The Ordination of Women
“To ordain, or not to ordain?” That is the question.
For more than twenty years the Anglican Churches have been considering what forms of Christian ministry are appropriate for women. To many outsiders this must seem to be a ridiculous length of time to settle an apparently easy question; after all, this is a time of “equal opportunities.”
So what reasons has the Church got for, so far, refusing to ordain women as priests?
The main argument put forward by those in the House of Bishops who are opposed to the ordination of women seems to be that women are unable to be the representatives of Christ because of their femininity — there is a supposed need for a priest to resemble Christ in his maleness.
“For some of us the fact that Jesus was male decides the question: it precludes women’s ordination to the priesthood. Maleness assumed by God in the incarnation corresponds to something in the nature of God as he relates to us in a way that femaleness doesn’t. Maleness reflects the fact that the initiative is always with God in a way that femaleness does not. The way God chose to be human is consonant with the basic nature of humanity as created by God. It therefore follows that only men can represent God in Christ as priests.”
I find this argument totally unacceptable. For me it is the fact that God became human that is the central message of the incarnation, not his sex. I feel that to categorise, as the opposing Bishops have, initiative taking as masculine, and receptivity as feminine, is to fall into a trap of destructive stereotyping which can only limit human growth and potential. This view is also shared by a number of the Bishops:
“Some of us believe that if women are ordained to the priesthood, the ordained ministry would be a more complete representation of God in Christ than an all male priesthood; it would emphasise the richness of humanity taken by the Word in the incarnation; it would make clear the inclusive quality of the risen and glorified humanity that is eternally a part of the Godhead and witness to a belief that God embraces and transcends male and female, masculine and feminine.”
The second argument put forward by the House of Bishops is that:
“It is inappropriate for women to be ordained to an order whose function is to exercise authority and leadership over the community…”
The reason for this, they suggest, lies in the Scripture, in particular what the Bible says about the significance of female and male in the created order, and the view put forward in 1 Corinthians 11 that:
“…the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.” (verse 3)
Their argument suggests that since Paul defines the role of a woman as being subordinate to a man then it is impossible for a woman to carry out a job in which she would need to exercise authority over a man.
However it is important, when looking at the Scripture, to consider the context in which it was written and the “truth” it was trying to safeguard in it’s own day. Only when we have understood that can we ask what the message is for us in the twentieth century. Since it is clear that women’s position in society today is very different from that when both the Old and New Testaments were written, in seeking guidance from Scripture and tradition we must try to bridge the distance between the world of the biblical writers and our own.
I’ve only laid down two of the main arguments against the ordination of women and my views on them; to discuss the whole issue in full would take (as it has the Bishops) 20 or so years, and several hundred copies of Christis! However, if anyone would like to look in more detail at the issue then please contact me via Christis to borrow a copy of “A digest of the second report by the house of Bishops” from which my quotes have come. For any further Bible study, the digest suggests: Genesis 1–3, the New Testament Epistles, 1 Corinthians 11. 2–16, 1 Corinthians 14. 33–36, 2 Corinthians 11. 3, 1 Timothy 2. 11–15, Ephesians 5. 21–33, 1 Corinthians 7. 4 and Galatians 3. 27.
I’ll just finish then by quoting again from the Bishops:
“Whatever view each of us holds about the ordination of women we all share a deep concern for the unity of the Church and the importance of the unity of the Church’s mission.”
I think we ought to bear this very much in mind when we make our own decision.