This article identifies top scholarly resources addressing the interpretation of scripture pertinent to restrictions on girls and women in the church, with a particular emphasis on sources associated with the Churches of Christ. It attempts to identify works that might be most useful to church leaders and congregations. This article is based on part of my Doctor of Ministry work at Lipscomb University.
1. Helpful Resources, Generally
The most helpful resource focusing on interpretation of scripture relevant to the question of restrictions on girls and women in their service in the church I identified is Two Views on Women in Ministry.[1] If one is going to read only one book on the topic of scripture relevant to these questions, this is the one I suggest.
In Two Views, highly respected bible scholars present a straightforward discussion of exegetical arguments for full and equal opportunities for women and men in church ministry (sometimes called egalitarianism) and for restricting women from specific ministry roles (sometimes called complementarianism).
The book argues for and against both sides in a substantive and even-handed way. Each author states scriptural reasons for their view, which is respectfully critiqued by the others on substance, focusing on scripture, not ad hominem and culture-war claims. Church of Christ traditional practice of completely barring females from speaking in the assembly (except singing), which is sometimes called patriarchal traditionalism, is highly unusual in Christianity, and it is not defended in the book.
There are articles on many aspects of scriptural debates on this question written by New Testament scholar Marg Mowczko at her website, margmowczko.com.[2] Her articles are written in a highly accessible manner, usually addressing both sides of the topic while considering and explaining errors in complementarian advocacy. There are multiple insightful articles and other resources addressing scripture on this topic at CBE International’s website, cbeinternational.org, typically from a Christian Biblical Egalitarian point of view.[3]
2. Helpful Works on Scripture From Church of Christ Authors
Several books by Church of Christ authors advocate lifting restrictions on females in the church. Two of the most notable are Women Serving God: My Journey in Understanding Their Story in the Bible by John Mark Hicks, a professor in the Hazelip School of Theology at Lipscomb University, and Women in the Church: Reclaiming the Ideal by Carroll D. Osburn, an emeritus professor at Abilene Christian University.[4]
Women Serving God is endorsed by over a dozen respected ministers, chaplains, and professors. It argues against the traditional prohibitions by Churches of Christ and for full participation by women. The book describes Hicks’ journey from believing scripture demands no participation for women in worship-assembly leadership (no leading singing, preaching, etc.) to viewing scripture as asking for their “limited participation” (e.g., reading scripture) and later as calling for their “full participation.” It describes his understanding of scripture’s call for full participation with reference to scripture and context, textual and historical.[5]
Women in the Church is more academic in nature. It interacts with leading scholarship of the time regarding scripture cited in discussions regarding women in the church, often engaging in a verse-by-verse or word-by-word analysis.
Both are well done. Women Serving God is more readable and might resonate with many Church of Christ leaders and members, describing Hicks’ journey in changing his mind.
Other insightful works from Church of Christ authors that advocate lifting restrictions include Ken Cukrowski’s study guide, “Women’s Rules in the Church.”[6] He is the Dean of the Graduate School of Theology at Abilene Christian University and addresses several matters relating to lifting restrictions on girls and women, including exegesis of relevant scripture and history, often in a bullet-point or outline form.
“From Theology to Praxis: The Quest for the Full Inclusion of Women in Churches of Christ,” by Jen Hale Christy, adjunct professor, minister, and chaplain in the Church of Christ world and communications professional,[7] gives a clear and cogent scriptural argument for egalitarianism in the Churches of Christ.[8] She discusses history and scripture text in an engaging, spiritual, and encouraging manner. Her work, along with those noted above, is among the works cited here that persons with limited time but interested in scripture relative to the subject should read.
3. Authors Arguing for Traditional Church of Christ Practice
There are numerous resources advocating complementarianism and addressing scripture from the complementarian point of view at The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood’s website, cbmw.org. These are mostly by professors and others associated with Southern Baptist Convention institutions.
There are, of course, many books and articles from Church of Christ authors from past decades advocating its practice of completely restricting girls and women relative to speaking and leading in the church. There are very few scholarly works so advocating written recently. The problems with such arguments are readily apparent.
All such resources so advocating that I found display multiple problems: they defend the practice of the group, rather than analyze objectively; fail to engage contrary scholarship or misrepresent it; engage in misrepresentation and/or deceptive argumentation; ignore historical interpretation of scripture barring women from authority over men anywhere and everywhere; ignore historical practice of barring women from authority over men anywhere and everywhere; selective assertion of literal, plain meaning; straw-man arguments; vagueness in critical places; logically incoherent; make unsupported, conclusory claims and leaps in reasoning in key places; assume major premises and conclusions without evidence; heavily rely on sources that agree with its view without criticism or analysis; and ad hominem and culture-wars assertions (e.g., accuse those who disagree of embracing secular culture and not treating the Bible as authoritative).
The most credible is Women in the Church by Everett Ferguson, formerly a scholar of Christian history at Abilene Christian.[9] It considers scripture substantively but displays many problems, such as leaving 1 Corinthians 14:26 and others out of its context analysis; not recognizing women speak to, teach, and exercise authority over men in the assembly in Ephesians 5:18-20, Colossians 3:16, and others; awkwardly applying a narrow meaning to a general and seemingly broad term (claiming “in every place” in 1 Timothy 2:8 means a very specific place) while applying a broad meaning to a specific and seemingly narrow term in the same passage (claiming v.12’s authentein means something very broad); and ignoring scripture contrary to its view.[10]
Another is The Role of Women: New Testament Perspectives by Neil Lightfoot, formerly a professor at Abilene Christian.[11] It has similar problems, with some additional ones. Lightfoot’s analysis is logically incoherent in key places. His analysis of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 leaps inexplicably to the conclusion that “Paul is prohibiting women who speak or who seek to speak generally in the assembly.”[12] He recognizes authenteo has the sense of “to domineer” or “lord it over,” but leaps to the assertion that a woman who teaches publicly does so.[13] He does not engage contrary scholarly points.
Such obvious problems in works of professors and others in respected positions likely speak in part to the general historical lack of challenge from ministers, scholars, and others in their circles to restrictions on girls and women as advocated in those works. Challenging such views could (and still can) result in being fired, the absence of future opportunities, being marked, avoided, and disfellowshipped, and similar outcomes in Churches of Christ, the Southern Baptist Convention churches, and others.
It also likely speaks to feedback loops of confirmation bias—e.g., 1) a tendency for those in a group like the Churches of Christ to promote people who defend controversial views of the group (like its practice relative to women) to positions of respect, such as professorships; 2) deny positions to those having different views; 3) promote and give much respect to people in those positions; 4) support them in obtaining respect inside and outside the group for other works; and 5) defend and justify the opinions and practices of the group (like discrimination against girls and women) by referencing a well-respected person (the one they promoted in the first place) advocates those views.
4. Other Works from Church of Christ Authors on Relevant Scripture
In addition to those discussed above, other insightful resources from those associated with the Churches of Christ include First and Second Timothy and Titus by Christopher R. Hutson, professor and associate dean at Abilene Christian University. He addresses questions associated with chapters two and three of 1 Timothy and with Titus regarding women teaching, leading, and serving as an elder.[14] His careful discussion contradicts the claim that prohibiting women from elder and preaching is scriptural.[15]
In An Idea Whose Time Has Come, Floyd Rose, long-time preacher in Churches of Christ, Baptist, and Christian Church circles, argues that “to deny women, because of their gender, the right to do whatever God has given them the ability and desire to do is wrong, just as it was wrong to deny African-Americans the right to do what God had given them the ability and desire to do based on race. Neither has any basis in the message and mission of Jesus Christ.”[16] He explains that “[t]he practice of segregating people by race in the Church of Christ virtually went unchallenged until 1961 when a wise and courageous white preacher and scholar named Carl Spain risked his all to tell it all.”[17] Referring to Churches of Christ, he says, “with the possible exception of Bob Jones University, we were the last to desegregate our schools, and last to offer a public apology for denying blacks the opportunity to attend our colleges and universities. Will we also be the last to end discrimination against women and admit that it is wrong?”[18] In a highly readable narrative, Rose discusses scripture and his experiences and observations as an African-American man in the church.[20]
As another example, Rob Coyle, a Church of Christ minister, in The Silencing of God’s Woman: How the Bible has been Misunderstood and Misused to Hold Back and Oppress the Female Voice in the Church, conversationally analyzes scripture and concludes “it has been our misunderstanding and, thereby, misuse of scripture that has led us down the path we have walked in the past. But we can take new paths.”[21]
5. My Articles on Relevant Scripture
Finally, I wrote and published multiple articles regarding scripture relative to women serving in the church and concluding not only does scripture not prohibit women from actively serving in the assembly (e.g., leading prayer, preaching, reading scripture, and leading singing) or from leadership roles (e.g., elder, deacon, and preacher), but that it is contrary to God’s will and thus a sin to prohibit them from doing so. These articles can be found under the topic “Women” at AuthenticTheology.com. The six most helpful relative to scripture are probably these:
- “20 Scripture Passages Telling Women to Speak, Teach, Lead, and Have Authority Over Men, in the Assembly and Elsewhere”[22]
- “10 Churches of Christ Where Women Speak in the Assembly: 1 Timothy 2:12, “Teach or Usurp Authority” (Part 3)”[23]
- “Most Church-of-Christ Colleges No Longer Exclude Women From Leading in Worship Services: Violates 1 Timothy 2:12 “do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man”?”[24]
- “Most Church-of-Christ Colleges No Longer Exclude Women From Leading in Worship Services: Does It Contradict 1 Cor 14:34-35, “Women Should Remain Silent …”?”[25]
- “10 Churches of Christ Where Women Speak in the Assembly: Female Elders (Part 2)”[26]
- “15 Bible Passages That Don’t Mean What They Say, That Don’t Have Their “Plain Meaning”[27]
6. The “Traditional” Interpretation of Scripture
A frequent claim by those advocating for complementarianism is that they are relying on the traditional, long-time interpretation of scripture. This is not true, though.
The traditional, long-time interpretation of scripture, from around the 3rd or 4th century to at least the 1800s and early 1900s, is this: women should not teach or have authority over men anywhere in public—in church, in government, in the military, in public, in a public forum, etc.—because: 1) Women are inferior to men because a) she was created second (Eve after Adam), reflecting inferiority and b) women do not fully bear the image of God, and 2) women today (via Eve) are to be blamed for evil and death in the world and they are more susceptible to sin, deception, and error than men, and thus their place (their sphere or role), is solely in the home, in private settings, and with the children and not in public places of teaching or authority.[28]
This view was enforced, much like complementarianism is today. Catholic church leadership held a near monopoly in biblical interpretation and practice for centuries and centuries. It made change very difficult, if not impossible. Relatively shortly after scripture became available for many more people to read for themselves—after the printing press and English translations—women began to be ordained. With scripture becoming available, the population greatly increasing, and literacy rates greatly increasing, more people have read the New Testament this year than read it in all those centuries combined.
Conclusion
These resources focus on scripture. Others focus on how discrimination against girls and women in the church harm girls and women, boys and men, and the kingdom of God. Still others focus on the process of lifting restrictions on girls and women in the church. These others are discussed in my Doctor of Ministry work at Lipscomb University (my published thesis can be accessed at this link: here) and will be discussed in later articles.
What resources have you found helpful?
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Sources & Notes
[1] Stanley N. Gundry, ed., Two Views on Women in Ministry (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005).
[2] Marg Mowczko, “Marg Mowczko: Exploring the Biblical Theology of Christian Egalitarianism,” margmowczko.com, accessed November 28, 2022.
[3] CBE International, “CBE International: Biblical & Historical Case for Women’s Equality,” cbeinternational.org, accessed November 28, 2022.
[4] John Mark Hicks, Women Serving God: My Journey in Understanding Their Story in the Bible (Nashville, TN: Self-Published 2020); Carroll Osburn, Women in the Church: Reclaiming the Ideal (Abilene, TX: ACU Press, 2001). Dr. Hicks is my advisor for the project from which this article arises.
[5] John Mark Hicks. Searching for the Pattern: My Journey in Interpreting the Bible (Nashville, TN: Self-Published, 2019); see also Gordon D. Fee, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, Fourth Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2014).
[6] Ken Cukrowski, “Women’s Roles in the Church,” accessed Oct. 10, 2022, static1.squarespace.com/static/5b876b140dbda3e050a18c98/t/5d13a217ac467000018f4904/1561567773010/.
[7] Also, Dr. Christy is a graduate of Lipscomb University, Abilene Christian University, and Pepperdine University.
[8] Jennifer Hale Christy, “From Theology to Praxis: The Quest for the Full Inclusion of Women in Churches of Christ,” D. Min. Project (Lipscomb Univ., April 2015), 29-94.
[9] Everett Ferguson, Women in the Church: Biblical and Historical Perspectives (Abilene, TX: Desert Willow Publishing, 2015).
[10] See, e.g., ibid., 22-25, 28; 20-22, 33; 47, 49; passim.
[11] Neil Lightfoot, The Role of Women: New Testament Perspectives, (Memphis, TN: Student Association Press, 1978).
[12] Ibid., 31.
[13] Ibid., 32.
[14] Christopher R. Hutson, First and Second Timothy and Titus (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2020), 72-99.
[15] Ibid., 86-99. He explains it is a mistake to interpret “husband of one wife” as requiring the person be male and is instead a requirement of sexual chastity. Ibid.
[16] Floyd E. Rose, An Idea Whose Time Has Come (Columbus, GA: Brentwood Christian Press, 2002), 16.
[17] Ibid., 19.
[18] Ibid., 20.
[19] Ibid., 29.
[20] Ibid., 8-54.
[21] Rob Coyle, The Silencing of God’s Woman (Self-Published, 2017), Kindle Ed., 48.
[22] Steve Gardner, “20 Scripture Passages Telling Women to Speak, Teach, Lead, and Have Authority Over Men, in the Assembly and Elsewhere,” Authentic Theology,Sept. 3, 2018, authentictheology.com/2018/09/03/20-scripture-passages-telling-women-to-speak-teach-lead-and-have-authority-over-men-in-the-assembly-and-elsewhere/.
[23] Steve Gardner, “10 Churches of Christ Where Women Speak in the Assembly: 1 Timothy 2:12, “Teach or Usurp Authority” (Part 3),” Authentic Theology, April 9, 2019, authentictheology.com/2019/04/09/10-churches-of-christ-where-women-speak-in-the-assembly-1-timothy-212-teach-or-usurp-authority-part-3/.
[24] Steve Gardner, “Most Church-of-Christ Colleges No Longer Exclude Women From Leading in Worship Services: Violates 1 Timothy 2:12 “do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man”?,” Authentic Theology, May 30, 2018, authentictheology.com/2018/05/30/most-church-of-christ-colleges-no-longer-exclude-women-from-leading-in-worship-services-violates-1-timothy-212-do-not-permit-a-woman-to-teach-or-to-assume-authority-over-a-man-p/.
[25] Steve Gardner, “Most Church-of-Christ Colleges No Longer Exclude Women From Leading in Worship Services: Does It Contradict 1 Cor 14:34-35 …?,” Authentic Theology, May 22, 2018, authentictheology.com/2018/05/22/part-3-most-church-of-christ-colleges-no-longer-exclude-women-from-leading-in-worship-services-does-it-contradict-1-cor-1434-35-women-should-remain-silent/.
[26] Steve Gardner, “10 Churches of Christ Where Women Speak in the Assembly: Female Elders (Part 2),” Authentic Theology, April 3, 2019, authentictheology.com/2019/04/03/10-churches-of-christ-where-women-speak-in-the-assembly-female-elders-part-2/.
[27] Steve Gardner, “15 Bible Passages That Don’t Mean What They Say, That Don’t Have Their “Plain Meaning,” Authentic Theology, Sept. 3, 2018, authentictheology.com/2018/09/03/15-bible-passages-that-dont-mean-what-they-say-that-dont-have-their-plain-meaning/.
[28] See, e.g., Kevin Giles, “A Critique of the ‘Novel’ Contemporary Interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:9-15 Given in the Book, Women in the Church. Part I,” Evangelical Q. 72:2 (2000)), pp. 160-163. See also Marg Mowczko, “Misogynistic Quotations from Church Fathers and Reformers,” (Jan. 24, 2013); Steve Gardner, “David Lipscomb, Church of Christ Foundational Leader: ‘All the Teaching of the Bible is Against Women Speaking in Public’ (It Gets Worse),” Authentic Theology (April 12, 2018) (e.g., “It is wrong for a woman to become a leader or public teacher of men in any place or on any occasion.”; “[A]ll public teaching and speaking on any subject at any place puts woman out of place, out of her God-given work.”; Women’s “unfitness to lead and teach arises from her strong emotional nature causing her to be easily deceived and to be ready to run after anything or body that might strike her fancy against reason and facts.”); Steve Gardner, “Alexander Campbell, Church-of-Christ Denomination Progenitor: Women’s Domain “Rightfully Only House Wide,” Authentic Theology (March 23, 2018) (similar).
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