Are the arguments put forward in favour of the Ordination of women satisfactory?

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Are the arguments put forward in favour of the Ordination of women satisfactory?

A priest is a person especially consecrated to the service of a divinity and through whom, worship, prayer, sacrifice, or other service is offered to the object of worship, and pardon, blessing, or deliverance is obtained by the worshiper.  In earliest history, the head of the family discharged the functions of priests; later the office became a public one, in many instances associated with that of the sovereign.  Throughout history, the term ‘priest’ has been associated with the male sex; however, this has now changed, with the introduction of female clergy into the Anglican Church.  Those within the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox denominations who oppose the ordination of women to the priesthood argue that it would mark an unacceptable break with tradition.  Therefore, it is the task of theologians to extract information from the Bible to answer this hotly debated argument.

Under Jewish law, priests were especially consecrated to the service of the Temple and the altar, and were selected from the tribe of Levi.  The actual priesthood of Israel however, was reserved for the male descendants of Aaron, who were authorised to offer sacrifice, supervise hygiene, and instruct the people of the Law of Moses.  With the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, the concept of priesthood disappeared from Judaism.  According to Sacks, the role of the woman is closely related to that of the home and the family.  He says that ‘the home’ is the “locus of many of its (Judaism’s) most important religious activities and has historically been the crux of its survival.”  He states that women were not allowed to become a rabbi, but argues that there is no ‘ministry’ as such in Judaism, and that a rabbi was no different to an ordinary Jew in terms of spiritual holiness.  He acknowledges that women have an important role to play in Jewish society, where they can function alongside and assist the rabbis, and yet not become one.

Radford-Ruether has criticised the Church for its sexist attitudes.  She makes the analogy of the battered wife situation when she refers to the institution of the Church and the position of female clerics.  She argues “Religion has too often justified this violence, both legitimating the male right to beat their wives and directing women to accept it as the means of their redemption.”  It is here that the image of the Church is depicted as being brutal in its dealings with the ordination of female clerics.  

What then of the Bible?  Could this be used in order to shed any light on the matter of female ordination?  According to the Bible, man and woman, people of all creeds and colours should have equal rights.  Their rights are absolute and grounded in the sanctity of the individual.  As found in Genesis 1:27, “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”  It was this recognition that was to be the basis of the covenant between God and all humanity.  Violence against a person was hence regarded as an act of violence against God: “Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed, for in his own image God made humankind.”  This notion is also true for injustice.

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The teachings of Jesus commenced during the second decade of the first century CE.  After his baptism at the hands of John the Baptist, he began proclaiming the Kingdom of God to the people in the small lakeside towns of Galilee in northern Palestine.  The Gospel writers tell us that Jesus chose twelve of his disciples to form an inner circle, known as the Apostles, who figure largely in the discussions of Christian ministry.  The validity of Christian priesthood has depended on what has been received from what is known as the ‘apostolic succession,’ hence, since the ‘Twelve’ were ...

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