Forum on Women in Ministry at WTS (Part II)

This is the second installment of my notes on an “RCA Advocacy Forum on Women in Leadership” that took place today at Western Seminary. (Here’s the first installment).

I offer the following notes with a loud and clear caveat: Jim is brilliant; I am not a particularly good note-taker. Although I'm reasonably confident in my ability to represent a typical lecture's content, Jim's presentation was more complex. The good news? He is putting together web and video resources with much of the same information and hopes to have it available by the end of the summer!

Morning Session #2:

Rev. Dr. Jim Brownson: Biblical Overview

First, a truism: We do not come to scripture as blank slates. We have (to use my own word) “baggage” - experiences, preferences, etc. that help and hinder our interpretation of the scriptures.

Importantly, as Reformed Christians, the question we need to ask is not whether to be biblical but how to be biblical. There are three keys to keep in mind

1. We look at the totality of scripture, not just proof texts (and use easier passages to help us interpret the more difficult ones).

2. We make a distinction between fundamental gospel truth and cultural issues. (Obviously! There are a lot of cultural things that we automatically deal with when we interpret the scriptures. Unfortunately not everything is quite as easy to deal with as exchanging handshakes for holy kisses!)

3. The Bible is authoritative to us because it has led us to Christ and continues to inform us about what life in Christ is supposed to look like (not because we have determined that it should be authoritative or someone else has told us it is).

General observations (things pretty much everyone can agree with):

Despite the fact that the Old Testament was an exceedingly patriarchal culture, there are obvious (and dramatic) examples of women in leadership (both political and spiritual). The important thing to note here isn't that there are few examples but rather that, considering how patriarchal the culture was, there are any at all!

Jesus was clearly uninterested in worrying about gender taboos.

Women exercised remarkable leadership in the early church. (There is no question whatsoever about the fact that women hosted house churches, were prophetesses, spoke in tongues at Pentecost, and learned from Christ alongside the disciples.)

Paul uses the term “Co-workers” to refer to key leaders in the early church, some of whom were women.

The word διακονος (I think that's how it's spelled, my Greek is rusty) appears 18 times in Paul's writings. The NRSV translates it as “deacon” (3x), “servant” (10x), and “minister” (5x). It's a difficult term to translate, but unquestionably included women. There is no “female” version of the term; the same form is used when referring to either men or women.

This may seem obvious, but we often ignore it: When interpreting the New Testament, we must seriously deal with both what the text says and what the early church did.

The above is basic. There really isn't much to argue with – as fare as pretty much everyone would agree, it's essentially facts. Beyond that, we deal with interpretations.

I can't give you a full run-down of the presentation; you'll have to wait for the DVD for that, however, there are a few things from the presentation that I found particularly worthy of noting here:

• That humanity is created both male and female is biblically connected with the teaching that humanity is created in the image of God. In other words, both men and women are bearers of the divine image.

• “Helper” (think Eve) is not a subordinate term. (This is actually a fact, not an interpretation. We can't make the term a subordinating one when it is used throughout the Old Testament to refer to God!)

• Pentecost is, fundamentally, the visible breaking down of sinful human distinctions. It is the dramatic obliteration of inequality (male/female, young/old, free/slave, rich/poor, etc.) and return to the original reality that all are bearers of the divine image and all are brought into God's/Christ's ministry by baptism by the Holy Spirit.

• We cannot understand the gospel or the early church without the obliteration of these categories.

There was so much more to Jim's presentation. But I can't present it well enough to do it justice. Like I said earlier – look forward to the DVD!

Grace and peace,

`tim

Comments

[Jeremy]

Anyone looking for serious study on this issue (Egalitarian vs Complementarian) must visit and read the following. The list is SHORT because the following items are NON- NEGOTIABLE for entering into this discussion. The following items represent the core of the Complementarian viewpoint. (Could someone provide a “must read” list for the egalitarian point of view?)

Web:
http://www.cbmw.org/

Books:
1] Recovering Biblical Manhood & Womanhood by John Piper and Wayne Grudem.

http://www.monergismbooks.com/Recovering-Biblical-Manhood-and-Womanhood-A-Response-to-Evangelical-Feminism-p-16791.html

2] 50 Crucial Questions About Manhood and Womanhood *Free PDF!

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/OnlineBooks/ByTitle/2375_50_Crucial_Questions_About_Manhood_and_Womanhood/

3] God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation by Andreas Kostenberger. *This is a must read before entering into a theological discussion on gender issues*

http://www.amazon.com/God-Marriage-Family-Rebuilding-Foundation/dp/1581345801

4] Freedom and Boundaries: A Pastoral Primer on the Role of Women in the Church by Kevin DeYoung of the RCA.

http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Boundaries-Pastoral-Primer Church/dp/1414106114/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241149902&sr=1-3

Please read these books before dying on a hill that you have not taken the time to comprehend. I’ve become increasingly alarmed at the amount of emotion in this debate as directly opposed to the amount of biblical thinking, prayer, and searching of God. I trust these resources will serve you well regardless of where you find yourself on this issue. May God give us eyes to see and ears to hear, as we search for faithfulness in the RCA.

Blessings,

Jeremy

[Andrea DeWard]

Jeremy,

Tim is posting notes on a lecture given by the Rev. Dr. Jim Brownson, professor at Western Theological Seminary. His training and experience being such, he is the furthest description from someone who hasn't taken the time to comprehend his subject matter.

He has spent considerable time over many many years of study, research, teaching, writing, as well as Christian living in "biblical thinking, prayer, and searching of God" and his conclusions are not based on "emotion", but on careful and thorough study of scripture, original languages, cultural and historical background of biblical times, etc.

It would be unfair to assume that someone has not taken the time to comprehend the topic simply because he or she puts forward a different view.

Thank you for sharing the resources, I will check them out to see what they are about.

[Stacy M.]

Andrea,

Please read the comment section under the first post on this topic. Jeremy and Tim have addressed the issue under that section...

Stacy M.