Baptist Women in Ministry http://www.
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Carolyn Goodman Plampin http://home.netcom.com/~cplampin
Series-Subjects Relevant to an Informed Opinion about Christian Women in Ministry
"DIFFICULT" PASSAGES ON WOMEN IN MINISTRY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
First created in January, 1996, Revised January 10, 2007
Baptist Women in Ministry http://www.bwim.info/index.php/welcome
c/o McAfee School of Theology
3001 Mercer University Drive
Atlanta, GA 30341
(678) 547-6475
e-mail: BWIM@hotmail.com
Questions, comments, or suggestions
of bibliography or sites to include may be sent to
Carolyn Goodman Plampin
Coordinator Subjects Relevant to an Informed Opinion
1220 Vienna Dr., #504
Sunnyvale, CA 94089-2007
(408) 734-5141
Master of Teaching, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil, March 20, 1968
Master of Divinity, Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, June 2, 1978
Missionary to Brazil of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1957-1988
Academic dean (without title) and professor, Instituto Biblico Batista, A.B. Deter and
Seminário Teológico Batista do Paraná, Curitiba, 1959-1979
Academic dean and professor, Seminário de Educacao Crista, Recife, 1980-1986
e-mail: cplampin@ix.netcom.com
CONTENTS
2. WHAT PAUL REALLY SAID ABOUT WOMEN
1. THREE "DIFFICULT" PASSAGES
Three passages in the New Testament called the "difficult" passages have been used to cancel out all "positive" teaching on the role of women in ministry.
The "difficult" passages must be reconciled with Jesus' attitude and teaching and with the "positive" teachings. The translation and interpretation of the "difficult" passages is under serious study today.
General Bibliography
Mickelsen, Alvera, ed. WOMEN, AUTHORITY AND THE BIBLE. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1986. (This book is the result of an Evangelical Colloquium on Women and the Bible.)
"About Biblical Equality" is intended as a referral resource for Christians studying the so called "hard passages" on women in the Bible. In the past, much of the study material on women in the Bible was written with the underlying assumption that certain verses of scripture taught that women are to be under the authority and leadership of men. In recent years many Biblical scholars are re-examing these scriptures from an egalitarian perspective. Quotes from many of these scholars are contained within this website.
Besides the praying and preaching (prophesying) of women, another of the critical issues in this passage is the word kephale (kef'-a-lay) = head or source.
Bibliography on 1 Corinthians 11:2-16
Bushnell, Katherine C. GOD'S WORD TO WOMEN, ONE HUNDRED BIBLE STUDIES ON WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE DIVINE ECONOMY. 1912, 1923. Books may be obtained from: Ray B. Munson, 11899 Gowanda Rd., North Collins, NY 14111, from God's Word to Women Publishers, Box 3215, Mossville, IL 61552, http://www.godswordtowomen.org or from Christians for Biblical Equality, 122 West Franklin Ave., Suite 218, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2451, telephone: (612) 872-6898, e-mail: cbe@minn.net, order on-line: http://www.goldengate.net/mall.cbe/
Mercadante, Linda. FROM HIERARCHY TO EQUALITY: A COMPARISON OF PAST AND PRESENT INTERPRETATIONS OF 1 COR. 11:2-16 IN RELATION TO THE CHANGING STATUS OF WOMEN IN SOCIETY. Vancouver, B.C., Master of Christian Studies, Regent College, April, 1978.
Murphy-O'Connor, J. "The Non-Pauline Character of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16?" JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE, Vol. 95, 1976, pp. 615-621. (Murphy-O'Connor challenges Walker.)
Trompf, G.W. "On Attitudes Toward Women in Paul and Paulinist Literature: 1 Corinthians 11:3-16 and Its Context," CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY, Vol. 42, 1980, pp. 196-215. (Trompf enlarges on and defends Walker.)
Walker, William O. "1 Corinthians 11:2-16 and Paul's Views Regarding Women," JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE, Vol. 91, 1975, pp. 94-110. (Walker says passage is non-Pauline interpolation.)
Wire, Antoinette Clark. THE CORINTHIAN WOMEN PROPHETS, A RECONSTRUCTION THROUGH PAUL'S RHETORIC. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990.
Bilezikian, Gilbert. "Subordination in the Godhead: a Re-emerging Heresy," Transcription of lecture, CBE Conference, August 1993, 20 pages. Order from Christians for Biblical Equality, address given under Bushnell.
Cervin, Richard S. "Does 'Kephale' (Head) Mean 'Source' or 'Authority Over' in Greek Literature?: a Rebuttal" (This is a rebuttal of Gruden's survey of 2,336 examples.), TRINITY JOURNAL, Vol. 10, No. 1 New Series, 1989, pp. 85-112. Order from Christians for Biblical Equality, address given under Bushnell.
Evans, Mary J. Headship, Authority and Submission, pp. 65-69; Ephesians 5:23, Head, pp. 74-75; 1 Corinthians 11:3, Head, pp. 84; in WOMAN IN THE BIBLE, AN OVERVIEW OF ALL THE CRUCIAL PASSAGES ON WOMEN'S ROLES. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1983.
Grudem, Wayne. "Does Kephale (the Greek Word for 'Head') Mean 'Source' or 'Authority Over' in Greek Literature? A Survey of 2,336 Examples," TRINITY JOURNAL, New Series 6, Spring 1985, pp. 38-59.
Kroeger, Catherine Clark. Appendix III, "The Classical Concept of 'Head' as 'Source'," in Hull, Gretchen Gaebelein. EQUAL TO SERVE, WOMEN AND MEN IN THE CHURCH AND HOME. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1987, pp. 267-283.
Mickelsen, Alvera, ed. Women, AUTHORITY AND THE BIBLE. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986. Mickelsen, Berkeley and Alvera. "What Does Kephale Mean in the New Testament?", pp. 97-110. Tucker, Ruth. "Response," pp. 111-117. Payne, Philip Barton. "Response," pp. 118-132.
The question in point here is that if women are to be silent in the church in all places and for all time, then they will not be able to teach or preach. Hardly anyone pays attention to the reason given: "as the Law says." What law is this? Trombley says it was the Jewish oral law. It was not the Old Testament Law. Compare it to Galatians, Paul's great treatise on freedom from the Law. When you do this, you begin to seriously consider that this passage was a later addition to the text, which has long been thought because it changes places in the transmitted texts.
Bibliography on 1 Corinthians 14:34-35
Kroeger, Richard and Catherine Clark Kroeger. "Pandemonium and Silence at Corinth," THE REFORMED JOURNAL, June 1978, pp. 6-10.
Payne, Philip B. "Fuldensis, Sigla for Variants in Vaticannus and 1 Corinthians 14:34-5," NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES, Vol. 41, 1995, pp. 240-262.
Trombley, Charles. WHO SAID WOMEN CAN'T TEACH? South Plainfield, NJ: Bridge Publishing, 1985.
This passage has been interpreted to mean that vs. 14-16 are the reasons that Paul was not allowing women to teach. This leaves interpreters with a serious problem when it says "women will be preserved through the bearing of children." In some translations it is said that women will be saved through the bearing of children. Kroeger and Kroeger make a compelling case for interpreting these verses as a refutation of false teaching. Therefore, if women should not teach because they came out of paganism and did not have the correct message, when they learn the correct gospel message they will be like the case of the women whom Jesus told to go and tell and like the case of Jezebel the Preacher in Revelations 2 who was given time to repent and clean up her act by the Son of God.
Bibliography on 1 TIMOTHY 2:9-15
Gritz, Sharon Hodgin. PAUL, WOMEN TEACHERS, AND THE MOTHER GODDESS AT EPHESUS, A STUDY OF 1 TIMOTHY 2:9-15 IN LIGHT OF THE RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL MILIEU OF THE FIRST CENTURY. Lanham: University Press of America, 1991.
Kroeger, Catherine Clark. "Ancient Heresies and a Strange Greek Verb," THE REFORMED JOURNAL, March 1979, pp. 12-15.
Kroeger, Catherine Clark. VIDEO "I Suffer Not a Woman" (1 Timothy 2:12). Order from Christians for Biblical Equality, address given under Bushnell.
Kroeger, Richard and Catherine Clark Kroeger. I SUFFER NOT A WOMAN: RETHINKING 1 TIMOTHY 2:11-15 IN LIGHT OF ANCIENT EVIDENCE. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992.
2. WHAT PAUL REALLY SAID ABOUT WOMEN
"Behind all of these important and sensitive questions lies an assumption: that our traditional understanding of what Paul wrote is accurate, and that this understanding is what Paul really intended to communicate. But what happens if our traditional understanding of what Paul wrote is all wrong? ... "I began with Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, in which he states that wives are to be subject to their husbands and that husbands are to be as a head to their wives. Now, Paul's letters are in Greek. Theoretically, if I took our English translation of his words and translated them back into Greek, my words should be similar to Paul's original words. But when I tried doing this, such was not the case, not at all! In reality, the words that Paul chose to use imply ideas that Paul deliberately avoided! If Paul had wanted to say what we think he said, then he would have chosen quite different words when he wrote. "So I began to explore these differences in meanings. And soon I made a remarkable discovery: far from being an advocate of the notion that men are superior to women, Paul was in fact the first great champion of sexual equality! "However, time and time again I would doubt my discoveries, so deeply ingrained in my thinking was the traditional interpretation of what Paul (rightly or wrongly) intended us to believe. Each time I would return to my notes and recheck each step of my investigation, and each time reaffirm this exciting discovery. "At last I was forced to banish all doubts. In truth, Paul carefully chose his words, deliberately avoiding those Greek terms that, if he had used them, would have communicated to his readers precisely what our English translations imply for us today. "But I could not understand how the traditional misunderstanding of Paul's teachings about women and marriage could have arisen. So I explored those attitudes that were characteristic of Greek and Jewish societies during the age of the apostles. And I found that Paul stood squarely opposed to such attitudes, proclaiming instead a new order of sexual equality within the Church and within the home. This apostle championed the value of women. And therein lies on of the greatest ironies of Christian history: the words of Paul (as translated), instead of communicating a clear message calling for sexual equality, have become the primary source of authority for the depreciation of women! Then I explored the history of this conflict between Paul's idea of sexual equality and the attitudes among Greeks and Jews of his time. I learned how the conflict was finally settled when Greek philosophy infused Christian theology, and Paul's message was lost and his words used to promote what he opposed. Paul's words about women, sex, and marriage were interpreted from the viewpoint of the teachings of Aristotle and of Stoic philosophers, the viewpoint already held by Gentile converts to the faith. In effect, the words of Paul, the Christian apostle, had their meanings molded to conform to the thoughts of Aristotle, a pagan philosopher who lived five centuries before Paul! And still today, this same Greek philosophy is often preached from Christian pulpits, innocently assumed to be biblical theology." so says Bristow, pp. x-xii.
Bibliography on What Paul Really Said about Women
Bristow, John Temple. WHAT PAUL REALLY SAID ABOUT WOMEN. San Francisco, Harper and Row, Publishers, 1988.
Keener, Craig S. PAUL, WOMEN, AND WIVES. Hendrickson Publishers, 1992.
