Female Clergy
By Rev. Rebecca
Many Anglicans ordain women and they base that decision in Scripture itself. There are many examples of God using women to lead God’s people in a wide variety of capacities. We read of Deborah, the Judge over Israel who also leads the people in the praise and worship of God in Judges Chapter 5. We also read about Miriam and her role as a prophet and worship leader in Israel in Exodus 15. In the New Testament we read about the woman Junia, whom St. Paul says is “of note among the apostles” in Romans 16:7 and whom the early Church fathers considered to be a female apostle. We also read of Phoebe the “Deacon,” of whom St. Paul wrote, “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, that you may receive her in the Lord as befits the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a helper of many and of myself as well (Romans 16:1-2). Many other female prophets and female teachers are listed in the New Testament, clearly affirming the prophecy of Joel 2:28-29, “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.” Mary, the mother of Jesus herself, has a significant role in the history of the church as the one who was ultimately chosen to bear, birth, and facilitate the Incarnation to the world. There is certainly more than one way to bring the Good News to the world.
Notice also that in the Gospels Jesus gave women extremely pivotal roles in his ministry. The very first person to ever preach Jesus as the Messiah as the first Christian missionary was the woman at the well in John 4. And the first people commissioned to preach and testify to the Good News of the Resurrection were also women, Mary and the other women at the tomb. They in fact were sent to preach the news to the apostles themselves.
St. Paul wrote, 'there is neither male nor female, rich nor poor, slave or free, Jew nor Gentile, for you are all one in Christ Jesus' (Gal. 3:28). For many Christians, this verse settles the debate. We would not discriminate against someone seeking ordination for being poor or of another race, so why would we discriminate against someone for being a woman? We are all one in Christ Jesus and the empowering action of the Holy Spirit is present in men and women equally according to the Bible.
Those who oppose women’s ordination tend to site 1 Timothy 2:12 where Paul says, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." The problem that many have pointed out about this verse is that not only do we have the cultural issues to contend with related to women’s roles in Paul’s time, and not only is it a letter written to a specific church dealing with particular issues of the time, but a closer look reveals that this text has nothing to say on the subject of ordination itself.
First, this verse is not a declaration or command that is being attributed to God, eg, Paul did not say "God does not permit a woman" he says that he, Paul didn't: "I do not permit a woman to teach." If this was something that God wanted us to follow as a Divine injunction with universal application for all time, why not state that this is a command from God, not merely Paul's personal position? In many places in Paul’s letters Paul states openly that he is simply giving his own personal opinion and that it is not a command from the Lord (see 1 Corinthians 7:12 & 7:25 for examples). Second, and perhaps more importantly, even the most fundamentalist Protestant and Roman Catholic churches overtly and blatantly disobey this verse if it is to be taken literally: they in fact do allow women to teach in a variety of capacities and they certainly don't expect women to be silent at all times…from singing to praying to witnessing in church. If it is such a foregone conclusion in Christendom that this verse was meant to have a literal and universal application, then why don’t we see any churches following it as such? To put it another way, if we're not going to apply this literally, then we really do have to ask what deeper relevance it has to our current situation, and that opens us up to many possibilities. However, it is clear that one thing this verse is not addressing is the topic of ordination. Third, in 1 Corinthians 11:4-5 Paul gives instructions to women to cover their heads "when they pray and prophecy" in church...so we know that women were not completely silent in church. Clearly then, the statement in 1 Timothy was not a blanket command.
Given the problems we have in understanding and applying this verse and given the many examples of women being used by God in a multitude of ministerial and leadership capacities, many Christians have come to the conclusion that God can and will use women just as God has used men, to act as servant leaders in the Church in a variety of capacities, including ordination.
Titles for Female Priests
One question I often receive is what title to use when addressing a female priest. There is not a clear cut answer to this question since individual women have individual preferences on this point. Some prefer no title at all, others prefer “Pastor” or “Reverend” and some prefer “Mother.” I personally see “Mother” as the most appropriate title for several reasons and it is the title I personally go by in my ministry. First, “Mother” has an historical precedent in the Church (as in the desert mothers/”ammas” and also the heads of women’s religious orders). I also like it because it puts female priests on an equal level with their male counterparts who tend to go by the title “Father.” Finally, it is appropriate because Christians are members of the family of God and the titles of “mother” and “father” help to remind us of that beautiful fact.
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