open source theology

Here’s my take on the gender issue.

There is a body of scripture that seems to indicate that there is a difference between the roles that women and men have in the church (as well as in family, marriage, life.. but we’ll stick to church). I agree that scripture teaches that there is a difference.

Now, what to do about that difference. Some churches interpret these passages to mean that women can do "nothing" in the church. These churches know their Bibles and their leaders have gone to Seminary, and somehow they have come to that conclusion.

I have found helpful this article by Kenneth Bailey, who lived and taught in the Near East for quite a few years. The language angle will always get my attention, as well as hearing from someone with the education and experience of Dr. Bailey.

Is the Church (Emerging or otherwise) embodying a neo-Gnosticism? I pose the question since the current vogue for championing women’s ordination smacks more of Gnostic than traditional Christian teaching (i.e. orthodoxy). As I said in a recent discussion, maybe the Church is inclined to trade its New Testament for the 52 extant Gnostic codices found at Nag Hammadi, for it is only in these ‘jettisoned’ Scriptures that female authority is seen as the norm. Is this oneof the reasons why judgement must first begin at the house of God? I fear that we are losing sight of the importance of abiding by the rule of Holy Writ on many important matters.

Lisa at splagblog posted links to this site and the Postmodern theology blog and added the following pertinent comment:

‘A lot of online involvement here is male, and I don’t know if that’s because of the techy world being male-dominated or Christ-follower leadership being more heavily male-oriented (???). Maybe a little bit of both so that women’s web presence in this area isn’t very prominent?’