by Josie Smith.
The other day I came across some of my old broadcast scripts from the late 1980s – book reviews mostly. Those were the days when hot topics in the churches apart from ecumenism were ‘Women in the Ministry’ often with a question mark, and ‘Inclusive Language’. Methodism had of course ordained women as far back as 1974, but not always to popular acclaim. In 1986 a book had appeared called Women, Authority and the Bible, subtitled ‘an evangelical breakthrough on the Biblical debate’.[1] All the writers originally presented their material at the Evangelical Colloquium on Women in the Bible held in Illinois in 1984. It was open only to evangelical theologians and leaders by invitation, and they met to talk and listen for three days. Given the North American flavor (sic) and the inevitable patchiness of a book with 27 different writers I commended anyone interested in the ministry of women to pick up this book and browse. Chapter 8 is more readable than most: Kyle R. Snodgrass, a professor of biblical literature, thinks that Galatians 3:28 is the most socially explosive statement in the New Testament. We must, though, Prof. Snodgrass says, allow Paul to be Paul. He was not addressing our situation or our set of questions, and we only distort the thinking when we transfer it directly to our time. Would Paul be able to deal with the concept of ordination, he asks. He might well need time to get accustomed to the idea.
This is a book not just about ambiguous bits of Greek, or about the practices of another culture in another age. It’s a book about truth and justice and trying to discern the Will of God, and in keeping with American practice there are two or three chapters at the end about what has been learnt from the experience. All the members of the colloquium were evangelical Christians, and if there was a weakness other than that, it was that there wasn’t a Graham Leonard there to put a spanner in the works, but there was evidently plenty of argument.
The Church of England in Britain was meanwhile agonising over the larger half of its members who are women. Another book All that is Unseen asked, ‘Can the Church in Britain today learn to long for the full contribution of women rather than fearing and fighting it?’[2] It’s a wide-ranging study of women generally, at work outside or inside the home, but readers are challenged to assess who does what in their churches, and to see whether this really reflects the best use of gifts among those present.
The third book was Making Women Visible.[3] Try reacting to these two newspaper headlines –
‘People are much more likely to be influenced by their wives than by opinion polls’.
‘Man kills his next door neighbour’s wife.’
The male perspective is seen as the dominant one, the ‘normal’ way of looking at life. The two examples are from the secular press, but the church is, if anything, more entrenched in its assumptions. When I was at school (an all girls’ school) one of our most often used hymns was ‘O brother man, fold to thy heart thy brother’. There wasn’t a brother in the building and the only man was the school caretaker. Once you have recognised a problem you see how pervasive it is. Hence the many changes in the liturgy.
More thoughts: An Anglican friend, a Revd. Canon, tells me that even now, in 2O25, in ecumenical gatherings of clergy, some of the male clergy do not recognise the validity of her ordination.
When I was appointed a Circuit Steward many years ago, I asked my mother-in-law’s advice about the best way to do the new job. Father-in-law was a Methodist minister, retired, so who better than the in-laws to know how it worked and how I could be most useful? ‘I can’t help you, dear’ she said. ‘In my day, Circuit Stewards always had wives’.
With those rediscovered scripts there was a slip of paper on which I had written ‘The Old Testament has the woman being made from the rib of a man. The New Testament has the Son of Man being born of a woman. What message for the feminists? Or from them?’
It was Tony Benn who said in 1993, ‘I hope I live to see the day when a woman Archbishop of Canterbury greets a Pope in a church that has ordained women.’ He didn’t – but most of the Church of England has become accustomed to women in the ordained ministry, and some of them have become Bishops. Have a look at the list of possible candidates on the list to become the next Archbishop…
[1] Alvera Mickelsen, Women, Authority and the Bible. IVP, 1986.
[2] Rosemary Dawson, And All That is Unseen: A New Look at Women’s Work. Church House Publishing, 1986.
[3] Making Women Visible: The Use of Inclusive Language with the ASB: A Report by the Liturgical Commission of the General Synod of the Church of England. Church House Publishing, 1989
Theology Everywhere 
Thank you so much, Josie.
I, too have lived through the slowly changing attitudes of the controlling half of our Church and Churches and their reluctance to share. You are much more polite than I am.
All Methodists should read the book ‘Women, Preachers, Methodists’ . Papers from two conferences held in 2019, the 350th anniversary of the birth of Susanna Wesley. The book is edited by Lohn Lenton, Clive Murray Norris, and Linda Ryan. It is published by the Oxford Centre for Methodism and Church History.
The papers show how many times Methodist women were allowed and even encouraged to preach and lead starting late 1700s to 1800s. Then men exerting control and putting them down. The Prims had women preachers but the Methodist Union in the 1930s finally stopped that! The final paper in the book appears to be ‘up-to-date’ 2019.
Incidentally, I listen to some really good podcasts from ‘over the pond’. There are many Christians (not just women) who have had to pull out of Church because of the hardening of this issue.
From a very personal point of view, I have always felt included by what I know of Jesus but not by the Church because, when push comes to shove, there will always be a man who says, “Well, that’s the way it is!”
Love to you all – Margaret – <*}}})><
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Spot on Josie as ever. Could add the name of 133rd Bishop of London Rt Rev Hon Dame Sarah Mullally to the list of candidates for the vacant archbishop post.
She arrived in the South West stable as Bishop of Crediton in 2015 but had made a greater contribution to the community of nursing and midwifery prior to pursuing a call to ministry. Lots more could be said about women in ministry over the years and in several denominations. Listening though is so much more important.
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