Arguments for and against female ordination

• FOR: Sometimes one branch of the universal Church must go it alone in order to do what is right. In declaring the Pope infallible, the Catholic Church didn't consult other Christians. So in this case, the CofE was justified in the action taken without seeking the agreement of other Christians

  RESPONSE: The decision lacks 'catholic consent', i.e. it has been made without the consent of the universal Church
• FOR: Jesus' decision was a pragmatic one. Had he chosen women, his mission never would have taken off. In any case, the role of women was such that they could not just leave their children behind. The choice of men was based on the culture of the time. The ordination of women likewise reflects the culture of today's society
• AGAINST: Jesus challenged many social conventions of his day but chose only men as apostles and leaders of the Church
• AGAINST: Religious change should not be dictated by culture. Although inevitable influenced by it, it should not be subject to it
• FOR: The idea of equality requires an egalitarian interpretation. To refuse women ordination is to regard and treat them as unequal

  RESPONSE: Equality of status does not mean interchangeability: a complementation approach
• FOR: There are metaphors in the Bible that compare God to a mother, but it would have led to the danger of syncretism with fertility religious for Jewish people to refer to God as Mother. There is no longer this danger, and Mother Julian referred to God in this way

  RESPONSE: As a 'Father' in God, the bishop represents the Fatherhood of Gd. The Bible does not directly refer to God as mother. Ordaining women as bishops overturns the teaching of the Bible
• AGAINST: The ordination of women as bishops threatens the Apostolic Succession and therefore the validity of many of the sacraments

  RESPONSE: Gender should have nothing to do with the Apostolic Succession. There is no reason why the ordination of female bishops should break it
• FOR: Biblical writers may have been guided or even inspired by God, but God was working through fallible humans who were also products of their culture. Christians today should use the insights of Church leaders today and of psychology, as well as their own religious experience and the tools of biblical criticism to help them discern who are/are not universal truths in the Bible
• AGAINST: The evangelical wing of the Church of England opposes the ordination of women on biblical grounds. Texts such as 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 3 are to be obeyed as the infallible word of God