Dear Friends:
Certain passages of scripture have, at various times in the church’s history, been “weaponized” as a means of restricting the degree to which women have been able to participate in the full life of the church. That might be hard to imagine today, when so many churches could not function without the full participation of women, but it is true, and it is still a pattern in a number of different church traditions even today.
Many of those passages have come from the letters of the New Testament, particularly those attributed to Paul. How do we deal with such passages, particularly those which seem to be inconsistent with other parts of scripture?
Frances Taylor Gench, professor of New Testament at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, VA (my alma mater), wrote the book “Encountering God in Tyrannical Texts: Reflections on Paul, Women, and the Authority of Scripture” to address such questions. This book will be our next reading in the regular book study group. The group will return to meeting Sunday mornings at 9:15 a.m. in the conference room beginning April 14, and continuing through May 19. All are invited to attend; let Alberta know so she can order enough books.
Note: I will be away for a brief study leave from April 6-9, an event on creation care wrapped around observing the upcoming solar eclipse, at the Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center near Little Rock, AR (which will be in the path of totality). Shannon TL Kearns will be preaching in my absence.
Charles