Question

Dear Abbe,

Most of us probably grew up in religious traditions that prohibited women from taking leadership roles in the church. How did we get from there to Pastor Jessi?

Sign me,
Help My Unbelief

Dear HMU,

Our great, great grandmothers were most likely never allowed to own property or work outside the home. Our great, great grandfathers probably owned human servants of African descent. Our great grandmothers were surely never allowed to vote in U.S. or local elections. Did these circumstances occur because the social or moral fabric of society would have been ripped by female property ownership or entrepreneurial exercise, because slaves were sub-human, and because females are intellectually inferior or otherwise created in ways that make it dangerous or unwise for their votes to be counted?

I think a major part of the answer to these questions is, “No, but we’ve always done it that way?” Church, as an institutional body, is queen of that phrase. For the most part, “always” simply means “for as long as we can remember.” You might be surprised to know that the very early church ordained women. In 451, the Council of Chalcedon declared "No woman under 40 years of age is to be ordained a deacon, and then only after close scrutiny." As I understand it, anyone ordained to the Holy Order of Deacon would be eligible for later ordination to the priesthood as well.

The first ordained female deacon was installed in the Presbyterian Church in 1923, the first female elder in the 1930s, and the first female pastor in 1956. In most small towns and churches like ours, it was 40 or more additional years before women felt comfortable and confident enough to accept nomination to church office.

The Church has sanctioned and strengthened patriarchy (i.e. “Father Knows Best”) much more and longer than society in general. Change in the church is often hard and halting. Refusal to enfranchise female voters and treatment of various ethnic people as property were not only supported and justified with biblical arguments, they were championed by church leaders. Dogmatism and doctrine are sometimes the bottleneck in which ethical/justice issues are entrapped.

The real issue boils down to a few critical determinations. Is it possible—more significantly, is it God’s intent—for us to limit our interpretation of ALL scripture to a literal one? My answer to both of these is “No.” Aside from separatist cults, people and churches who insist that scripture be taken only literally ALWAYS pick and choose which passages are on their “Top 10” literal list. Other passages are ignored or explain-away. Following any scripture literally, without also holding it to our understanding of God’s purposes for us by the Holy Spirit’s guidance is risky business.

(Continued next week.)