N. T. Wright on Women in Ministry
It’s no surprise that I like this, considering it’s N. T. Wright. I like reading or listening to him even when I disagree. (HT: Allan Bevere)
While I like his comments in general, I’m particularly interested in his approach to deriving his point from scripture.
He goes first to the story. What was it that Paul did. That leads him to Romans 16:7, certainly a controversial story, though I agree with Wright’s take on it. Then he goes to the overarching story by rooting his idea in the resurrection and the persons who proclaimed it. Finally, he looks at 1 Timothy 2 and sees it in the context of these two larger stories.
This process leaves us more subject to theological reflection than would a direct text->doctrine approach, but it helps us resolve the question of what constitutes advice for a particular time and place and what is a broader principle.
Thanks for this – the ‘airbrushing’ of women out of 1 Corinthians 15 is not something that was brought to my attention till now – remarkable. The tradition had already forgotten what the gospel proclaimed (though of course the gospels were likely written later than this tradition…
I had a problem with women in the ministry when I was 30 odd years younger. I had and have all sorts of problems of course. May they evaporate in the love of the Gospel.
As I understand it, women were never forbidden to participate in or lead worship or ministry or anything else. But, according to Paul, women are not to have authority over men.