Women

• What did Christian theologians traditionally do?

  blamed eve for the fall (and so original sin)
• What did St Paul write?

  ‘Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner’
• What was the role of women traditionally restricted to?

  Marriage and motherhood
• what does 1Timothy 2:8-15 say?

  ‘i do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man, she must be quiet’
• what else did St Paul write?

  that ‘women will be saved through childbearing’
• what did the Catholic Church prohibit? why?

  female ordination, because Jesus was male and only appointed male disciples (apostolic succession)
• what did Luther believe?

  that women should ‘remain at home, sit still, keep house and bring up children’
• what reflects Jesus’ negative attitudes towards women?

  he did not appoint any female disciples, only men
• What reflects Jesus’ positive attitudes towards women?

  He engaged with women and treated them with respect ‘they marvelled that he was talking to a woman’
• what reflects St Paul’s negative attitudes towards women?

  he blamed only eve for the fall/original sin and said ‘women should remain silent in the churches’ and they must ‘remain in submission’
• what reflects St Paul’s positive attitudes towards women?

  he wrote that there is ’neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ jesus’
• What do Christian egalitarians believe?

  That men and women should be permitted equal roles in the church
• what do Christian egalitarians argue?

  that there should be no distinction between men and women and their roles within the church (e.g. quakers hold this view)
• what do Christian complementarians believe?

  men and women are spiritually equal but God has given them different roles
• christIan complementarians believe men and women have…?

  equal importance in the sight of God but they have different complementary roles in marriage/society etc (e.g. catholics hold this view)
• what did the Catholic Church oppose? why?

  the ordination of women, they take a traditionalist view, men and women have the same spiritual dignity but different social roles (complementarian)
• what did Jesus do?

  only appointed male disciples (and was male0, he told peter, the first bishop, ‘you are the rock on which i will build my church’
• what is apostolic succession?

  the unbroken line that goes back to Jesus’ (male apostles), only men can inherit
• in the early church the ordination of women was limited to…?

  minority sects and was condemned
• who does the church follow?

  jesus himself, in choosing only men for his ministry
• whilst other churches, following the reformation, ordain women…?

  this does not follow the historical tradition of the church as a whole
• Jesus chose only men to be his ‘twelve’ but in his positive dealings with women, what did he do?

  rejected the social convention of his day, Jesus therefore showed the model for a high view of women (which nevertheless still excludes them from leadership in the church)
• within catholic thinking, what does natural law suggest? e.g. if men and women have different natures, what follows?

  that people should live in a way that reflects their inherent nature, that they should take different roles in life (this doesnt mean one is more important than the other but just that they are different - complementarian view)
• what did Pope Gelasius 1 oppose? why?

  women taking part in Eucharist, because the priest represents Christ, he needs to be male because Jesus was a man himself
• What are Protestants supportive of?

  The ordination of women
• What approach do many Protestants have?

  Egalitarian (men and women are equal so women may hold positions of power just as men)
• what did the Church of England say?

  gender ‘should not be an obstacle’ to ordination, suitability is based on ability, rather than gender
• what did St Paul say?

  ‘there is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ jesus’
• what do Protestants believe in?

  the ‘priesthood of all believers’
• what is the priesthood of all believers that Protestants believe in?

  the idea that all are equal before God, all humans can have direct contact with God, regardless of gender
• at the time of the Protestant reformation, women were seen as in need of protection, but for Protestants…?

  the secular roles of wife and mother were regarded as equal in importance to those of the monastic life
• HOWEVER, what is a direct quote from Luther?

  ‘sit still, stay at home, keep house and bare children‘
• Protestants see Eucharist in a different way to catholics, how?

  the priest does not necessarily need to be a man in order to represent Christ
• united reformed church has…?

  ordained women since 1917
• in 1994, what happened?

  the first ordination of women as priests in the Church of England took place
• in 2015, what happened?

  the first Church of England female bishop - Libby Lane, was consecrated
• what does 1Timothy 2:8-15 say?

  ‘a woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet’
• who is Florence Li Tim-Oi?

  she was a deaconess in china, who was ordained priest in 1944 because there were too few men available to minister to Anglican’s in china, during the war with japan
• at the general synod in 1981, what did the synod agree?

  that women could be ordained as deacons
• traditionalists were so against the ordination of females, why?

  because they considered that any ordination or confirmation carried out by a woman would not be valid, because she couldn’t continue the apostolic succession