Should Women Be In Ministry Essay

The question of the ordination of women to the priesthood has moved to the forefront of theological controversy in recent years, prompting a swamping of books, and religious opinions. This controversial issue stems not only from the renewed interest of the Catholic Church in the nature of its priesthood, but also, and perhaps predominantly, from the efforts of women to achieve a new and deeper understanding of their religion. The question, should women be ordained as ministers in the church immediately implies many questions. What difference could female priests make to the church? Did Jesus allow for women to be priests? What has been the result of many centuries of male priesthood?

In the book Women and Spiritual Equality in Christian Tradition, by Patricia Ranft, a new and innovative look at the role of women in the sphere of Christianity is examined. In a total of twelve chapters, the Central Michigan University professor discusses the role that women played in the first fifteen hundred years of Christianity and she disputes the contention that the church was traditionally misogynistic. She writes in her introduction, “that within Christianity there exists a strong and enduring tradition that maintains the spiritual equality of women," (xi) and she takes this idea a step further to support her thesis by writing that there is no foundation to the argument that “Christianity was largely responsible for western misogynism,” (ix). Instead, she tries to show that these misogynistic tendencies stemmed not from Christianity, but from the surrounding secular cultures. Throughout the text, Ranft will be attempting to show the reader that women maintained more spiritual equality with men before the modern era. However, it is the author’s intention in the book "merely to document the presence of a tradition of women 's spiritual equality throughout the centuries," (xii) not to provide analysis of this presence.

An important thing to note first is how the attitude toward women has varied throughout the different historical time periods of Jewish biblical texts: first the Biblical Period, then the Second Temple Period, and lastly the Middle Ages. Therefore, the gender roles assigned to women has also changed with the coming and going of

Jane / Women and Christianity In early Christianity, the roles of men are more apparent and more talked about than the roles of women. However, this does not mean women were not considered important back then. In the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Valerie Abrahamsen states that in the book of Acts in the Bible, the author(s) “speak[s] highly of Christian women” by mentioning their influence on the community.

Such a remarkable relationship is God himself in the Trinity. Other examples can be seen in the family, government, work, and church with elders and other members. Women are as much as capable as men, but the man was the one that created all these types of rules against the women. Rules that are not found on the Bible. Outside the church, women have been instructing men in many ways, including professional affairs and even in spiritual matters. Any believing woman is sent to explain the gospel to all kinds of people, including unbeliever’s men. Women are called to have ministries in the same basic ways as

"A man must pronounce three blessings each day: 'Blessed be the Lord who did not make me a heathen; blessed be he who did not make me a woman; blessed be he who did not make me an uneducated person.’” said Rabbi Judah, a contemporary of first century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. Josephus said “The woman is in all things inferior to the man”. Throughout centuries, the role of a woman in the church has been a matter of severe controversy, particularly in relation to the Apostle Paul’s view on the subject. Through a close reading of 1st Corinthians 14: 33-38, I hope to provide a close interpretation of Paul’s message on women’s roles in the church, making a case for the “feministic Paul”.

Many of the early Christian theories were hypocritical and condescending towards women and their capability within the church. Perhaps one of the most superseded theologians, regarding his views towards women, was Paul. In many of his theories he referred to women as merely a ‘reflection of man’ and not sufficiently expert. Despite the praise of a few known

Women in ministry can be a controversial subject. The opposition to women in ministry comes from the verse: 1 Timothy 2:12 ESV “I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.”This command comes in a section of 1 Timothy which teaches about the functioning of a local church. Some people believe when the apostle Paul wrote that a woman should not “teach or exercise authority over a man,” he was conforming to a unique situation in the city of Ephesus or to the cultural value system of the time, but that is not the case. (Macarthur

The bases of keeping women out of the ministry in most religions are more or less tradition. A Bible scripture such as (Mat. 10:2) as Jesus was searching for His disciples he only chose men. Even when he had to replace them, He only chose men. In most of the passages in the bible, Jesus never chose a woman nor did He address the public by speaking to the woman specifically. Some would believe that Jesus was a sexist, but during the times it was only tradition for a man to be the head of everything and the role of a woman during the biblical times were to listen to the man, nurture her family and husband. During the biblical times when Jesus walked this earth, Christianity was a very warous event. People were not accepting of the Christ therefore it leads to wars and battles. (Mat. 24: 6). During those days women did not do battle. As of today the tradition still holds and it plays a significant part in our everyday lives as well as our religious worship. We

The role of women in Christianity has always been significant. If you think about it, women were the first people to spread the gospel because they were the ones who ran back to town to tell the people that the tomb was empty and that Jesus had risen, just as He said He would. We also know that many women were followers of Jesus - such as Mary and Martha of Bethany, featured in the book of Luke. Women often provided shelter and food for Jesus and his disciples and gave of their own money to support his ministry (Harris, 2014).

Historically, the prevailing cultural norm on the role of women in the church has been diminishing and even though there has been a decrease in cultural biases against women in society, the church is still strict and maintains its male- dominated culture that doesn’t give fair opportunity to women. Currently, the Roman Catholic religion is maintaining the tradition that doesn’t allow women ordination as priests. Many who support the ordination of women priest are dissatisfied and restless with the realization that no matter how much they are determined to play a huge role in the church the church, is only prepared for a limited service from women. For a church to run its operations successfully, it needs all the help it can get especially on the human resource, which is available in the church, but it seems women are not good enough for the church to fully engage them up to the priesthood level (Schmid & Frederick 15). To me, this is very unfair and instead of taking a step forward in society this idea is taking a step backwards and not modernizing our

On the day of Pentecost, everyone gathering and waiting for the Holy Spirit was filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts.2:4). The Holy Spirit made all of them not only speak in tongue but also witness what God had done for them through Christ in other languages. When all people received the gift of the Holy Spirit, certainly there were women including the mother of Jesus, Mary (Acts.1:14). That is, the Holy Spirit is the One who gives everyone a special gift regardless of gender so that as an equal member of the body of Christ, everyone can not only serve the common good of the church but also glorify God through their gifts given from God (1 Cor.12:7,27; 1 Pet.4:10-11). In this regard, women should not be excluded from being a leader in the church ministry simply because they are females. God has appointed people as a leader in the church through the Holy Spirit without distinction of gender.

Women roles in the home were mainly characterized by them being good wives. They were required to obey their husbands and raise intelligent children. The requirement was that they be obedient to the man of the house that was their father, husband, and son when their husbands were deceased. The women were responsible for cooking, taking care of both young and elderly, and fed the family members.

Let’s first start off with Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza’s reading. When I read the first paragraph it instantly grabbed my attention. I never learned about the anoitment of Jesus, but it does not surprise me that the truth of a women anointing him, not being stated does not surprise me. There is one sentenced in this following her paragraph about the anointment now being mentioned which was, “It was a potically dangerous story,”(“In Search of Women’s Heritage”, 31). This got me thinking of how different not only the religious communities, but communities as a whole would be if there was more of a women presence in the bible. As a Catholic, the only time a women is a part of the the mass is if she is doing a reading of the gospel, but nothing else. Occasionally they participate in the communion. This made me think if there would be more of a women presence or role in the church. Like would we see a women priest? Would women be seen as stronger figures, especially by the older generations? “The Bible is not just a document of past history but functions as Scripture in present day religious

Though Pentecostals have extended the traditional ecclesiastical roles of women and allowed them to preach as ministers, there are still impediments to overcome such as acceptance in leadership position. Creating supporting structures by appreciating their unique contributions