Woman and Ordination. In this paper we will look at three women and their views on ordination of women

by keelsga (student)

University Degree Historical and Philosophical studies

WOMAN AND ORDINATION

Gregory Keels

Reading The New Testament

December 9, 2012

Woman and ordination is one of the most talked about things in the church. There are so many books, articles, sermons, and personal opinions on this subject. In this paper we will look at three women and their views on ordination of women. Along with their views we will also look at the issues they see surrounding ordination. Each woman will be divided into questions so that we can get a better understanding of their views. The questions we will look at with each Woman are:

1) What is the main question to be answered or issue to be resolved according to each scholar? Is the question or problem at hand presented with clarity and relevance?

2) What arguments are advanced by each author in the course of her discussion? Provide clear evidence and evaluate the merit of their positions fairly.

3) To what sources of authority does each author appeal (e.g. Scripture, experience, science, tradition, etc.) and to what degree? Provide clear evidence.

4) What assumptions are being made by each author in the course of the discussion (even in the way the argument is framed)? Does a point of view contain contradictions, is it based on misleading analogies and metaphors, or is there merit to the position presented? Give examples from the article.

5) How fully is the scriptural evidence treated (both in support and refutation of the argument presented)? Provide evidence to support your observations.

6) Are there blind spots where an author refuses to look, or places where contrary evidence is undervalued? Has the author restricted claims to that which is supported by data, or has she included opposing positions.

7) What do you learn about the relationship between a particular way of arguing and the ideological perspective of an author?

The first Woman is Karen Bloomquist. Karen wrote the article “In Forty Years what has changed? Or not?”. Karen has built on her own experiences over the last 40 years on things such as the marginalization, and mainstreaming, of women. Karen has called for a greater sensitivity to the realities women around the globe still face

The main question of this article is the title. The author is trying to find out what has changed in the last 40 years since the feminist doctrine really started to take form and shape. It is very clear this is what the author is trying to figure out. From the first paragraph the author is setting the foundation by taking us back 40 years and helping us understand the period of that time.

One of the arguments is experiencing marginalization. This is explained through several examples. One example is the feminist writings during the beginning of the 40 year period. These writings were mainly about how the women were treated by theological establishments. During this time woman were an extreme minority and only started to be ordained in certain denominations. The women used the writings for support to one another. The women also gained support and rallied behind the civil rights movement.

The main source of authority the author appealed to was the men who supported them (page 1), and also the theologians (page ...

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The main source of authority the author appealed to was the men who supported them (page 1), and also the theologians (page 2). On page two it is stated that they began to pursue constructive theological work that was diverse and had forbearers such as Luther

It looks like there is an assumption that as the theological ideas grow the more willing men will be to ordain women. On the last page of the article the author states that the next 500 years of theological work will be led by more women than men

This article is not backed up with any type of scriptural evidence. There is not one bible verse in this article. This strive is mostly made up of theological research and work and personal opinion.

This article could have used scriptures and also more research. A you read this article you become interested but then you start to realize a lot of this article is personal opinion that uses certain theological references but is still based off of more personal opinion that could very well be used as fact.

I learned from this article that you can make a case for what you believe in with your personal opinion however you still need to back it up with some firm research. When you look at the end notes of this article you see that even though she did not use scripture she had quite a few theological resources.

The second article is called “The Ordination of women and the Church of England Today: Two integrities but one pattern of decline in Memberships Statistics”. This article was written to talk about the deep divide that is among the Church of England over the ordination of women. This gives a steady account of how each of the dioceses has responded and the steady decline of membership since 1990.

The main question that is to be answered in this article is should women be ordained in the Church of England? It is not written in that form in the article but on the first page it says, “the question regarding the ordination of women to the priesthood within the church continues to generate controversy within the Church of England”. I do believe that this question is delivered with clarity and understanding.

Some of the evidence that supports the declining of membership due to Ordaining of women is the support of woman ordination and against it in the bible, the historical context of the ordination of women, and the aspects of membership in the church. In the article the author stated that “the underlying problems concerned with the ordination of women can be approached from a number of different perspectives including those of biblical theology” the clergy is split between a strong case for women being ordained and woman not being ordained.

In the historical context of woman ordination women have always been part of the three fold ministry since 1987 when they were permitted to enter the diaconate. In many ways women have been accepted and welcomed with open arms into the ministry and in 1985 they were permitted to start being ordained deacons. This was done because women were still considered to be under the leadership of a male.

With the membership aspects the England Church was and still is strongly considering splitting the church in two one side for those who do not believe in the ordination and the other for those who support it and want to see it happen. The Church of England feels this could save their membership from shrinking. There are seven key indicators that look at membership. One of the indicators is Sunday service. The churches who do have ordained women have seen a steady decline in membership while those who do not have ordained women have seen a steady rise.

The author uses a verity of authorities to get her point across. While examples in the bible are used she also uses the history of the church (talking about the seven key indicators), and also uses graphs and percentage polls to give a better view of how the ordination of women are affected by the church. Not a lot of bible verses but a whole lot of history and research tables.

Throughout the whole reading the author is pretty much assuming that the ordination of women is causing the downfall of membership in the England Church. No matter what evidence or research the author brings to the table it all seems one sided. There is not much support for the side that says the ordinations of women are not affecting the membership.

There is very little scripture support for the author claims. There is biblical theology support on page 202 but actual biblical support you do not see that in this article.

The main blind spot I see in this article is that she does not really give other examples on the reason why the membership might be down in one area and higher in other areas. The article is completely one sided and unbalanced. I really feel she should have gone into other reasons why the membership is shrinking and also in what areas woman ordination is helping.

Reading this article has made me realized that I do not have to always have to be based off the bible and the word to come up with a theological conclusion. The author proved she did a lot of research and presented it in a way that would leave the person who is reading the article feeling like the ordination of women has affected the membership of the church.

The last article is titled “Living It Loud Ethical Challenges confronting the Roman Catholic Woman’s Ordination Movement in the 21st Century”. This article brings into account the authors 30 year involvement in the Catholic woman’s ordination movement. The author (Marian Ronan) talks about how the oppression of women in the global south has affected the ordination of women

The main question in this article is what are the ethical and social challenges to the ordination of women? This is clearly stated on the first page of the article. With this question there are several arguments that are brought to the reader attention to see if the social and ethical challenges affect woman ordination. Issues such as the rise of the Latino, Black, and Asian feminist movements along with the queer identity movement helped shape and give a sense of freedom to women who were in ministry. Not only the movements but world historic things that were going on such as the second world war, the reformation period, and the movement of the ordination of the Roman Catholic women. All of these have a sense of liberation to those who wanted to be ordained. They saw the oppression and felt they were too being oppressed

The Source of authority that is mainly used in this article is world issues and research at how a person looks at the events of the world and realizes what his or her calling is. This is all about social change and all of the examples are used by some type of social event that is going on in the world. Along with that you can make the assumption that the author is telling her readers that the social environment is a part of his or her ministry. And you can make the assumption that she also feels Women need to be liberated from not being able to be ordained because woman are just as equal to men when it comes to ministry. This is said because the book talks so much about culture and social change along with the groups who wasn’t to be liberated and how it affects the ministry.

Again one of the down falls is the lack of scriptures and lack of examples from the bible that backs up this claim. This is a huge blind spot. I do not think you can talk about someone being ordained to preach to the world and reach the masses if you do not provide scriptures to back up your claim. All throughout the book the author is only focused on the social change he or she want to see.

What I have learned from this article that social change is very important to the ordination of women. Also those who are looking to make a difference do not have to sit behind a pulpit but can go into the world and be ordained to bring social change. You do not have to preach bible to be ordained by God.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bloomquist, Karen. In Forty Years, What Has Changed ... Or Not?, 340-44. 2010.

———. In Forty Years, What Has Changed ... Or Not?, 340-44. 2010.

Roberts, Carol. “The Ordination of Women and the Church of England Today: Two Integrities but One Pattern of Decline in Memberships Statistics.” Journal of Anglican Studies (2006): 201-18.

Ronan, Marian. “Living It Loud Ethical Challenges Confronting the Roman Catholic Woman’s Ordination Movement in the 21st Century.” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion (2010): 340-44.

. Karen Bloomquist, In Forty Years, What Has Changed ... Or Not? (2010).

. Ibid.

. Carol Roberts, “The Ordination of Women and the Church of England Today: Two Integrities but One Pattern of Decline in Memberships Statistics,” Journal of Anglican Studies (2006).

. Ibid.

. Marian Ronan, “Living It Loud Ethical Challenges Confronting the Roman Catholic Woman’s Ordination Movement in the 21st Century,” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion (2010).

. Ibid.