THE ARGUMENTS SURROUNDING ROLE OF WOMEN IN CHURCH LEADERSHIP - Essay Example

Section/# A common rule of critiquing texts from the Bible is to make sure that no single doctrine or moral dictum is built off an interpretation of a single text; rather, it is important to build important doctrinal and moral decisions off a broad interpretation of meaning and the ways in which the era that the texts were written were informed (Zagano 2011, p. 600). A perfect case in point with regards to this issue is the way in which certain more fundamental interpretations of the New Testament take certain texts relating to the prohibition of women to speak out in the church, have power over a man, and other chauvinistic mechanisms as indicative of the fact that God prohibits female leadership.

However, the dissenting side of this argument takes texts such as Galatians 3:28 which states, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (NIV). Such a text stands in stark contrast to the other previously mentioned texts which seem to speak out with regards to the role of women in positions of church leadership (Shade 2008, p. 25). As such, in order to reconcile such differing interpretations, the role of the Christian should be to seek to find the common ground that Christ’s example led while on earth.

Whereas the disciples were merely representations of the Holy Spirit’s voice, Christ during his earthy ministry was the ultimate representation of the will of the Father. However, during his time on earth Jesus ultimately refrained from making broad or sweeping judgments that would segregate the sexes with regards to what functions they could perform (Bates 2011, p. 7). Instead, there are numerous instances in which he actively sought to promote the equality of women throughout a very tribal and primitive culture to which he ministered.

For such a reason, it is the belief of this author that texts such as Galatians 3:28 should be held as the ultimate standard for whether or not women should be able to be considered for positions of church leadership (Hamman 2010, p. 774). ReferencesBATES, CL 2011, Gender Ontology and Women in Ministry in the Early Church, Priscilla Papers, 25, 2, pp. 6-15, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 February 2013.Hamman, JJ 2010, Resistance to Women in Ministry and the Psychodynamics of Sadness, Pastoral Psychology, 59, 6, pp.

769-781, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 February 2013.SHADE, J 2008, Vocational Identity and Direction: Hagars Word to Women in Ministry, Priscilla Papers, 22, 2, pp. 23-26, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 February 2013.Zagano, P 2011, Ministry by Women Religious and the U.S. Apostolic Visitation, New Blackfriars, 92, 1041, pp. 591-606, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 7 February 2013.