 12:06:00 PM
Last week the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature held their annual meeting in Philadelphia. Some 10,000 religion scholars gathered from all over the country and around the world. It is always energizing to be in an atmosphere where so many people are thinking so deeply about matters of faith and religion, and it is rewarding to be in a place where it is presumed that women have significant things to say about theological questions and issues of biblical interpretation.
I am also happy to report that the annual Sunday morning "Churches of Christ Professors Meeting" was well attended as usual. Here some 100 or more religion scholars from the Church of Christ, along with a few from the Christian Church, gather annually to sing, pray and celebrate the Lord's Supper together. Thirty years ago there were so few of our number attending this annual convention that they could gather for worship in Jack Lewis's hotel room. But now they must rent a large meeting room in a hotel. Ever since Lewis started this gathering, the custom has always been to have an unplanned worship service. Well, not completely unplanned. Someone is always designated ahead of time to offer a communion meditation. But other than that, we proceed along the lines of 1 Corinthians 14:26, "When you come together, each one has a hymn, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification." So far I've never heard anyone offer a tongue, but always whoever feels moved will start a song, read a passage of Scripture or pray. It is unusual to be in a worship service where the men so far outnumber the women--the bass and tenor sections are very strong, but there are usually enough altos and sopranos to hold their own. And, yes, the women lead in worship right along with the men. And guess what? In a room full of Bible and religion professors and graduate students from all over the Church of Christ, the sky does not fall on us. This year one of my seminary students attended, a female, Lutheran student. I did not tell her about the history of our anxieties as to whether women might or should lead in worship. She just came. And she told me later how she had enjoyed singing along, because she knew most of our hymns, and how moving and uplifting the service was for her.
Paul would have liked that. What happens in your assembly if an outsider comes in. Will she be edified?
--Chris
:::posted by Christopher on 11/29/2005 11:31:00 AM
Phil Wilson sent us this article from N. T. Wright. It's an interesting read.
:::posted by jch on 11/02/2005 11:19:00 AM
There's a fun counterpoint on "ten reasons why men should not be ordained" at http://watkins.gospelcom.net/maleordination.htm
It casts the light from a different angle.
-Tom
:::posted by TWD on 11/01/2005 09:05:00 AM
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