Summary

• Strong disagreements between and within churches regarding this topic
• Views on the role of women within the Church range widely from extreme traditionalist beliefs held by many fundamentalist evangelical Christians to the very liberal approach of the Quakers
• Influences on Christian thinking:

  • What New Testament texts have to say about the role and status of women. Interpretations of these texts also influenced by attitudes to nineteenth and twentieth century biblical criticism
  • Social attitudes to women, which have changed immensely over the centuries
  • The rights given to women by secular government