Vol 34, No 2 | Spring 2020 PPThe academic journal of CBE International
Interdisciplinary Egalitarianism 3 Exploring the Garden of Feminine Motifs in Songs of Songs Timothy Paul Erdel
Sermon Mary and Martha: Celebrating the Gifts of Others Janet Galante and Molly Kate Hance
Women Leaders at the Table in Early Churches Ally Kateusz
23 Women Priests and the Image of God Karen Strand Winslow
Priscilla and Aquila instructed Apollos more perfectly in the way of the Lord. (Acts :) because numerous disciplines beyond the obvious ones I Tertius . . . (that is, the ones obvious to me—biblical studies, theology, Journals serve to advance academic and and church history) contribute to the advancement of professional disciplines. Typically, the egalitarianism. While this has frequently been the case in the eld of inquiry that a journal is seeking thirty-four years of Priscilla Papers, it is particularly true of to advance is evident from its title. this issue. Not only do the items in the following pages arise Colleagues of mine have, for example, from di erent primary disciplines, but each of them is also, recently published articles in the Journal of within itself, interdisciplinary. Physiology and the American Journal of Occupational erapy. Making no claim to be comprehensive, I will here list Priscilla Papers, however, does not promote a clearly- the authors and then note disciplines represented in their demarcated discipline, such as experimental psychology contributions to this issue. or mechanical engineering, or a focused profession such as • Timothy Paul Erdel: genre studies, hermeneutics, music education or pediatric nursing. Instead, what we are literary criticism, Old Testament exegesis advancing is egalitarianism—more speci cally, evangelical • Janet Galante and Molly Kate Hance: homiletics, gender egalitarianism. And this eld of inquiry, by its nature, hermeneutics, New Testament exegesis is interdisciplinary. Or, put di erently, egalitarianism is in • Ally Kateusz: archaeology, art history, church fact not a eld of inquiry. Instead, we might think of it as a history, iconography trajectory within various disciplines and professions. • Karen Strand Winslow: ecclesiology, church history, We frequently publish articles from biblical studies, theology (Not only is this article interdisciplinary, theology, and church history. Doing so is an initial step toward but it has to take into account the disciplines of the interdisciplinarity, for these are three disciplines rather than person whom it investigates—namely, C. S. Lewis, one. However, it is more complicated than that. who was a literary critic, medievalist, Christian First, it is more complicated because each of these areas can apologist, and ction writer.) be subdivided. Biblical studies, for example, is typically divided What is true of our authors is also true of our Peer Review by corpus, Old Testament or New Testament. From here we Team, of the CBE sta , and, moreover, of our readership. can specify the ancient language under consideration (Hebrew, Indeed, Priscilla Papers is created by and for people with Aramaic, Greek, Latin, etc.), the method being employed a broad range of gi s, professions, callings, and interests. (rhetorical criticism, narrative criticism, ethnography, etc.), Together, we are advancing evangelical gender egalitarianism. and so forth. Moving in the other direction—broadening out rather than narrowing into subdivisions—it is more complicated . . . greet you in the Lord.
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• PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring cbeinternational.org Exploring the Garden of Feminine Motifs in Songs of Songs T P E
Song of Songs is lled with subtle but powerful metaphors and It is particularly important to note that the female voice motifs that teach about the beauty, power, and nature of erotic love, (variously referred to as “beloved,” “friend,” “fair one,” “dove,” as well as various abuses of erotic love (including social prejudice, “sister,” “bride,” “perfect/spotless one,” “maid of Shulem/ patriarchal control and double standards, machismo, undue haste Shulamite,” or “daughter of a prince/noble maiden”) predominates in sexual relationships, and in delity). Furthermore, I a rm the throughout the text. is voice is echoed by a female chorus notion common among many readers through the centuries who (variously labeled “friends” or “daughters of Jerusalem”), and champion the possibility of spiritually upli ing analogies between the female protagonist does not hesitate to sing the praises of human erotic love and divine-human relationships. us, I am her lover and his lovemaking, beginning in the rst chapter. One suggesting both a “literal” interpretation rooted in creation popular evangelical blog post for women draws ve lessons from that celebrates the genuinely erotic as a legitimate, divinely- this basic fact: sanctioned element of the human experience (echoing Eden), and Women can desire sex. also a more “typological” reading that acknowledges analogies to divine-human relationships based upon the human experience of Women can be visual. the erotic. Women can initiate. e foregoing positions are standard in discussions of Song of Women can be free and uninhibited in the bedroom. Songs, though many commentators a rm only one, rather than both literal and typological approaches. e special focus of this Women can (and were designed to!) experience article will be to explore the ways some of these themes take on pleasure. new signi cance when the reader listens closely to the female voice In short, there is a remarkable emphasis on the female (as the in Song of Songs. Note in what follows that seemingly obvious beloved) appreciation of erotic desire and activities throughout interpretations profoundly change as a result of listening to her Song of Songs. words, including the fundamental nature of the divine-human The Power of Erotic Love analogy that has been so beloved by so many. e overriding power of erotic love is a clear but subtle theme that The Beauty of Erotic Love builds throughout the entire work in a variety of ways. From the e beauty of erotic love is such a basic and widely recognized outset, love overcomes barriers of color and social class, uniting a theme in the Song of Songs that I will not take the time to argue kingly gure with a lower-status woman who is a humble vineyard for it. Many commentators have noted the multiple allusions to worker and shepherdess. Love gives a clear, compelling voice to Eden. Garden imagery is pervasive throughout, and references a woman who might otherwise be silenced in a patriarchal world. to animals abound. ere is a fresh, frank, and unashamed She is an unsettling mare among Pharaoh’s chariots (: ). She is a celebration of the human body (which can serve abuse survivors, lion and a leopard (: ), references not ascribed to the male. Her among others, well—both here and in Gen :). ere are explicit neck is a strong tower ringed with shields—the rugged imagery of references to bodily parts and direct descriptions of physical a warrior’s citadel (:–). is woman has the capacity to rouse a ection, beginning with the opening ode to kissing that ends in her lover ( :b). the king’s bedchamber (:–). ere are poetic but unmistakable e recurring allusions and references to the power of erotic intimations of sexual relations throughout the text. ere is at love build to an overriding crescendo in the nal chapter of Song least the anticipation of the two becoming “one esh” in marriage. of Songs. ere is a joyful sense of egalitarian mutuality throughout, one Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on tinged with royal triumph, though, by the end, there are also your arm. intimations of the fall. In fact, Song of Songs may also be read as a pre-Christian exploration of what it would mean to reverse the For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as enduring e ects of the fall. as the grave. Both new translations and new illustrated editions keep Love ashes like re, the brightest kind of ame. appearing in an attempt to capture the luster of the Hebrew Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers poetry, which is presumably an impossible task. Marc Chagall, drown it. who created seventeen large paintings for a special illustrated edition of the Bible (paintings later donated to the French Musée If a man tried to buy love with all his wealth, his o er Nationaux), normally tackled stories or narratives only once, but would be utterly scorned. ( : – NLT) he rendered the Song of Songs ve times, in part because he found e voice of the woman, the beloved, utters this evocative what was described therein so beautiful. summary of the power of jealous love. Jealousy is normally a
cbeinternational.org PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring • male prerogative in the Torah, with the wife forced to undergo Abuses of Erotic Love humiliating tests of her faithfulness (Num :–). But here the e celebration of erotic love is not only tempered by hints female employs wording that echoes prior language concerning of sadness and sorrow over its ultimate dissolution, but erotic divine jealousy and wrathful judgment when God’s people are relations are also subject to various forms of abuse. unfaithful (Deut :–, cf. Num :–). Relationships may be marred by social prejudices. e beloved Her love is as strong as death and cannot be bought for is all too aware of her dark skin and what it might suggest. any price. Since death seems the most unshakable reality of Racism is probably not the immediate problem here, nor is our ordinary human life (apart from the hope of a divinely ordered contemporary issue of self-loathing due to the failure to achieve resurrection), this is a striking claim. Love’s power would match an impossible body-image. For skin darkened by the sun reects death itself in an attempt to transcend it. her social location as an agricultural laborer, the humble worker The Nature of Erotic Love in a vineyard, or worse, a shepherdess who keeps ocks in the Song of Songs catches the nature of erotic love in its many scorching Middle Eastern heat. Hard labor and grinding poverty nuances. Erotic love is outward-focused, seeing the partner mark her life. in exalted, hyperbolic terms. ere is the impulse to surrender Relationships may be marred by patriarchal control, abuse, and oneself and praise the partner extravagantly. e language is in double standards. e male relatives not only guard their young many ways direct, frank, and intimate, yet metaphors, similes, sister, but control her life until they arrange her marriage ( : – analogies, and other forms of verbal indirection are repeatedly ). is is in clear contrast to the male lover, who freely bounds pressed into service, presumably in an attempt to capture and through life like a gazelle or a stag (: –, –), who collects heighten experiences that otherwise stretch the bounds of a harem of sixty queens, eighty concubines, and virgins beyond ordinary description. Aesthetic, poetic indirection also keeps the counting ( : ), boldly referencing them, even as he claims that his exquisitely sensual from descending into humiliating voyeurism, latest “beloved” is his best catch so far, surpassing all previous ones cruel objecti cation, or vulgar pornography. ( : ). e lover deserts his beloved twice to explore the city at Even as the two lovers exult over each other, there is a night, although she desperately, forlornly pursues him, risking life wholesome mutuality that underscores the dignity of the and limb among the city’s ru ans (:–, :– ). individual, that reaches back to creation (cf. Gen :, :). is brusque, thoughtless, even brutal male privilege, sexual Nevertheless, there are also repeated hints of paradise lost. and otherwise, anticipates the rise of Latin American machismo, us, as Katharine Bushnell pointed out a century ago, things the heightened and dramatic realm of male prerogatives, where go awry when a deep desire that was meant for God alone is women are depreciated, abused, yet are simultaneously the redirected toward human beings, as has been the case ever since objects of male sexual obsessions. Sadly, these attitudes are by the fall in the garden of Eden: no means limited to Latin cultures. e original call in Genesis was for the man to leave his parents in favor of the woman (:), e Pentateuch of the Septuagint is especially esteemed a surprising injunction in a patriarchal world, one reiterated by for its accuracy. is version renders teshuqa [Hebrew, the Lord Jesus (Matt :, Mark :) and the Apostle Paul (Eph “desire, longing”] into the Greek word apostrophe in both :), something not totally lost in the Song of Songs, since the passages in Genesis [: , :]: and epistrophe in Canticles beloved would lead her lover to her mother’s home (:, :), a [i.e., Song of Songs]. e former word, apostrophe . . . move echoed, contrary to the culture of the day, in the Parable of means “turning away,” and the latter, “turning to.” e the Ten Virgins (Matt :–). teaching is, that Eve is turning away from God to her Relationships may be marred by undue haste in sexual husband, and, as a consequence of that deection, Adam relationships, which is a mark of self-seeking sel shness. Sexual will rule over her. impatience may take more than one form. ree times we are e sole reference to death ( : ) may remind the reader of the warned by the beloved that love should not be aroused (or inevitable diminishments and outright disasters entailed in erotic indulged) before the appropriate time (:, :, :). One way of relationships, a theme already raised during the beloved’s haunting reading these warnings is to apply them to a relationship before searches for her missing lover and her laments over his absences the nal binding promises of marriage. But even if their sexual in two previous passages (:–, : ). A deep, mostly unstated, access to each other is fully legitimate, sexual sel shness may sense of inevitable tragedy underlies this great work. As Paul play havoc with the couple’s relationship. e male comes to Gri ths has said, “Our love a airs are desolate and desolating the door and seizes the latch, hoping to enter, but must wait things. ey always involve separation and loss, whether from for his beloved to prepare herself and welcome him. Before she betrayal or forgetfulness or sickness or death. Every marriage can respond, he has already le her, looking for satisfaction ends in one of those ways.” is generally understated theme of elsewhere (:– ). e utter sel shness of the male’s sexual loss is nonetheless clearly present in three of the most poignant demands is exposed by the abrupt desertion of his supposed and climactic passages of the whole poem (:–, :– , : –). beloved in favor of nightlife elsewhere. Human erotic love will end in tragedy. In delity mars relationships more than anything else. What does delity mean within the context of a constantly growing
• PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring cbeinternational.org harem? What does delity mean when the male lover keeps humility and in his glory, or the Old and New Testaments, or wandering o into the night, deserting the one who truly loves the like.) him? No wonder his “beloved” issues such a strong and jealous A typological approach is more modest, drawing a broad call for utter faithfulness. analogy without pressing every detail of the text to correspond to Analogies between the Human Experience of Erotic Love something else. e usual pattern is to see a general reference to and Divine-Human Love the divine-human relationship. e lover (or groom or Solomon) is a gure of God or Jesus Christ. e beloved (or bride or ere is a long history of interpreting the Song of Songs as a Shulamite or rustic shepherdess) is Israel or the church or Mary type (or even a full-edged allegory) of divine-human love. or the individual believer. Origen and Bernard of Clairvaux were among the more proli c One of the problems that Gleason Archer and J. Paul Tanner proponents and practitioners of such approaches, but they were point out is that Solomon seems to be a bad type of a divine far from alone. Even Martin Luther tilted toward the non- spouse, given his enormous harem, the early stages of which are literal when it came to the Song of Songs, though he disparaged possibly alluded to in the Song of Songs ( : ), not to mention previous allegorical treatments and suggested the analogy was an the bad light he appears in when he apparently tries to buy love earthly one, between Solomon and the state of Israel, and though ( :–). at is, the beloved (female) is just one more sexual his reading seems awkward at best. companion among dozens, or ultimately, among hundreds. is One justi cation for such an approach presumably derives is so even though Solomon does seem to be a king (like his father from the fact that Scripture elsewhere makes overt analogies David) who in some important sense pre gures (typologically) to divine-human love relationships. God is the loving husband, a coming messianic King. is problem is presumably a major though one who is all too frequently jilted or betrayed by his motive for the so-called “Shepherd Hypothesis,” where the bride, whether the bride is Israel (as a whole), Israel (the ten humble but monogamous shepherd makes a better type of the tribes), Judah, or even a pagan empire such as Babylon, the ideal, divine husband than does Solomon. paragon of harlotry. God’s love is steadfast, but his people are As far as I know, to date no commentator has proposed repeatedly unfaithful, prostituting themselves, or worse. e a dramatically di erent way of reading the divine-human latter is certainly a major theme in the opening of Hosea, but relationship in Song of Songs, namely, a reading in which the similar tropes (of a bride, a harlot, or even a completely wanton female beloved is a type of God, and the male lover is the type of woman) appear in Isaiah (e.g., :, : , : ), Jeremiah (e.g., unfaithful Israel. ere is at least some minimal, if indirect, biblical : –, :– , : –, : [referencing Babylon]), and Ezekiel precedent for such a reading, however, if one considers the various (chs. , ), among other prophetic texts. Psalm hints at ways in which the Bible uses feminine imagery for God. God is similar motifs. a mother who gives birth to, suckles, and comforts her children In the NT, there is a consistent analogy referencing Jesus (Num :, Deut : , Isa :; cf. James : , John :, Pet Christ as the groom and the church as the bride, one commonly :–). Other Scriptures also compare God’s actions to that of a invoked in contemporary wedding homilies. human mother (e.g., Isa :–, :– : , : – & –). Beyond the overt analogies about divine-human relationships Lady Wisdom calls to foolish men in Proverbs, warning them in Scripture itself, many Christian thinkers through the centuries against Lady Folly. (Some would see Lady Wisdom as a divine routinely interpreted Scripture on more than one level, up to four personi cation, whether of Jesus, or of the Holy Spirit; in Prov or more. Although the Reformers pushed back against some of – , repeated warnings against adultery are paired with warnings the extremes that arose in the late medieval church, I would side against folly, while both are contrasted with divine wisdom.) with those who champion multiple meanings in Scripture. Female animals are also invoked as metaphors for God, including Paul J. Gri ths neatly sums up the four main streams of an eagle (Exod :, Deut :), a hen, a lioness, and a bear. allegorical interpretation with respect to the Song of Songs that It is the woman in Song of Songs who takes the initiative with focus on divine-human relationships. While the male lover a love that is pure, persistent, and enduring, jealously calling (groom) is invariably God (or Jesus), the female lover (bride) is her lover to lifelong faithfulness, even as she keeps her covenant identi ed as Israel, the church, Mary, or the individual believer. promises to him, binding herself to him with extravagant The Surprising Analogy in Song of Songs metaphors describing the unrelenting, all-conquering power of her devotion to him. Although there have been many attempts to interpret Song of It is the man in Song of Songs who is ckle and faithless, a Songs allegorically, they always break down in the attempt to womanizer who woos his beloved with worshipful language, but in work out a detailed scheme that strict allegory requires, in which various ways shows himself unworthy of her overpowering love. virtually every strophe, line, image, or metaphor supposedly Such a reading may seem quite jarring, given the general corresponds to some aspect of Christian faith and life. e (though not universal) pattern of male images for God throughout readings fail to convince as they become increasing implausible. Scripture, or the frequent pairing of God as the husband and of (e breasts are the twin tablets of the Decalogue, or the two Israel (or the church or the believer) as the wife (however unfaithful cherubim hovering over the ark of the covenant, or the Law and she is, sometimes even pictured as a harlot). Nevertheless, this is the Prophets, or Christ’s mercy and truth, or the Messiah in his cbeinternational.org PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring • £ one instance where a much better way to read the text is to reverse Song of Songs also reminds us that we still live in a fallen world. the standard typologies. For the crucial analogy is not between Women should not live bound by patriarchy, nor should they need God as male and Israel/church/believer as female, but between a to fear male violence, not even when alone at night in the city. at faithful God and a faithless people. women are still routinely abused by men is a tragic sign of creation I am not declaring this the only way to read Song of Songs, disordered, of a world still desperately in need of redemption. for I do think it is rst of all a healthy call to erotic love echoing Finally, as the Song of Songs ultimately discloses the limits the innocence of Eden. We are barred from the garden and its and losses of erotic love, both women and men should come to full delights, yet even before the incarnation or Christ’s great the realization that God alone is the source of the deep, sacri cial, work on the cross to remove the curse, a vision remained among abiding love that lasts for eternity. God’s people of the potential beauties of marital love rooted in Coda divine creation. But if there is any sensus plenior (“fuller sense, deeper In English language marriage homilies delivered by Roman meaning”) in Scripture, any typology with respect to divine- Catholic priests in the British Isles, brides were consistently human love relationships, then I would suggest that the typology reminded that their circular wedding ring was a symbol of in Song of Songs is the opposite of what most readers and eternity, and therefore that their rst loyalty was to God, not to commentators have hitherto assumed. In this instance, God is their husband. Song of Songs is Wisdom Literature, and like female, humans are male. all Wisdom Literature, its primary and profoundest message is Remember, however, that this metaphorically female to teach us our need for God, who alone loves us perfectly and “Goddess” is not the promiscuous female deity that populates unfailingly. Our need for divine love transcends even our need ancient Near Eastern mythology, but a unique, jealous for human love. For Song of Songs reminds us, even if it does monotheistic Deity, who remains utterly faithful in love and who so indirectly and implicitly, that there is a divine love even more calls for absolute delity on the part of her lover. Remember, too, important than the strongest of human sexual loves. that the far more frequent references to a male God in the Bible Notes are also metaphorical. . But not what C. S. Lewis calls Venus or lust; Lewis, e Four Loves The Biblical Feminism that Arises from Song of Songs (Harcourt, Brace, & World, ) esp. ch. on Eros, – . . Cf. Daniel Fredericks and Daniel Estes, Ecclesiastes & Song Song of Songs teaches us a series of simple but important lessons of Songs, ApOTC (InterVarsity, ) . “Of all the books in the about biblical feminism. Bible, the Song of Songs is the most poetic, the most beautiful and most Women may take the lead in erotic love. mysterious” (Estes). Cf. also George Knight and Friedemann Golka, e Song of Song & Jonah: Revelation of God, ITC (Eerdmans, ) . Women need not be ashamed of their sexuality. . Cf. Shai Held, “We’re All Royalty: Genesis and the Divine Right of Women are powerful and may speak forcefully in a Everybody,” ChrCent / ( Nov ) –. relationship. . Ellen F. Davis, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs, Women may take the lead in calling for faithful Westminster Bible Companion (Westminster John Knox, ) – . . E.g., the fresh translation in Good, Song of Songs. purity in male-female relationships. . E.g., Song of Songs: Erotic Love Poetry, adapted and illustrated by Women may teach us divinely ordered truths by Judith Ernst (Eerdmans, ). word and deed. . is is not only because of the dictum, “Poetry is what gets lost in Women who are faithful to their lovers may provide translation,” attributed to Robert Frost. is widely quoted statement is an important analogy for understanding the nature actually a concise rephrasing of comments by him; see Cleanth Brooks and and character of God. Robert Penn Warren, Conversations on the Cra of Poetry: A Transcript of the Tape Recording Made to Accompany Understanding Poetry, ird At the same time, Song of Songs provides a series of cautions, Edition, with Robert Frost, John Crowe Ransom, Robert Lowell, and especially to men, but also to women who might otherwise be eodore Roethke (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, ) . “I would like to taken in too quickly by boastful, wealthy, powerful men. say, guardedly, that I could de ne poetry this way: It is that which is lost out of both prose and verse in translation.” Erotic love relationships should not be entered into e problems of a truly poetic translation of this particular work too quickly. become apparent in the opening lines of Song of Songs in Hebrew; see Men should be considerate in their lovemaking and Exum, Song of Songs, –. Much of the extensive word-play and structural faithful to their beloved, not hasty, nor impatient, nor felicities (e.g., alliteration, assonance, ellipsis, enjambment, parataxis, sexually sel sh. paronomasia) will be lost, even if a good translator is able to retain some Men should not look for sexual satisfaction elsewhere, of the chiasmus, inclusio, and overall circularity and symmetry. Another factor is the unusual vocabulary. ere are hapax legomena whether by means of polygamy or promiscuity. ( of the Hebrew words found therein), another words occur ve Men should eschew the male customs, codes, and times or less, between six and ten times, and eleven to twenty times. urges that give rise to manifestations of patriarchy See G. Lloyd Carr, e Song of Solomon, TOTC (InterVarsity, ) –. such as machismo.
¥ • PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring cbeinternational.org So the ambiguous meaning of many terms is itself a signi cant challenge . Cf. Ruth, where love overcomes barriers of age, class, ethnicity, for translators. poverty, and social location; cf. Erdel, “Ruth and Hope.” Just as Ruth the . See G. di San Lazzaro, “e Song of Songs in Color,” and Dora Moabitess rebukes the lawless idolatry prevailing during the period of the Vallier, “From Memories to Myth,” in Homage to Chagall, ed. G. di San judges in Israel by her life and loving-kindness, the Shulamite rebukes Lazzaro (Tudor, ) – and – . I was rst led to these sources by the excesses of Solomon by her persistent love and call to faithfulness. Endel Kallas, “Martin Luther as an Expositor of the Song of Songs,” LQ / . See Havilah Dharamraj, “Green-Eyed Lovers: A Study of Jealousy (Autumn ) . in Song of Songs :–,” Priscilla Papers / (Winter ) – . . Richard S. Hess, Song of Songs, BCOTWP (Baker Academic, ) . See Longman, Song of Songs, –. : “e female voice dominates this poem to a greater extent than any . See Timothy Paul Erdel, “Physical Death and Philosophical other book or text of comparable length in the Bible.” Judgment,” Re ections & ( & ) – . Cf. Matt Fitzgerald, . Sheila Wray Gregoire [guest blogger], “ ings We Learn from the “Shaping My Mind to Die: e Beauty and Danger of the WeCroak App,” Shulamite Woman about Female Sexuality,” To Love, Honor, & Vacuum: ChrCent / ( Nov ) –, . Marriage, Sex, Parenting, Faith [a blog maintained by Rebekah Hargraves], . Some commentaries explore numerous parallels in ANE https://tolovehonorandvacuum.com/ / /shulamite-woman-female- literature (and elsewhere), perhaps none more thoroughly than Marvin sexuality/. H. Pope, Song of Songs, AB C (Doubleday, ) – . ANE poems . is is not unprecedented in Hebrew Scriptures. See Tamar in Gen provide useful contexts for reading the Song of Songs. I prefer, however, , or Ruth in Ruth ; cf. David Carr, “Gender and the Shaping of Desire drawing comparisons and contrasts with Plato’s notions about erotic in the Song of Songs and Its Interpretation,” JBL / ( ) – , esp. love, especially as found in his Symposium, since I nd such analysis . Cf. also Timothy Paul Erdel, “e Book of Ruth and Hope in Hard more interesting philosophically, despite the radically di erent styles Times,” Priscilla Papers / (Winter ) – , truncated from a longer and contexts represented by Song of Songs and the Symposium. paper presented at the ETS th annual meeting, “Christians in the Public . Katharine Bushnell, God’s Word to Women: Bible Studies on Square,” Washington, DC, Nov . Woman’s Place in the Divine Economy, with a Foreword to the ed. by Of course, women also take initiative when the issues are not sexual, Ray Munson, https://godswordtowomen. les.wordpress.com/ / / whether one considers the example of Deborah, of the “ideal” woman in gods_word_to_women.pdf, Lesson , “e Ancient Renderings of Prov , or of Esther, to name three. Cf. Timothy Paul Erdel, “Approaching Teshuqa,” entry no. (pp. – ). Other writers suggest this is not the the Problem of Violence in Esther: Does Gratuitous Evil Undermine an only way the fall disordered sexual desires. See, e.g., the autobiographical Otherwise Delightfully Subversive Text?,” paper presented at the memoir by David Bennett, A War of Loves: e Unexpected Story of a Joint Meeting of the Midwest Region of the SBL, e Middle West Branch Gay Activist Discovering Jesus (Zondervan, ). For my explorations of the American Oriental Society, and e American Schools of Oriental of related topics, see Timothy Paul Erdel, “Can Friendship Redeem Eros, Research-Midwest, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deer eld, Illinois, or Do We Need to Read Great Books Too?,” paper presented at the EPS Feb . annual meeting, San Diego, California, Nov ; idem, “Is Sexual . e article by Gregoire ends with a bold-font statement that Autobiography Self-Authenticating? Assessing Moral and Spiritual women’s sexual freedoms within marriage should not be construed Claims from LGBTQ Communities,” paper presented at the ETS rd as obligations, nor as reasons for undermining a woman’s self-worth, annual meeting, San Francisco, California, Nov ; and idem, i.e., if such a desire is lacking. Cf. Christine Woolgar, “What I Wish the “Should Christian Egalitarians Be Gender Essentialists? What Would Church Had Told My Husband and Me About Sex and Consent,” Arise It (Not) Mean if ey Were?,” paper presented at the ETS th annual [CBE blog], Nov , https://cbeinternational.org/blogs/what-i-wish- meeting, “Other Voices” section, Providence, Rhode Island, Nov . church-had-told-my-husband-and-me-about-sex-and-consent?eType= . Paul J. Gri ths, Song of Songs (Brazos, ) . EmailBlastContent&eId=adb-ac- - d-a c. . I reject the claim by George Knight, “in the whole series of poems . See Sara Barton, “A Biblical Example of a Sexually Healthy Woman no reference is ever made to questions of mortality”: Song of Songs, . for a World Where Unhealthy Sexuality Makes Headlines,” Priscilla . Recall the prejudice of Aaron and Miriam against the Cushite/ Papers / (Winter ) –. Cf. Elizabeth Gentry, “My Resounding Ethiopian wife of their brother Moses in Num . ‘Yes’ to God and Embracing My Sexuality: Singleness and the Song Dianne Bergant points out that the Hebrew sibilants in : suggest of Songs,” Priscilla Papers /, –; and Dawn Gentry, “Mutuality, the sizzling associated with frying; the beloved’s skin has been “cooked Mystery, and Marriage: Love in the Song of Songs,” Priscilla Papers /, in the sun.” Bergant, e Song of Songs, Berit Olam: Studies in Hebrew – . ere are multiple ways to read this startling emphasis on the Narrative & Poetry (Liturgical, ) –. assertive female voice. A common claim in more recent years, one that . On a slightly cynical reading, the text anticipates a prototypical seems plausible to me, is that the author of the book may be female. promiscuous male, the boastful, sometimes charming, despicably See Tremper Longman III, Song of Songs, NICOT (Eerdmans, ) – , unfaithful lover, a Don Juan/Don Giovanni or a Giacomo Casanova. ere though Longman seems skeptical of the proposal. Some critics suggest are rulers who are real-life sexual monsters. Genghis Khan was apparently this strong emphasis on aggressive female sexuality is not an a rmation one. So too was Chairman Mao, who demanded ready access to young of female sexual freedom, but of male fantasies, thereby deconstructing women for many years, o en sleeping with multiple partners; see Li any notion that Song of Songs is a feminist text. See especially, David J. Zhisui, e Private Life of Chairman Mao: e Memoirs of Mao’s Personal A. Clines, “Why Is ere a Song of Songs and What Does It Do to You if Physician: Dr. Li Zhisui (Random House, ) e.g., ix–x, – , . You Read It?” Jian Dao (Jan ) –; see also J. Cheryl Exum, “Ten . e allegorizing by Origen gives these passages a radically ings Every Feminist Should Know about the Song of Songs,” in e di erent meaning; see Peter W. Martens, Origen and Scripture: e Song of Songs, ed. Athalya Brenner and Carole R. Fontaine, A Feminist Contours of the Exegetical Life, OECS (Oxford University Press, ) Companion to the Bible, nd Series (She eld Academic, ) –. , referencing Origen’s Homily on Song of Songs, ..
cbeinternational.org PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring • ¢ . Eugene A. Nida, Understanding Latin Americans: With Special . See, e.g., Sam :–; :–; Ps ; cf. Matt :. It has been Reference to Religious Values and Social Movements (William Carey suggested that Solomon could be a type of Christ in his kingship, greatness, Library, ) esp. ch. , “Machismo and Hembrismo,” – . wealth, power, and wisdom, though even these would need to be carefully . See Bushnell, God’s Word to Women, Lesson , “God’s Law of quali ed in terms of how these attributes apply to the human Jesus. Marriage, (Cont’d),” entry (p. ). . Since the late eighteenth century there has been the tendency . e fullest exposition of the history of interpretation of Song of upon the part of some to treat Song of Songs as a poetic pastoral Songs is Pope, Song of Songs, – . Many scholars are dependent on drama, whether with two or three main characters beyond the female his great work, whatever one makes of his own interpretations. See also chorus. ree characters generally presumes the so-called “Shepherd Longman, Song of Songs, –. Among the earliest defenders of a more Hypothesis,” where the Shulamite wife remains faithful to her humble literal approach were the Eastern Church leader, eodore, Bishop of shepherd husband, despite lavish inducements by the Solomonic gure Mopsuestia, at the end of the fourth century (a century a er his death, to join his royal harem. I do not follow this line of interpretation, though he would be condemned for his views), and a Roman monk, Jovinian, I concur with the implicit critique of Solomon. Franz Delitzsch called who attacked asceticism despite his own celibate lifestyle, and who was the Song a dramatic pastoral poem, but did not support the three- also condemned, rst by Pope Siricius, then by Ambrose and Augustine; character hypothesis put forward by J. F. Jacobi, F. W. K. Umbreit, again, see Pope, – . For an anthology of comments on Song of Songs Georg Heinrich August von Ewald, Christian D. Ginsburg, S. R. Driver, from thinkers during the rst millennium of the church, see Richard A. Ernest Renan, and Andrew Harper, among others (contra Arthur G. Norris Jr., trans. and ed., e Song of Songs: Interpreted by Early Christian Clarke, Walter C. Kaiser Jr., C. Hassell Bullock, and Dennis Robert and Medieval Commentators (Eerdmans, ). Magary). I am grateful for my conversation with Prof. Magary on . See Pope, Song of Songs, –, – . On Origen as an exegete, Nov . We share the view that Solomon makes a poor type of an see again Martens, Origen and Scripture. ideal husband, though he bears no blame for my other opinions. See . See Kallas, “Luther as Expositor of Song of Songs,” –; Martin Delitzsch, Commentary on e Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes (Eerdmans, Luther, Notes on Ecclesiastes, trans. Jaroslav Pelikan/Lectures on the Song ) –; J. Paul Tanner, “e History of Interpretation of the Song of of Songs: A Brief but Altogether Lucid Commentary on the Song of Songs Songs,” BibSac / ( ) – , esp. –. For recent expositions of by Dr. Martin Luther, trans. Ian Siggins/Treatise on the Last Words of the Shepherd Hypothesis, see Iain W. Provan, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, David: Samuel : –, trans. Martin H. Bertram, in Luther’s Works, ed. NIV Application Commentary (Zondervan, ) – ; and Aída Jaroslav Pelikan, vol. (Concordia, ) [ ]– , esp. – . Besançon Spencer, “e Song of Songs Celebrates God’s Kind of Love,” . Some feminist scholars take o ense at the allegorical portrayal Priscilla Papers / (Summer ) –. of Israel or Judah as promiscuous females, even though the actual . See Abigail Dolan, “Imagining a Feminine God: Gendered persons being castigated for their unfaithfulness are more o en than Imagery in the Bible,” Priscilla Papers / (Summer ) – ; cf. not male leaders. Aída Besançon Spencer, e Goddess Revival, with Donna F. G. Hailson, . In addition to the classic Eph :– text, see, e.g., Cor :–; Catherine Clark Kroeger, and William David Spencer (Baker, ) esp. Matt :, :–; Mark : ; Luke :; John : ; Rev :, : – , :, ch. , “God Is Not Male,” – . : – , :. . e Syrian Church in particular tends to emphasize the feminine . Cf. David C. Steinmetz, “e Superiority of Pre-Critical Exegesis,” (metaphorical, not metaphysical) identity of the Holy Spirit that is To / (Apr ) – ; cf. also Daniel J. Treier, “e Superiority of suggested by Scripture, beginning with the feminine noun ruach. Pre-Critical Exegesis: Sic et Non,” TJ, ns / (Spring ) – . Cf. . See, e.g., Calvin G. Seerveld, Never Try to Arouse Erotic Love also Ian Christopher Levy, Introducing Medieval Biblical Interpretation: Until— : e Song of Songs, in Critique of Solomon: A Study Companion, e Senses of Scripture in Premodern Exegesis (Baker Academic, ). ed. John H. Kok (Dordt College Press, ). Cf. Lambert Zuidervaart . Many human actions carry multiple meanings, and speech-acts and Henry Luttikhuizen, eds., Pledges of Jubilee: Essays on the Arts and may do so as well. Much of our communication is inherently laden with Culture, in Honor of Calvin G. Seerveld (Eerdmans, ). multiple meanings. Biblical texts are not exempt from these common . Marriage is repeatedly intimated as the appropriate context tendencies. In a related matter, I am also leery of a hermeneutic that for sexual love. Although the message about marriage rests on poetic focuses too dogmatically upon authorial intentions. ) We do not know intimations rather than overt instructions, the strong claim by David Carr (for certain) many biblical authors. ) We cannot read the minds of those that there is nothing about marriage in Song of Songs fails to recognize we can identify. ) We o en have a tough time accurately sorting out our how much the meaning of a poem lies “between the lines.” “ere is no own motivations or the intentions of persons we know well. Cf. C. S. sign throughout the Song that the lovers of the Song of Songs are married Lewis, “Modern eology and Biblical Criticism,” Christian Re ections, or that their love is sanctioned in any way.” See Carr, “Gender and Shaping ed. Walter Hooper (Eerdmans, ) – , esp. – . of Desire,” . On the other hand, some see far too much, reading Song . Gri ths, Song of Songs, xxxviii–xlii. of Songs as a detailed marriage manual. For examples of readings that . See, e.g., Mary McDermott Shideler’s extended discussion of the purport to see an amazing number of speci c, detailed injunctions about di erence in sensibilities between those who follow the way of images love, marriage, sex, and gender roles in Song of Songs, see David George (typology) and those who follow the way of allegory. On my reading, she Moore, Ecclesiastes, and Daniel L. Akin, Song of Songs (Holman Reference, clearly prefers images (typology); see e eology of Romantic Love: A ), and Daniel L. Akin, Exalting Jesus in Song of Songs (Holman Study in the Writings of Charles Williams (Eerdmans, ) esp. –. Reference, ). Mutatis mutandis, much the same could be said of . Gleason L. Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, rev. commentaries that turn the Song of Songs into a marital sex manual. See, and exp. ed. (Moody, ) ; J. Paul Tanner, “History of Interpretation,” e.g., S. Craig Glickman, A Song for Lovers (InterVarsity, ), and Joseph , esp. the concluding paragraph. Cf. Tom Gledhill, e Message of the C. Dillow, Solomon on Sex: A Biblical Guide to Married Love (omas Song of Songs, e Bible Speaks Today (InterVarsity, ) –. Nelson, ). I prefer the sane, if still morally conservative, discussions by
• PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring cbeinternational.org Tom Gledhill on “ e Morality of the Song,” see Gledhill, Message of Song close, analytical readings of the actual Song of Songs undertaken by Elliott of Songs, –: “we cannot derive a complete doctrine of sexual morality and Exum, despite his own focus on the lyricism of the text. or marriage from the Song alone” ( ). is essay draws its major points from lectures prepared for a . Again, see Spencer, Goddess Revival, – , but also the whole modular course on El Meguilot, taught during the summer of for book for appropriate warnings against contemporary “Goddess” the Instituto Bíblico-Teológico, I.E.M. in the Dominican Republic and movements. Although Jesus is later incarnate as a male, his vocation as the Seminario Bautista Bereana in Cuba. A preliminary version of this a single celibate is a signi cant counter to those who would press the paper was presented at the session on Evangelicals and Gender: Gender supposed meaning of his incarnation as a male too far. E.g., just as his in Biblical Perspective (moderated by Cynthia Long Westfall and Gerry being born a Jew does not limit his followers or his appointed ministers to Breshears), ETS th annual meeting, Denver, Colorado, Nov . Jews alone, neither does his being born a male limit his followers or their A slightly revised version was presented at the section on Prophets and Writings (moderated by Tom Wetzel), Midwest Region meeting of the spiritual leaders to males alone. SBL/Middle West Branch of the American Oriental Society, St. Mary’s . I owe this insight to Beth Allison Barr, who recounted her College, Indiana, Feb . I am grateful to my audiences, and esp. to research in English medieval manuscripts during her th anniversary Robert Eagle, Máxima López de Abreu, and Daniel Josué Pérez Naranjo, plenary address, “Paul, Medieval Women and Years of the CFH: New who invited me to teach, and to my father, Paul A. Erdel, who helped Perspectives,” e st Biennial Meeting of the Conference on Faith and me with my initial preparation, as well as to more recent readers of History, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Oct . this paper who o ered corrections and suggestions, including Kevin L. . I lean heavily on the work of many others, especially Sister M. Blowers, David A. Erdel, and Laura (Lolly) M. (Drown) Erdel. Timothea Elliott, who argues for the unity of the poetic material (Elliott, e Literary Unity of the Canticle, Europäische Hochschulschri en, ser. , eology, [Peter Lang, ]; cf. the a rmation of Elliott’s work by Duane Garrett, Song of Songs; Paul R. House, Lamentations, WBC B [ omas Nelson, ] – .) A number of commentators, including J. TIMOTHY PAUL ERDEL is Professor of Religion and Cheryl Exum (Song of Songs, OTL [Westminster John Knox, ] –), Philosophy at Bethel University in Mishawaka, Indiana. a rm this unity. For recent reiteration of the view that prefers a collection A former missionary with World Partners, he also wrote, of poems from disparate (oral) sources, see Edwin M. Good, e Song of “The Book of Ruth and Hope in Hard Times,” Priscilla Songs: Codes of Love (Cascade, ), but his arguments come from his Papers / (Winter ). presuppositions about the formation of ancient texts, not from the sorts of
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cbeinternational.org PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring • Mary and Martha: Celebrating the Gifts of Others a sermon by J G and M K H
I want to begin this morning with a story about my family, a story story o ers a di erent point of view or take-away. Some authors about my sister and me. My sister is younger than me, and I’m believe we’re supposed to see this story as a comparison between proud of her. Well, most of the time. I’m usually an awesome big faith and works—Mary represents faith, while Martha tries to sister, and I brag on her until I drive people crazy, but every once earn her salvation with works. Some commentaries suggest this in a while, I get a little more jealous than I’d like to admit. is story is pointing out the di erence between a good woman and story happened on a Mother’s Day weekend. My dad gathered my a bad woman—Mary is the good, faithful, focused woman, and sister, brother, and me on the Friday night before Mother’s Day. Martha is a woman too distracted with domestic things. One book He told us he would get Mom out of the house all day Saturday even says that Martha, who is in charge of the house, represents and it would be our job to top-to-bottom clean the house for her. a married woman, distracted with the things of this world, while e next morning, my dad took my mom out to run some Mary represents a single woman who cares for the things of the errands, and my siblings and I leapt to work, making sure the Lord. is author reads the story as a criticism of marriage! house was spotless. Our spirits were high, but quickly, on that You’ll notice, a lot of these interpretations involve pitting these May Saturday morning, it became apparent that my little sister women against each other. is type of woman compared to that was absolutely lapping me. Every time I looked at my phone, type of woman. Which type is better? ese interpretations prompt or paused for a break, or even grabbed a glass of water, she had us to pick sides. started a new task. Since this text has many possible interpretations, it probably is continued until about three p.m. As I went to get a load inspires di erent reactions from all of you too. When you heard of laundry from the dryer, I noticed her conspicuous absence. me say we’re going to talk about Mary and Martha, some of you My perfect sister had stopped helping me around the house might have cringed. Maybe you’ve heard a message on this before to read a book she had to nish by Monday morning for her that you didn’t appreciate. Or maybe you were excited that we’re English class. My friends, you have never seen a stack of towels talking about this text—you love talking about Mary and Martha so sanctimoniously folded as the stack I folded that day! Even and you learn a lot from them! though my sister had done more work than I could ever do that We all have di erent reactions to this passage because we morning, and even though I knew this load of laundry was a gi connect with it di erently. Some of us connect more with Martha to my wonderful mother, I was creasing linens with a vengeance. and her gi s and reactions. Maybe you agree that it’s annoying My perfect little sister had le me to nish the work by myself, and when others are sitting around and you’re doing all the work. But by the time my mom arrived home, I was in no mood to celebrate. others of us connect more with Mary and her behavior. It’s good I don’t know if you’ve ever done that, if you’ve ever taken on that she’s taking a break. How wonderful that she gets to sit at the a task with excitement but, by the end of it, felt overwrought and feet of Jesus and learn! frustrated with every person in the room, but this problem is an All of this shows us that there’s a problem with this text: People old one. In fact, in Luke , Jesus encounters two sisters, much like can’t decide what the most important lesson in this story is. my sister and me, getting the house ready to celebrate someone. The Problem in the Story Here’s how the story begins: And then there’s the second problem, the problem in the text. If As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a you have sisters, you already know this problem. e text presents village where a woman named Martha opened her home two sisters welcoming the Lord into their home, and they’re to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s arguing! Now, of course, brothers argue too—but my perspective feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted is as a woman and a sister, and I feel the tension in this story. by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Martha is snapping at Mary, trying to get Jesus to correct Mary. him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has Jesus instead corrects Martha. And it quickly become clear that le me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” there’s a problem in this story. “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried e Problem Isn’t Martha Working. and upset about many things, but few things are needed— or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and I’ll tell you what the problem can’t be. First, the problem is not it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke : – NIV) Martha’s hospitality. It’s good that Martha welcomed Jesus into her home! Her I love this passage, but it has some problems. ere’s a problem hospitality is a wonderful gi ! is passage is set in the middle of with the text and there’s a problem in the text. a section, chs. – of Luke, that features stories about hospitality. The Problem with the Story ere’s no way that Jesus is now turning the tables to say that ere’s a problem with this text because nobody seems to agree on hospitality is bad. what we’re intended to learn from this story. Preparing this sermon Jesus has actually taught earlier in this same chapter about over the past few weeks, I have felt like every book about this how his ministry—the spread of the gospel—depends on others welcoming him and his disciples into their homes.
¤ • PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring cbeinternational.org And now Jesus comes, needing to be welcomed by someone, only had four days to build this family a home. en, I looked up and Martha stands ready to do just that. is story shows Martha and saw my sister playing with neighborhood children, chatting as someone who o ers Jesus a place and feeds him. happily and letting them play with her hair. I was fuming. I was is tells us the problem is not that Martha is in the kitchen. physically exhausted while she sat in the shade getting her hair Martha is going to great e ort to welcome her honored guest, done. You can bet I tracked her down later to call her out on and these actions are a mark of discipleship and obedience. She’s playing with kids while the rest of us did all the hard work! opening her home as Jesus instructed others to. Martha has been e problem wasn’t that I was putting up insulation. e blessed with the honor of welcoming Jesus into her home, and she problem wasn’t that she was playing with kids. e problem was has proven to be equal to this task. my attitude toward her service. No, the problem with this text is not Martha’s work, and the I don’t have to look back all the way to that trip to Mexico. problem is not that she’s in the kitchen. e same problem is as close as the laundry room I mentioned e Problem Isn’t Mary Learning. earlier, how angry I was to be working alone, how angry I was at my sister for working di erently—in a di erent room. We also know that Mary’s study is not the problem. Jesus explicitly You see, the problem isn’t Martha in the kitchen, cooking says that what Mary is doing is good. It’s easy to take this for Jesus’s meal, and the problem isn’t Mary at Jesus’s feet, studying granted, so I want to take a moment to acknowledge that Jesus’s Jesus’s words. e problem is that Martha is so worried and upset a rmation of Mary is radical. N. T. Wright, a prominent New and frustrated at having to work by herself that she forgets she Testament scholar, says that the most important thing we can learn has Jesus in her living room. e problem comes when Martha from this a rmation is that Jesus makes room for women to hear, diminishes Mary’s task and shames Mary herself. learn, and teach his message. He explains that, in Mary’s day, when Martha comes into the living room, hands on her hips, you sat at the feet of a teacher, you were a student of that teacher. tapping her foot, demanding, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister And if you were a student of that teacher, that meant you would has le me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” When someday be a teacher yourself. But in Mary’s day, this spot at the Jesus is in the living room, Martha knows, you get in the kitchen. teacher’s feet was reserved for men. But not with Jesus. Here, Jesus If you really love the Lord, you start cooking! And it is to this insists that it is good for a woman to listen and prepare to teach, so attitude that Jesus responds. Jesus rebukes Martha for shaming we know that Mary is not the problem. the way Mary serves him. Jesus stops Martha from claiming that e Problem Is Judgment and Shame. there is only one right way to respond to Jesus in the living room. I know, it sounds silly when Martha says it. Of course, we But still, we sense a problem in this story when Martha turns to think, if Jesus is in your house, you need people to listen and Jesus and demands, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has le people to cook. If Jesus is in the living room, you need someone me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” (v. NIV). to prepare his meal and you need someone to study everything And we sense a problem when Jesus responds, “Martha, Martha, he says. I know, it sounds silly here for Martha to claim there is you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are only one right way to respond to Jesus in the living room. But we needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and can do this, church! In fact, it’s easy to do this. ink about it, we it will not be taken away from her” (vv. – NIV). can get up on Sunday morning to serve in the nursery and nd is story is one of those that, the more I read it, the less ourselves grumbling about all the people still in bed. We can start comfortable I become with it. Every time I read it, some of the cooking dinner for high schoolers, only to nd ourselves pursing words grate on me. I can hear Martha’s voice, “Lord, don’t you our lips at every cold oven in the city. We can stay late to clean care?” Doesn’t anyone care that I’m in here, slaving away all by up a er an event, and nd ourselves hu ng, our minds stuck myself, while my own sister slacks o . I can hear Martha, getting entirely on the people already home with their families. more and more frustrated the longer she talks, and I can hear And this temptation to shame should come as no surprise to Jesus, almost baed, gently admonishing, “Martha, Martha— us. We see this throughout our culture. On social media, we feel you’re distracted. You’re worried and upset. Even though Mary the burden of shame and become voices of shame, viewing each is doing a good thing, you’re asking me to send her to help you? other’s celebratory posts with bitterness. We shame each other’s I am your Lord, Jesus, in your living room, and you want me to jobs and skills and passions. join you in criticizing your sister?” Men do it, and women do it. Our culture has a habit of pitting The Problem with Myself women against each other. We judge each other for the way we Perhaps the real reason I can’t get comfortable reading and talking dress: “Why would you wear that? at doesn’t look good at all. about this text is not the problem with the story or in the story. You should wear things that I think are stylish.” Women shame Perhaps the problem is with me? Every time I read it, I see a little each other for when they have children: “When I was your age, I too much of myself in it. I know this problem all too well because, had three kids. You should get started. You’re a bit behind.” so o en, it’s mine. Friends, there are so many tempting voices of shame around I remember when my sister and I were on a mission trip in us, and it’s easy to bring these into the church. It’s easy for your Mexico, helping build a house for a family. One a ernoon I was love of what you do and where you serve to become twisted, to putting insulation on the walls. e sun was beating down on become a belief that you’re serving the right way, and everyone me. I’m sure I was a bit dehydrated. Time was running out—we else is serving the wrong way. cbeinternational.org PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring • ¤¤ And very quickly, we nd this does something to our hearts. Maybe no one ever told her, or maybe, like I do so o en, You see, if you believe the way you serve Jesus is the only right she’d forgotten that she couldn’t work her way into receiving way to serve Jesus, you can look around at a room full of people, Jesus. Maybe she had forgotten that she wasn’t doing this on her and the only thing you see about them is that they’re not doing own. Maybe she had forgotten this good work was prepared in what you’re doing. All you can do is throw up your hands in advance for her. frustration and demand, like Martha, “Lord, can’t you see they’re She is distracted and has forgotten, like I forget, that every not helping?” chance to serve at church or in our city or in our homes is a gi and But that’s not what Jesus sees, and it’s not what he calls us to an honor, given to us by a God who chooses to work through us. see either. When Jesus looks at Mary, he doesn’t see hands that God chooses to work by giving Martha gi s and real, meaningful, should be in the kitchen; he sees someone doing exactly what precious chances to use them. She forgets that they are gi s, and he has prepared her to do. Jesus sees a student, preparing to be she forgets that Mary too has received gi s. She forgets that when a teacher. He sees someone serving with their God-given gi s. we are receiving the work prepared for us, it’s not time for shame. And today, church, when Jesus looks at the people who didn’t It’s time for celebration, of her own gi s and opportunities, and of come early or stay late at the event that we were sure was of Mary’s too. utmost importance, I think there’s a good chance he sees the And if you’re here this morning, and you’ve forgotten, or maybe same thing he sees when he looks at Mary. He sees how he has you haven’t heard, let me tell you, God has given you gi s too. Real, uniquely gi ed people in di erent ways, to serve in di erent unique, and precious gi s, and he’s set before you opportunities arenas. Friends, Jesus sees the work he has uniquely prepared and communities where there are good works prepared for only for them, and there’s a good chance it’s not in the ministry we’ve you to do. And the people in the rows beside you, God has given decided is the frontline of the gospel push. them gi s and work to do, and they are almost certainly di erent ere’s a way to serve and to celebrate our own opportunities from yours. Jesus has gi s for you, and it’s not time for shame. It’s for service without shaming and diminishing where others sit, and time for celebration! it starts by looking at Martha’s house. Elsewhere in the NT, in Cor , we see a picture of how God In all of human history, only a tiny handful of people have been gives this gi : privileged to have Jesus in their living rooms, and Martha is one of ere are di erent kinds of gi s, but the same Spirit them. Martha gets to serve her God in the most tangible way, to distributes them. ere are di erent kinds of service, but cook his dinner and wash his dish and o er seconds to the Lord of the same Lord. ere are di erent kinds of working, but the universe! She is blessed to serve her God with the gi she has in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. been given, the way she has been designed to. But here’s the thing: Mary does too. In all of human history, Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given only a tiny fraction of people have had Jesus in their living rooms, for the common good. ( Cor :– NIV) and Mary is one of them! Mary gets to serve her God in the most Friends, our service is a gi , and it’s a gi that’s been given not tangible way. She gets to hear his intonation, to mull his words only to us, but to every single person in our church and our city. over, to pepper him with every star-student question on her heart. at gi looks di erent in each person’s hands, but it’s the same She gets to serve her God with the gi she has been given, the way gi . Cor goes on: she has been designed to. Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its is is what Jesus meant when he told Martha that Mary many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we had chosen the better thing (v. ). We know he didn’t mean were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body— that Martha’s service was wrong—Jesus loves and honors and whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were commands hospitality! But maybe he did mean that Martha’s all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not service would be wrong for Mary, that Mary was designed and made up of one part but of many. gi ed for something di erent from Martha. Again, Martha sounds so strange, so ironic! How could you Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I shame someone for choosing what they were made for? Not only do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason is such judgment, such shame, ironic, it’s distracting. e text says, stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made” “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” (v. NIV), but her attitude ends up being the ultimate distraction. it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. Avoiding shame distracts her so much that she actually stops If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of working. Martha can’t even serve Jesus because she’s so distracted hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would judging what her sister is doing. the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the What Motivates Our Service? parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the My heart hurts for Martha. I feel like I understand her. See, Martha body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. ( was around before Paul, so maybe she never heard what I take Cor :– NIV) for granted, such as what Paul says in Eph : : “For we are God’s If you think tangibly about what it would take to host Jesus in handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God an actual, real-life living room, you quickly nd you need a lot prepared in advance for us to do” (NIV).
¤ • PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring cbeinternational.org of people. You need some Marthas, people who are excellent at somebody has made you feel ill-equipped, or underprepared, or hospitality to cook the dinner and set the table! But you also need unsure where you t. Well, just like Mary, you’ve got Jesus in some Marys, to sit with him and talk with him and study his your living room too, and he’s got a place for you. It might not words. And you’re going to need a lot more people too. You’re look like somebody else’s, but it is just as good and necessary going to need some Joes who can call everyone in town and say, and powerful. “Jesus is here!” and get them to the party. You’re going to need Colossians : puts it this way: “whatever you do, whether some Sarahs who can get to the store and pick up everything you in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving need. is party is going to be big, so you’ll need some Henrys thanks to God the Father through him” (NIV). to clean up the back rooms and the garages and the yards so Church, Jesus is in our living room. Whatever we do, in word there’s room for everyone. You’ll need some Alisons to provide or deed, we get to do it for him. He’s cra ed what we do, what the music and some Johns to show people where to park and put we’re good at, and who we fundamentally are into his mission. their coats. You’re going to need some Bens to hang the streamers ere’s no time for shame, friends. When Jesus is in the living and some Kathys to pick out the tablecloths—you’re going to room, it is time to celebrate the gi s of others! need a lot of people with di erent, unique, and essential gi s to Notes host Jesus in the living room. When Jesus is in the living room, there’s no time to shame anyone for the way they’re serving. is sermon was jointly written and has been preached by both authors. When Jesus is in the living room, we’ve got to live out of our e form presented here is a combination of the two original versions. gi ing and celebrate, thanking God that he’s sent us people who . N. T. Wright, Luke for Everyone, ed. (Westminster John Knox, can do everything we can’t. ) . Jesus in Our Living Room JANET GALANTE is College Minister at First Christian Church If you’re here this morning, maybe you’re Martha. Maybe you in Johnson City, Tennessee, and is pursuing an MDiv nearby at gured out the kind of work you were made to do a long time Emmanuel Christian Seminary. ago, and you’ve been as faithful as you can be in doing it—that’s awesome. But you’ve got to be careful. Because when you get really good at what you do, you can forget that it’s a gi . MOLLY KATE HANCE is a student at Vanderbilt University in But maybe you’re Mary. Maybe somebody has told you that Nashville, Tennessee, and is involved in a church plant called Alive people like you aren’t blessed with good work to do. Maybe Nashville.
SEPTEMBER 23–26, 2020 Join CBE in London to explore how centering women’s equality in Christian faith practice and NGO work helps communities and churches around the world flourish. This groundbreaking event is hosted with the Women’s Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance and the Anglican Diocese of Norwich. Learn More at cbe.today/ Featuring leading scholars and activists, including: 2020conf Natalie Collins Barrister, international Gender justice activist, speaker, arbitrator, and author of Men consultant, trainer, and author and Women in Christ: Fresh Light of Out of Control: Couples, Conflict from the Biblical Texts and the Capacity for Change
Elaine Storkey Lucy Peppiatt Sociologist, theologian, activist, Principal of Westminister and author of Scars Across Theological Centre and author Humanity: Understanding and of Rediscovering Scripture’s Vision Overcoming Violence Against Women for Women: Fresh Perspectives
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cbeinternational.org PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring • ¤ Women Leaders at the Table in Early Churches A K
e purpose of this article is to examine the oldest surviving record that iconographic artifacts are so important in iconographic artifacts that depict early Christians in real reconstructing the early liturgy. churches at the Eucharist table. ese provide the oldest visual In a study of the architectural layout of early churches in the evidence of early Christian traditions of leadership as it was city of Rome, omas F. Matthews acknowledged the di culty of actually practiced in churches. e reason for doing this is to ll reconstructing the performance of the liturgy solely from fragments in the cultural gaps about what we know regarding the sex of of prayers and later manuscripts, and he used archeological leaders who performed the ritual, or liturgy. evidence to help answer the question of how the liturgy was ree key elements are present in each of the ancient performed prior to the eighth century. e archeological remains illustrated artifacts under consideration. First, there is a that Matthews considered were of churches in Rome from the Eucharist table, also called the mensa or altar table. Second, the seventh century or earlier, with a couple dated as early as the h. artist depicted real people—not e material remains indicated biblical gures—with the table. that all of them had two stone And third, the architecture in the walls that formed a corridor down scene portrayed the interior of a the middle of the nave to the altar real church; that is, the artist was area—a corridor that essentially not imagining a heavenly or ctive divided the nave into two halves. scene, but representing the ritual Matthews compared this in that church. architectural feature of a divided ese windows into early nave with the oldest surviving churches help us understand how liturgy for the Roman mass, the earliest Christians must have known as the Ordo Romanus received certain sayings in Paul’s Primus, which, despite being the letters, sayings which today are oldest surviving, is only found in interpreted in some congregations manuscripts dated ninth-century as meaning that Paul did not or later. Consistent with the permit women to be church architecture of a divided nave, the leaders. ese artifacts suggest Ordo Romanus Primus mentions that early Christians understood a women’s side and a men’s side. texts such as Gal : as Paul’s Matthews thus reconstructed guiding instructions with respect Figure the nave with men on one side Ivory reliquary box. to interpreting his letters, and of the corridor and women on Liturgy in Old Saint Peter’s Basilica, ca. especially with respect to women, the other. e Ordo Romanus Source: Artres ART¤ because all three of the oldest Primus is usually assumed to surviving iconographic artifacts describe an all-male clergy in the portray women in the altar area of these churches. ese three altar area, but this is less certain since the masculine gender in artifacts are all the more stunning in that they represent the Latin can signify both sexes. altar areas of three of the most prominent orthodox basilicas in Women and Men at the Table in Old Saint Peter’s Basilica Christendom. One depicts Old Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. in Rome Another depicts the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. e third depicts the Anastasis, also called the Church of the Holy One of the two oldest iconographic artifacts in this study Sepulchre, in Jerusalem. contradicts any assumption that the early churches in the city of Rome had an all-male clergy. is h-century artifact depicts Previous Attempts to Reconstruct the Ancient Liturgy the altar area of Old Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. While the One might think we could read manuscripts to determine who scene on the artifact con rms that there was a men’s side and a did what in early Christian assemblies, but it has been estimated women’s side in the church, it contradicts that only men were in that eighty- ve percent of the Christian literature known from the altar area. Its sculptor depicted a men’s side and a women’s the rst two centuries has been lost. e percentage of liturgical side in the altar area, too. Since the discovery of this artifact, manuscripts lost is even higher, because almost no liturgical almost without exception scholars have agreed it depicts men on manuscripts dating to the rst seven centuries have survived. the le side of the table and women on the right. In addition, Paul Bradshaw has argued that liturgical is scene is on one face of an ivory reliquary (a box for holy manuscripts were “more prone to emendation than literary relics) that was buried beneath the altar area of a church near the manuscripts.” It is because of this gap in the historical written city of Pola in what is now Croatia. It was excavated in .
¤ • PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring cbeinternational.org Today it is in the Venice Archeological Museum. Sometimes called as the Constantinian apse in Saint Peter’s.” e excavators also the Pola Ivory, most art historians date this delicately carved box discovered a rectangular stone tomb under the pavement, which to the s, usually they believed at one no later than . time held Peter’s See Figure . bones. Both Jerome In , Anton in the late s and Gnirs, who was Gregory of Tours in familiar with the the late s wrote excavation, was that the basilica’s the rst to publish altar was over Peter’s an article about bones, so with the ivory box. He this discovery the said the scene had excavators seemed to extraordinary value have proved beyond for the liturgy during doubt that the stone the era of early Figure A table had been the Christian culture. Detail: Altar area of Old Saint Peter’s Basilica basilica’s altar. For He identi ed two detail of the shrine men and two women anking the ciborium, that is, the columned on the ivory, with the man and woman at its stone table, see structure over the altar sometimes called the baldachin or Figure B. canopy. ese two men and two women were sculpted with Gnirs speculated that the man and woman at the altar table their arms raised, a pose o en associated in Jewish Scripture were participating in a ceremony of the sacrament of matrimony. with the priesthood, and which art historian Alexei Lidov says In the subsequent thirty years a er his article, other art historians “is interpreted in iconographic studies as a liturgical one.” agreed that the ivory sculptor had carved a man and a woman at the Finally, beneath the ciborium, Gnirs also identi ed a man and a altar, with most assuming they must be a married couple. Others woman on either side of the altar table (mensa dell’altare). See have since proposed they might be mother and son. Some art Figure A. historians have suggested that the pair might be venerating the Although Gnirs did not make the connection, in Alice cross at the altar table, but in Joseph Wilpert rebutted that Baird published an article pointing suggestion saying, “in Saint Peter’s out that the six spiral columns of the Basilica the cross was not venerated ciborium on the ivory are an almost in such a pronounced fashion as perfect match for the six spiral depicted in this scene.” Wilpert’s columns that Constantine reputedly reason was that, unlike some donated to Old Saint Peter’s, columns churches, Saint Peter’s did not have today in the galleries of the modern a relic of the true Cross. Other art Saint Peter’s. at they indeed historians, however, have pointed out were the same six columns was that the woman was sculpted raising con rmed in , when the Vatican some type of container, perhaps a commissioned excavations beneath bowl or a pyx (a container for the the modern high altar. Eucharist). If the sculptor had At the bottom of a stack of carved a man instead of a woman medieval altars, Vatican excavators at the altar in Old Saint Peter’s, then discovered a second-century shrine, almost certainly from the beginning which they thought was the same scholars would have identi ed him shrine reportedly dedicated to Peter Figure B as a priest or bishop li ing a chalice near the site of his martyrdom in Detail of the shrine and its table of eucharistic wine. Rome. Fourth-century architects had One can imagine that a woman at built Old Saint Peter’s Basilica around this second-century shrine. the altar table in Old Saint Peter’s Basilica must have caused some It was “the architectural focus of the whole building.” e shape consternation among the Vatican excavators. ey took ten years and size of this shrine with its stone table—an eight-foot high by to publish their nal report, and it included two reconstructions eight-foot wide wall with the stone table embedded in its front of the ciborium as a twenty-foot by twenty-foot square. Without face—was virtually identical to what was carved on the ivory, mentioning that a woman had been identi ed at the altar, the down to the arched niche behind the table, which on the ivory is Vatican excavators sandwiched a photo of the ivory between seen with a large cross. Englebert Kirschbaum, one of the Vatican their two drawings of the square ciborium. One drawing was excavators, wrote that the scene on the ivory was “so striking a diagram with dotted lines in front of the shrine, accurately even in its details as to con rm conclusively its interpretation representing that they did not excavate in front of the shrine and cbeinternational.org PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring • ¤£ that their reconstruction was hypothetical. e second drawing, spiral columns forming what appears to be a curved trapezoid, however, was a three-dimensional illustration of a twenty-foot or half-hexagon, with the shorter front face framing the altar by twenty-foot square table, over which hung ciborium, presented the lamp. So also in not as hypothetical, Old Saint Peter’s. With but as real. ese two new eyes I saw that the drawings both placed four spiral columns the shrine itself at around the shrine the back of this large with its stone table square ciborium. What formed a trapezoid, was so important or half-hexagon, with about the square the shorter front face ciborium? Vatican framing the shrine, excavator Kirschbaum over which hung the later explained why large lamp. it was so important. e fourth-century He pointed out that architects of Old Saint a square ciborium’s Peter’s, thus, appear overhead ribs would to have copied the intersect in the middle architecture of the of the square, and that Anastasis in order to therefore the lamp visually invoke the sacral would hang ten feet Figure power of Jerusalem, in front of the second- left-Ciborium on the ivory; right-Ciborium per Vatican illustrator which Galit Noga-Banai century shrine and demonstrates that other its stone table—over artists in Rome were empty oor. e altar, he said, would have been under the doing. In Old Saint Peter’s, the half-hexagon ciborium over Peter’s lamp’s light, so he concluded: “We have to suppose a portable tomb with the rounded apse above it evoked the half-hexagon altar table.” ciborium over Christ’s tomb with the rotunda above. e architects When I rst started analyzing the scene on the Pola Ivory, I thus symbolically tied Peter’s tomb to Christ’s, and Old Saint Peter’s reviewed the Vatican excavators’ report, and it confused me. I Basilica to the Anastasis in Jerusalem. would look at the diagram with dotted lines of a square ciborium, e Vatican excavators’ so-called reconstruction of a square turn the page and see the photo of the ivory, and then turn the ciborium was simply a misguided attempt to move the altar away page once more and see the three-dimensional illustration of a from the woman. ey could not move the woman on the ivory. square ciborium. e more I looked at the ciborium on the ivory, So, they moved the altar. In Old Saint Peter’s, the large lamp the more I wondered why the sculptor—who otherwise was had not hung over vacant oor. It had hung above the second- quite accomplished—had not used proper artistic perspective century shrine and its stone table. e lamp’s light had shone and sculpted the square ciborium as a square. Most ciboria today exactly where one would expect the light to shine when the are square, so it was easy to imagine a square ciborium, but this second-century shrine itself had been “the architectural focus ciborium did not look square. Still, I did not question that it was of the whole building.” square. I trusted the Vatican excavators. e sculptor, in my Women at the Altar in the Anastasis mind, had failed to represent the square ciborium. See Figure for a comparison of the actual ciborium sculpted on the ivory One of the two round ivory pyxes portrays women in a liturgical versus the Vatican’s hypothetical square ciborium. recreation of the discovery of the empty tomb. According to the One day, however, I carefully read the Italian in the pilgrim Egeria, who around the year described the liturgy paragraphs below the photo of the ivory. e Vatican writer inside the Anastasis in her diary, the early morning service began mentioned that the ciborium on the ivory “has the exact function at cock crow, with deacons and presbyters reciting prayers and and similar form as the famous monument over Christ’s tomb Psalms, a er which they went into the cave, the tomb where inside the Church of the Anastasis in Jerusalem.” Suddenly I Jesus’s body had been laid to rest, and their censers lled the realized that the sculptor had used perfect artistic perspective. whole Anastasis with the scent of incense. She said, “e whole Old Saint Peter’s ciborium was not square. e Church of the assembly groans and laments at all that the Lord underwent for Anastasis was a rotunda, round, and many artifacts depict the us, and the way they weep would move even the hardest heart to monument over Christ’s tomb as multi-sided or six-sided, as a tears.” is service was so popular that according to Egeria, it hexagon. In addition, two round ivory pyxes dated to the s, was not only performed at Easter, but also every Sunday. which evoke the rotunda with their round shape, depict what Dated to the s, this ivory pyx was carved in the eastern was quite possibly its ciborium. Both depict a ciborium with four Mediterranean area, perhaps Palestine, but its provenance a er that is uncertain until it appeared at an auction in Paris in , a er
¤¥ • PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring cbeinternational.org which J. Pierpont Morgan donated it to the Metropolitan Museum Constantinople since it portrays Emperor Justinian and Empress of Art in New York. It, too, may have been dug up in the twentieth eodora. ree women with the cloth are in the mosaic that depicts century, but it is unlikely we will ever know where. It is, however, eodora standing between two eunuchs and seven women. Two the oldest iconographic women wear the fringed artifact to depict a single white cloth hanging from sex at the altar of a real their girdles, and a third church. Most interesting, woman holds it. Lidov it depicts only women, not cautions scholars who men. Two women carrying might argue that the cloth censers approach the altar. must mean something ree more women, each di erent simply because with her arms raised, it appears with women: appear in procession to the “Let me remind those altar. See Figures and A. who are convinced of Signifying that this the lay provenance of liturgical procession was the handkerchief that eucharistic, a narrow eodora with her retinue, strip of doubled cloth as well as Justinian, are hangs from each woman’s presented in San Vitale in a girdle. According to liturgical procession in the Lidov, this cloth or sanctuary, both holding handkerchief, sometimes Figure liturgical vessels.” All fringed, sometimes with Two women carry censers to the altar area. three women stand on delicate embroidered Ivory pyx, ca. £s. Ciborium over the altar in the Anastasis rotunda, Jerusalem the right of eodora, stripes at the end, later Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art, OA who holds the golden was called a maniple in chalice. ey appear as the West, but in the East counterparts to the three was called the “enchirion male clerics portrayed (literally ‘handy’)—a white in the opposite mosaic, handkerchief hanging at men seen on the right of the girdle of an archpriest, Justinian, who himself later called epigonation.” holds the golden paten Due to its various names for the bread. In the San over time in both East Vitale mosaic, as in the and West, I call it simply ivory of Old Saint Peter’s, the eucharistic cloth. the men were seen on Church o ciants used this the le of the altar and special cloth only during the women on the right. the performance of the For the two mosaics, see Eucharist, for example to Figures and A. wipe excess wine from ese two mosaics the rim of the chalice. probably represented During this era the clergy the practice in the Hagia wore everyday clothes, Sophia, the huge basilica taking care not to dress Figure A in Constantinople that as if they were rich or Three arms-raised women in the liturgical procession Justinian built and which special. e rst time in still stands today. In any art, for example, that we see a man in the liturgy with any special case, the second of the two oldest artifacts to depict people around priestly insignia is the episcopal pallium in the decade around , the table in a real church further indicates that the gender-parallel approximately the same time that we see the eucharistic cloth on liturgical practice seen in the San Vitale mosaics apparently had a women in the liturgy. long tradition not only in Rome, but also in Constantinople. is Gender Parallelism in the Liturgy of Constantinople ancient artifact portrays similar gender parallelism in the altar area of the second Hagia Sophia. Women are also seen with the eucharistic cloth in one of the is carving, on a huge sarcophagus front, was disovered two wall mosaics that ank the altar in the holy of holies of the in inside a hypogeum, an underground room containing Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. Dated around , these two sarcophagi made for the elite. Perhaps because the carving is mosaics comprise a scene thought to represent the liturgy in cbeinternational.org PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring • ¤¢ today in the rather distant Istanbul Archeological Museum, it Frescos of meal scenes in some of the Christian catacombs of has been less studied. Johannes Deckers and Ümit Serdaroğlu, Rome, usually dated from the mid- s to the early s, also who were involved in the suggest an early tradition excavation, published of both male and female the nd in and leaders at the table, noted that the column for that is what several capitals on this carving depict. For example, a were the same as the fresco in the Cubiculum column capitals of the of the Sacraments in the second Hagia Sophia, Catacomb of Callistus which was completed in portrays a young man and , but burned in . an arms-raised woman Based on the hypogeum’s standing at a tripod table location at the foot of the laden with bread and eodosian walls, the a sh. e man is on style of the man’s bulb the le and the woman clasp and clothing, and on the right, the same the early Christian cross gender positions seen on the altar, they dated two centuries later above the carving around the ground in the liturgy year . See Figure . Figure in Old Saint Peter’s. See A cross is on the table, Theodora holds the chalice. Altar apse mosaic, Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna. Figure . with curtains pulled back Source: Wilpert, Malereien, pl. ¤¤ Janet Tulloch, who to expose it beneath studied catacomb meal what appears to be the frescos, noticed that columned ciborium. An several other frescos arms-raised man and an portrayed a male and arms-raised woman ank female pair at a table, the altar, again the man on both holding a cup—and the le and the woman on the woman raising her the right. A boy is beside cup in the style of the the woman, much like leader. According to two eunuchs are beside Tulloch, in these meal Empress eodora in frescos, “female gures the San Vitale mosaic, dominate the cup action”; but otherwise this arms- she notes that in pagan raised woman and man funerary art in Rome are portrayed in mirror- the person raising the symmetrical poses. cup was virtually always Pre-Constantinian male. Figure is one of Evidence of Gender- the frescos that Tulloch parallelism at the included in her study. Eucharist Table Figure A On the far right in this fresco, a woman raises Even earlier pre- Justinian holds the paten. Source: Wilpert, Malereien, pl. ¤ the cup above the tripod Constantinian material table, and on the far le remains, from the ruins of a seated man also holds a the Megiddo army church in ancient Palestine to ritual meal frescos cup. is scene resonates with Irenaeus of Lyons’ report in the in the Christian catacombs of Rome, suggest that the tradition of late s that in one community of Christ followers, a man and women’s leadership at the Eucharist table was early. For example, a woman performed the ritual of consecrating the wine together, the stone table in the “Megiddo Church” in Palestine, the oldest a ritual that was almost certainly archaic, not innovative. church ruins known in Israel, dated ca. to , was anked by Notably, Irenaeus used the verb eucharistein (“give thanks, bless,” small oor mosaics which commemorated the names of women cf. Matt :; Mark :; Luke :, ; Cor :) to describe donors on one side and men donors on the other. is meeting the action of the woman who consecrated the cup of wine. house was next to the camp’s bakery, which suggests that bread ese catacomb frescos may have represented funerary meals may have been ritually broken and shared at this table. that included a eucharistic element, because the third-century
¤ • PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring cbeinternational.org Latin treatise Didascalia apostolorum said that the Eucharist the more reason to conclude that the gender-parallel ritual should be performed in cemeteries, and these catacombs were seen in the most important orthodox churches in Rome indeed cemeteries. and Constantinople The tradition of was probably first women raising the performed by Jesus’s eucharistic cup, thus, is Jewish disciples, both witnessed from the late male and female. s to the mid- s— Conclusion from the woman consecrating wine in In conclusion, the the community that Christian tradition of Irenaeus knew, to the women’s leadership women raising the in the assembly was cup above the table ancient, orthodox, and seen in catacomb widespread. So why did it disappear? An easy frescos, to the woman Figure raising the cup above answer is to suggest Liturgical scene ca. , second Hagia Sophia, Constantinople that Roman men who the altar table in Old Photo courtesy author Saint Peter’s Basilica, were overly prideful of to Empress Theodora their masculinity were holding the golden chalice in Constantinople. to blame, such as the emperor Constantine, who reportedly had Additional provocative evidence suggests that rituals with been a member of the military cult of Mithras, which did not gender-parallel leadership may have been present in some Jewish permit women members, much less women priests. Yet early communities during the time of Jesus. In the statements in opposition to women church rst century, Philo of Alexandria described leaders are exceedingly rare, even in the fourth the gender-parallel meal ritual of a Jewish century, even among the bishops of Rome. For sect that he called the erapeutae, whom he example, not until Pope Gelasius, who only ruled knew outside Alexandria, but which he said from to , do we hear a complaint such as were also active in other areas. He described his, that “women are encouraged to serve at the their all night ritual as having two leaders, sacred altars [ministrare sacris altaribus] and to with a woman in the role of Miriam and a man perform all the other tasks [cunctaque] that are in the role of Moses. is ritual reimagined assigned only to the service of men.” Gelasius the temple in Jerusalem, with an altar table, appears to have been an aberration, because libation, bread, and priests. Joan E. Taylor popes before him and a er him did not voice says, “Both men and women saw themselves similar views. Over time, however, this changed, not only as attendants or suppliants but as Figure ¡ perhaps due to the breakdown of the Roman Empire and the rise of fear and superstition. priests in this Temple.” Man and woman at a mensa Good evidence demonstrates that scribes of Philo also described two choirs, one male Callistus Catacomb, Rome these later centuries excised passages from and one female, who sang all night and, when Source: Wilpert, Malereien, pl. ¤.¤. the sun rose, li ed their hands. is part early Christian narratives that described of their ritual is astonishingly similar to the liturgical moment women in liturgical leadership—women who preached, taught, represented on the Pola Ivory, because the four arms-raised exorcised demons, healed with their hands, and baptized— men and women have open mouths, as if singing, as if they including narratives about women who, like Junia of Rom :, were two choirs —and the ritual for which Old Saint Peter’s were called apostles. is slow degenerative process resulted Basilica was famous was also an all-night ritual, an all-night in our modern false imagination of the early Christian past as a Mass that commemorated Peter. e ivory sculptor, thus, may time of an all-male clergy. have captured the singing men and women raising their arms Today those who oppose women in church leadership o en at the very moment during the Mass that the sun rose. Further claim some of Paul’s sayings as justi cation for their position. suggesting the reality of the ritual of the erapeutae in the liturgy Nearly two thousand years later, however, it is easy for someone to of Old Saint Peter’s Basilica, Eusebius of Caesarea in the early misinterpret Paul or to selectively quote his verses out of context. s wrote that the meetings of the erapeutae, including their ese iconographic artifacts of the early Christian gender-parallel rituals and their separate areas for men and women, were still in liturgy validate an egalitarian interpretation of what Paul meant in vogue in churches of his time. It seems likely Eusebius knew certain passages of his letters about women in leadership. ese of gender-parallel liturgies such as practiced in Old Saint Peter’s artifacts indicate that for Paul the guiding light, the overarching and the second Hagia Sophia. Given the iconographic artifacts, rule, was Gal : . Just as both slave and free could be leaders in we have no reason to doubt Eusebius’s report, which provides all the assembly who preached and taught, and just as both Jew and cbeinternational.org PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring • ¤ Greek could, so also both male and female could—for all were one . Bradshaw, Search for the Origins, . in Christ Jesus. . omas F. Matthews, “An Early Roman Chancel Arrangement and Its Liturgical Functions,” Rivista di archeologia cristiana ( ) – , esp. Notes –. . is excludes . For dating of these the lower register of manuscripts, see E. G. the late fourth-century Cuthbert F. Atchley, Ordo rotunda mosaics in Saint Romanus Primus, with George in essalonica, Introduction and Notes which depict only men, (London: Alexander including bishops, Moring, ) –. presbyters, musicians, . Atchley, Ordo and soldiers, but who are Romanus Primus, , , usually thought to portray , . martyrs in heaven; see . Matthews, Laura Nasrallah, “Empire “Early Roman Chancel and Apocalypse in Arrangement,” – , g. . essaloniki: Interpreting . Anton Gnirs, “La the Early Christian basilica ed il reliquiario Rotunda,” JECS / ( ) d’avorio di Samagher – , esp. – . presso Pola,” Atti e memorie . is excludes della società istriana di Melchizedek and Abraham archeologia e storia patria and Sarah in the San ( ) – , , –, Vitale nave mosaics dated g. ; Pietro Toesca, Storia ca. ; see Otto G. von dell’arte italiana I (Turin: Unione, ) ; Pericle Simson. Sacred Fortress: Figure ¢ Byzantine Art and Statecra Ducati, L’arte in Roma in Ravenna (Princeton A woman raises the cup above the tripod mensa. dalle origini al sec. VIII University Press, ) Marcellino and Pietro catacomb. Late s to early s. (Bologna: Cappelli, ) , plates and . It also Source: Wilpert, Malereien, pl. ¤£¢.. ; Alexander Coburn excludes two men adjacent Soper, “e Italo-Gallic the Anastasis altar on the Cleveland pyx dated s, but who face away from School of Early Christian Art,” e Art Bulletin / (June ) – , ; it because they are part of the Gospel scenes which ank it; see Archer St. Henri Leclercq, “Pola,” in Dictionnaire d’archeologie chretienne et de liturgie, Clair, “e Visit to the Tomb: Narrative and Liturgy on ree Early Christian vol. , part , ed. Fernand Cabrol and Henri Leclercq (Paris: Letouzey et Pyxides,” Gesta / ( ) –, esp. –, g. . It also excludes the Ane, ) col. – , esp. col. ; Joseph Wilpert, “Le due piú antiche idealized double-Jesuses on silver patens dated – ; see Marlia Mundell rappresentazioni della Adoratio Crucis,” Atti della Ponticia Accademia Mango, Silver from Early Byzantium: e Kaper Koraon and Related Treasures romana di archeologia, series , Memorie ( ) –, ; Carlo (Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, ) – , gs. . and .. Cecchelli, La vita di Roma nel Medioevo, Vol. : Le arti minori e il costume . is excludes meal scenes in catacomb and other art, which o en (Rome: Palandi, –) ; Margherita Guarducci, La capsella eburnea depict women at the table, as seen below. di Samagher: un cimelio di arte paleocristiana nella storia del tardo impero . Christoph Markschies, “Lehrer, Schüler, Schule: Zur Bedeutung (Trieste: Società istriana di archeologia, ) –; Jaś Elsner, “Closure einer Institution für das antike Christentum,” in Religiöse Vereine in and Penetration: Reections on the Pola Casket,” in From Site to Sight: e der römischen Antike. Untersuchungen zu Organisation, Ritual und Transformation of Place in Art and Literature, ed. V. P. Tschudi and T. K. Seim Raumordnung, ed. Ulrike Egelhaaf-Gaiser and Alfred Schäfer (Mohr (Rome: Scienze e Lettere, ) –, ; Fabrizio Bisconti, “La Capsella Siebeck, ) – , esp. . di Samagher: Il quadro delle interpretazioni,” Il cristianesimo in Istria fra . Paul F. Bradshaw, e Search for the Origins of Christian Worship: tarda antichita e alto Medioevo ( ) –, esp. –; Davide Longhi, La Sources and Methods for the Study of Early Liturgy (Oxford University Press, capsella eburnea di Samagher: iconograa e committenza (Ravenna: Girasole, ) –: “Extant liturgical manuscripts are almost all of a much later date, ) –; eodor Klausner, Die römische Petrustradition im Lichte der beginning around the eighth century CE. It is true that within early Christian neuen Ausgrabungen unter der Peterskirche (Opladen: Westdeutscher, ) literature there is a group of documents that look very like real, authoritative ; and Anna Angiolini, La capsella eburnea di Pola (Bologna: Pàtron, ) liturgical texts, containing both directions for the conduct of worship and –, – . also the words of prayers and other formularies. Since they claim in one way . Gnirs, “Basilica ed il reliquiario,” . or another to be apostolic, they have generally been referred to as apostolic . Longhi, Capsella eburnea, ; Tilmann Buddensieg, “Le co ret en church orders. But they are not what they seem. . . . Not only is their claim ivoire de Pola: Saint-Pierre et le Latran,” Cahiers archéologiques ( ) – to apostolic authorship spurious—a judgement that has been universally , ; Elsner, “Closure and Penetration,” ; and Angiolini, Capsella, –. accepted since at least the beginning of the twentieth century—but they are . Gnirs, “Basilica ed il reliquiario d’avorio,” –: “straordinario valore not even the o cial liturgical manuals of some third- or fourth-century local per la liturgia del periodo della primativa civiltá Cristiana.” church, masquerading in apostolic dress to lend themselves added authority.” . Gnirs, “Basilica ed il reliquiario d’avorio,” .
• PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring cbeinternational.org . Lev :, Deut : , : , Chronicles, and Sirach : – . Toynbee, Shrine, . depict high priests raising their hands, and Luke : depicts Jesus. . Egeria, Travels . – (John Wilkinson, trans., Egeria’s Travels Quote from Alexei Lidov, “e Priesthood of the Virgin Mary as an [rd ed.; Oxbow, ] –, quotation on ). Image-Paradigm of Christian Visual Culture,” IKON ( ) – , . . Egeria, Travels . , .–. . Gnirs, “Basilica ed il reliquiario d’avorio,” , –, g. . . To my knowledge, the next oldest to portray a Christian o ciant . Alice Baird, “La Colonna Santa,” e Burlington Magazine at the table is a ninth century ivory tablet which depicts a man at the ( ) –. table, although what church is unclear or idealized; see Edward Foley, . Jocelyn Toynbee and John Ward Perkins, e Shrine of St. Peter From Age to Age: How Christians Have Celebrated the Eucharist, rev. and the Vatican Excavations (Pantheon, ) . ed. (Liturgical, ) , g. . As noted above, I exclude the silver . Engelbert Kirschbaum, e Tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul, trans. patens depicting double-Jesuses at a table because this is an idealized John Murray (St. Martin’s, ) . biblical gure, not a representation of people at the table in a church. . Kirschbaum, Tombs, – , – . ese patens may be evidence of a propaganda e ort against the gender- . Jerome, Against Vigilantius . ; Gregory of Tours, Glory of the parallel liturgy in Constantinople (discussed below) because they are Martyrs . silver stamped – , thus made during the reign of the emperor . Gnirs, “Basilica ed il reliquiario d’avorio,” . directly a er Justinian; see Mango, Silver from Early Byzantium, – , . Toesca, Storia dell’arte, ; Ducati, Arte in Roma, ; Soper, gs. . and .. “Italo-Gallo School,” ; Leclercq, “Pola,” col. ; Cecchelli, Vita di . Lidov, “Priesthood of the Virgin Mary,” . See also Joseph Roma, ; and Wilpert, “Due piú antiche rappresentazioni,” . Braun, “Maniple,” in e Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work . Guarducci, Capsella, ; Longhi, Capsella, –; and Ally of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Kateusz, “‘She sacri ced herself as the priest’: Early Christian Female Catholic Church, vol. , ed. Charles G. Herbermann, Edward A. Pace, and Male Co-Priests,” JFSR / (Spring ) – , – . Conde Benoist Pallen, omas J. Shahan, John J. Wynne, and Andrew . Wilpert, “Due piú antiche rappresentazioni,” : “Però a S. Alphonsus MacErlean (New York: Encyclopedia, ) –. is Pietro non si venerava la Croce in modo cosi pronunciato.” doubled cloth may have originated from the doubled cloth mappa, which . Leclercq, “Pola,” col. . Roman emperors and consuls used as a symbol of their authority, for it . Longhi, Capsella, ; Buddensieg, “Co ret en ivoire de Pola,” similarly signi ed the authority of the person who used it in the church. ; Angiolini, Capsella, ; Kateusz “‘She sacri ced herself as the priest,’” For an example of the mappa in a consul’s hand, see Kurt Weitzmann, ; and Jelena Bogdanović, e Framing of Sacred Space: e Canopy and Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, ird to Seventh the Byzantine Church (Oxford University Press, ) . Century: Catalogue of the Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, . Bruno M. Apollonj Ghetti, Antonio Ferrua, Enrico Josi, and November , , through February , (Metropolitan Museum of Engelbert Kirschbaum, Esplorazioni sotto la confessione di San Pietro in Art, ) , g. . Vaticano, eseguite negli anni – , vols. (Vatican City: Citta del . For more on the cloth, see Kateusz, Mary and Early Christian Vaticano, ) vol. , g. . Women, – , and on the episcopal pallium, – . . Ghetti, Esplorazioni, vol. , plate H; also see Kirschbaum, Tombs, . Lidov, “Priesthood of the Virgin Mary,” . g. , plate . . For the dating of San Vitale and these mosaics, see Simson, Sacred . Kirschbaum, Tombs, , italics added. Fortress, – , plates –, – . For the images, see Joseph Wilpert, . Ghetti, Esplorazioni, :: “ha esattamente la medesima funzione Die Malereien der Katakomben Roms, vols. (Freiburg im Breisgau: e forma simile al monumento eretto da Costantino nella Anastasis sulla Herdersche, ) plates and . tomba del Salvatore.” . Johannes G. Deckers and Ümit Serdaroğlu, “Das Hypogäum . See Martin Biddle, e Tomb of Christ (rupp, UK: Sutton, ) beim Silivri-Kapi in Istanbul,” Jahrbuck für Antike und Christentum – , esp. gs. , , , , and . See also ampoules that depict a ( ) – , – . Agreeing with their dating are László Török, hexagon structure, which Grabar calls the ciborium, in André Grabar, Transgurations of Hellenism: Aspects of Late Antique Art in Egypt, AD Les ampoules de Terre Sainte (Monza – Bobbio) (Paris: C. Klincksieck, – (Leiden: Brill, ) ; and Guntram Koch, Fru hchristliche ) – for descriptions of plates , , , , , , , ; other Sarkophage (Munich: Beck, ) . Matthews dated it towards ampoules depict only the rectangular doorway, but the same doorway the end of the h century, but without addressing Deckers’s criteria; within the hexagon shape can be seen in the detail of plates and . omas F. Mathews, “I sarcophagi di Costantinopoli come fonte Also hexagonal glass vessels represented the Anastasis shrine; see Dan iconogra ca,” Corso di cultura sull’arte ravennate e bizantina ( ) Barag, “Glass Pilgrim Vessels from Jerusalem, Parts II and III,” Journal of –, esp. . Glass Studies ( ) – , esp. – . . Deckers, “Hypogäum beim Silivri-Kapi in Istanbul,” –. . See both pyxes and discussion about whether they represent . Joan E. Taylor, “Christian Archaeology in Palestine: the Roman the altar area in the Anastasis in St. Clair, “Visit to the Tomb,” –, and Byzantine Periods,” in Oxford Handbook of Early Christian gs. – ; also see below for the pyx in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Archeology, ed. David K. Pettegrew and William Caraher (Oxford in New York City, which is accompanied by a legend that speci es its University Press, ) – , esp. –. altar area and the altar area depicted on the Pola ivory are quite similar: . Paul Corbey Finney, e Invisible God: e Earliest Christians https://metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/. .. on Art (Oxford University Press, ) – , g .. For image, see . For more on the square ciborium deception, see Ally Kateusz, Joseph Wilpert, Die Malereien der Katakomben Roms, vols. (Freiburg Mary and Early Christian Women: Hidden Leadership (Palgrave im Breisgau: Herdersche, ) plate .. Macmillan, ) –. . Janet H. Tulloch, “Women Leaders in Family Funerary Banquets,” ch. . Galit Noga-Banai, Sacred Stimulus: Jerusalem in the Visual in A Woman’s Place: House Churches in Earliest Christianity, ed. Carolyn Christianization of Rome (Oxford University Press, ). Osiek, Margaret Y. MacDonald (Fortress, ). For more catacomb meal cbeinternational.org PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring • ¤ scenes with women, see Pierre du Bourguet, Early Christian Painting, trans. parallel to those of men—“Head of the Synagogue,” “Elder,” “Mother of the Simon Watson Taylor (Viking, ) gs. and . Synagogue,” and “Priestess”; Bernadette J. Brooten, Women Leaders in the . Tulloch, “Women Leaders,” . Ancient Synagogue: Inscriptional Evidence and Background Issues, BJS . Tulloch, “Women Leaders,” , g. .. Image source: Wilpert, (Scholars, ) – . Malereien, plate .. . Gelasius I, Letter (Kevin Madigan and Carolyn Osiek, trans. . Irenaeus, Against Heresies . (ANF :); Cécile and Alexandre Ordained Women in the Early Church: A Documentary History [John Faivre, “La place des femmes dans le ritual eucharistique des marcosiens: Hopkins University Press, ] – , quotation on ). déviance ou archaïsme?,” RevScRel ( ) – . . Ally Kateusz, “Collyridian Déjà Vu: e Trajectory of Redaction of . Faivre, “Place de femmes dans le ritual eucharistique des marcosiens,” the Markers of Mary’s Liturgical Leadership,” JFSR / (Fall ) – ; and n. for eucharistein. Kateusz, Mary and Early Christian Women, – . . Latin Didascalia apostolorum (R. Hugh Connolly, trans., Didascalia . Kateusz, Mary and Early Christian Women, – . Worthy of mention Apostolorum: e Syriac Version Translated and Accompanied by the Verona here is Taylor’s argument that Jesus sent out the disciples two by two, in male Latin Fragments [Clarendon, ] ). and female pairs, based on the Greek of Mark :, the same Greek (duo duo) . Philo of Alexandria, On the Contemplative Life – , esp. – . For used in the Septuagint for the male and female pairs that Noah sent to the women’s leadership among the erapeutae, see Joan E. Taylor, Jewish Women ark; Joan E. Taylor, “‘Two by two’: e Ark-etypal Language of Mark’s Philosophers of First-Century Alexandria: Philo’s ‘ erapeutae’ Reconsidered Apostolic Pairings,” in e Body in Biblical, Christian and Jewish Texts, (Oxford University Press, ) –; and Hanna K. Teravanotko, Denying LSTS , ed. Lester Grabbe (T&T Clark Bloomsbury, ) – . Her Voice: e Figure of Miriam in Ancient Jewish Literature (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, ) esp. – regarding Philo calling all high-status women parthenos (“virgin”). ALLY KATEUSZ, PhD, is a Research Associate at the . Philo of Alexandria, On the Contemplative Life – ; and On Wijngaards Institute of Catholic Research in London. Agriculture – . Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Early . Taylor, Jewish Women Philosophers, . Christian Studies and the Journal of Feminist Studies . Philo of Alexandria, On the Contemplative Life – . in Religion, as well as other venues. Her recent book . Kateusz, Mary and Early Christian Women, , g. .. is Mary and Early Christian Women: Hidden Leadership (Palgrave . Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History .–. Gender- Macmillan, ), and she is co-editor of Rediscovering the Marys: parallel roles may also have continued in synagogues, because around the Mediterranean some Jewish women had titles of synagogue leadership Maria, Mariamne, Miriam (T&T Clark, ).
• PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring cbeinternational.org Women Priests and the Image of God K S W
In this article, I examine the reasons that C. S. Lewis, a Christian and non ction, readers need to be aware of his background apologist, Anglican layman, and medieval scholar, used to argue in order to separate reasoned apologetics from his “personal against women as Anglican priests, as well as the traditions prejudice against women.” articulated by Vatican councils that block women from the e woman who altered many aspects of his life, perhaps priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church. I will begin with including his opinion of women in general, appeared— Lewis and show how his reasons relate to those of the Catholic uninvited—on his doorstep in 1952, a er she and Lewis had hierarchy, who do not use selected passages from the epistles exchanged a series of letters. Lewis’s writings reect a decided to con ne the priesthood to males, but rather the maleness of change in his attitude toward women a er he met and married Christ and twelve of his disciples. Joy Davidman. Unfortunately, the bulk of his work, including rough both his non- ction and ction writings, C. S. “Priestesses in the Church?,” is pre-Joy. It is impossible to Lewis remains an extremely inuential apologist for Christianity, determine if his view of women as priests was modi ed by his even though he died in 1963. e popularity of his imaginative relationship with Joy—or would have been had either lived ction for children and adults continues to grow. His apologetic longer. In order to more fully understand and evaluate these treatises, such as Mere Christianity, are cogent explanations for arguments against women priests, I will briey outline the the logic of Christianity in its orthodox forms. Lewis writes of his evolution of the Christian priesthood. personal conversion in Surprised by Joy, his grief a er the death The Anglo-Catholic Tradition of the Priesthood of his wife, Joy Davidman, in A Grief Observed, and discusses the problem of pain in his book by that name. e Chronicles of To trace the Christian tradition of the priesthood, we begin Narnia are his most famous books, and many of us continue to with the Hebrew Scriptures that recount the worship practices nd in them models for increasing our faith and expanding our described within the developing story of Israel. An Israelite priest imaginations in other worlds under God’s care. was set apart for service in matters pertaining to the rituals of I read all of Lewis’s works in college. I wrote my honor’s worship: cultic service. As the history of Israel progressed, the project on Lewis, along with other authors who provoked requirements for the priesthood became more exclusive, but priests imagination and connected it with the Spirit. Clearly, I respected were always male. Why were there no women priests in Israel? him and considered him a major mentor from afar. Imagine Patriarchy dominated the eras of oral and written transmission my dismay upon coming across the essay, “Priestesses in the of Scripture texts (and most other eras, as we have seen). Many Church?,” which was rst published in 1948 as “Notes on the scholars in the last century have perpetuated the assumption that Way” in Time and Tide Magazine. e date 1948 is signi cant, as women were excluded in order to disassociate, in word, symbol, is the fact that Lewis was a conservative member of the Church and ritual, the Israelite cult from the sexuality, manipulation, and of England, which, at that time, held views about the similar to reenactment of other peoples’ temple practices in the ancient those presently held by o cials of the Roman Catholic Church. Near East. Although no explicit extra-biblical evidence proves Although 1948 was a long time ago, Lewis’s arguments against that sex was part of surrounding nations’ temple life, the Bible women priests have been repeated by other Protestants, who provides some allusions to this possibility. For example, as Moses extend them to presbyters and ministers. prepared the people to enter into formal covenant relation with “Priestesses in the Church?” reects the well-documented God by receiving the covenant stipulations, he told them to negative view Lewis held of women for most of his life. Margaret consecrate themselves and “be ready the third day; do not go near Hannay notes in her article, “C. S. Lewis: Mere Misogyny?,” a woman” (Exod 19:15). Nonetheless, sacri ce, whether outside that he wrote “disparaging remarks about women in his private or inside the tabernacle or temple, was conceived to perpetuate correspondence” and objected to women studying at Oxford. She patriarchy and patriliny (legal kinship ties among males and quotes a poem he wrote in 1933 with Owen Bar eld: their possession and transference of property). is is the most signi cant reason for not having women priests in ancient Israel. M is the Many, the Moral, the Body, Where does the institution of priesthood rst come into the e Formless the Female, the oroughly Shoddy. Church? According to Heb 4–10, Jesus was the only individual who N is Not-Being which sinks even deeper. assumed the role of priest as the initiator of the Jesus movement. More formless, more female, more footling—and His sacri ce rendered Israel’s cultic priesthood obsolete. First cheaper. Peter 2:9–10 shows that the priesthood of all believers was a Hannay points out likely underlying causes of Lewis’s deeply foundational NT concept. Galatians 3:28 emphasizes that there rooted sexism: “Lewis was raised in the sexually segregated is no exclusion or division in Christ: “ere is no longer Jew or English public school system. He had no sister, and his mother Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and died [before] he was ten . . . he had no close friendship with a female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (NRSV). woman until he was in his ies. Lewis spent thirty years at In other words, in the earliest Church there was no formal style Oxford, an establishment well known for its misogyny.” I agree of ritual with an ordained individual leading and performing and with Hannay that given the stature and inuence of his ction cbeinternational.org PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring • mediating the people’s concerns and repentance to God, which the priesthood of the corporate Church, the early second-century was the role of the priest in Israel. Early church communities concept of Christian priesthood. Later Protestant sects, which set apart individuals as apostles, witnesses, teachers, and arose emphasizing the ever-present, impartial activity of God missionaries. In the second century, the individual bishop began through the Holy Spirit, did not restrict women ministering until to be viewed as a representative of the Church. e Christian they too became institutionalized and hierarchical. However, priestly hierarchy came later as further organization, rituals, even the charismatic movements became more male-controlled forms, formalities, and authorities were deemed necessary. e and hierarchical as they became more established. NT teaching that believers were equally priests to one another e Protestant minister generally symbolizes Christ only to the was lost. degree that all Christians through faith and baptism are part of One explanation for the shi from a Church of equality to one Christ’s body, united with Christ. rough ordination, the Church of hierarchy, ranks, and division can be found in e Didache, a recognizes the individual’s gi s, call, and training and orders her second century Syrian Church discipline manual, which identi ed or him to gather, to lead, and to pray. Protestants who restrict prophets as the Church’s high priests (13.3). According to William women from ordination hold reasons that di er from the Roman Spencer, this ended the priesthood of all believers, because another Catholics and Anglicans who, like Lewis, see the male priest as a high priest—the prophet—was instituted on earth. e Didache symbol of a male Christ. (15.1) further restricts this o ce to males despite the fact that As a traditional Anglican, Lewis espoused a case against women early in the second century the governor of Bithynia, Pliny the priests similar to that of the present Roman Catholic Church, albeit Younger, had found it necessary to torture two female ministers not identical. According to the Vatican document of 1976, “Inter (Latin ministrae) in order to gain more information from them Insigniores,” the priest is image, sign, and representation of Christ about the activities of Christians (Letters of Pliny X.96). Spencer before God. erefore, a man must ll that role because Jesus says that the inevitable results of restricting women rebounded on was male. e authors claim a mysterious bond uniting Christ, all believers who were thereby discouraged from exercising their maleness, and the priesthood. e mystery of Christ and the spiritual gi s. A high regard of public opinion and worries over Church is indissolubly bound up with the unfathomable mystery Church purity caused the Church of the third century to greatly of humans as male and female. e Church, then, reduce the expression of spiritual gi s. has no authority to institute a change in the order of In the third century, bishops were referred to as high priests ministry of the sort required for the ordination of for the rst time. Coupled with the elevation of the bishops in women to the priesthood. . . . e priestly o ce cannot the third and fourth centuries was the reinterpretation of the be changed by human, social progress, for it belongs to Eucharist, which came to be viewed as a reenactment of the another order of reality . . . revealed nally in Christ . . . sacred drama of the cruci xion. e Roman Catholic Church who, being himself a man, chose men and only men to be linked the priest performing the rite to Christ and maintained his apostles. e Church must be faithful to the example that even as Christ was a male, the priest must be male in order of her Lord. She cannot, therefore, consider herself to most closely identify with Christ. J. I. Packer echoed this view authorized to admit women to priestly ordination. in 1991: “that one male is best represented by another male is a matter of common sense.” However, the Italian researcher Sex, according to “Inter Insigniores,” is a more important category Giorgio Otranto has claimed that there were some women priests than age or race. e Roman Catholic Church says that sex in the rst ve or six centuries of the Church. He discovered a transcends other categories because of the relationship between letter from h-century Pope Gelasius which admonished Christ and the priest: “e Church does not consider sexual bishops to encourage women to “o ciate at the sacred altars and di erentiation to be the same as cultural, ethnic or racial di erence. to take part in all matters imputed to the o ces of the male sex.” . . . e priest is the sacramental symbol of Christ. . . . [It] relies on In medieval Christian theology, Christ continued to move the natural symbolism of gender to signify the relationship between from a place of immanence to a place of transcendence. Priests the priest and Christ, the head and bridegroom of the Church.” ful lled this need for earthly mediators by assuming the twin us, it is proper, for example, for aging Gentile men to ful ll the roles of bringing sacri ce for sin to God and bringing God’s priestly role even though Jesus was a young Jew. Recognizing the grace to the people through the consecrated host. Mary came to Roman Catholic Church’s continuing stance on the matter, we will be viewed as a mediator for the Church in this period as well. turn to Lewis’s speci c complaints against the Anglicans who were e sixteenth-century reformers protested, among other things, beginning to seek ordination for women in his lifetime. the institution of the priesthood, its hierarchical exclusiveness, and “Priestesses in the Church?” the various abuses of power and control that prevailed. Protestants Like the 1976 Vatican Council, Lewis considered Christ’s maleness rejected priesthood and sacri ces and restored the concept of an image of a reality that far transcends other physically de ning the priesthood of individual believers. us, Roman Catholics categories. He insisted in “Priestesses in the Church?” that the fact continued to stress that the priesthood of Christ must be taken that Christ was male, coupled with the (then Anglican) Church’s over by the priesthood of the ordained man, while Protestants requirement that a priest be male, reects a reality about the sex recognized the priesthood of all individual believers. Even so, the of God that transcends other categories, namely that God is the reformers had no interest in women ministers, leaders, and co- ultimate in masculinity—a claim the Vatican resists making. workers as known in the earliest Church. Neither tradition stressed
• PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring cbeinternational.org To begin his argument, Lewis remarked that the proposed certain proof to civil authorities that she nurtured demons. arrangement, women priests, “would make us much more rational Surprisingly, though a respected medievalist, Lewis was but not near so much like a Church,” just as conversation at a ball insensitive to the sexism of the writers of that era; his own views instead of dancing would be more rational, but “not near so much of women, men, and God were not altered by his scholarly forays like a ball.” Lewis explained that having women priests would be into medieval literature and history, but con rmed by them. more rational, since there is a shortage of priests, since “women Lewis mentioned the reverence for Mary in the Middle Ages in can do very well all sorts of things which were once supposed to order to emphasize that “a sacerdotal o ce was never attributed to be in the power of men alone,” and since women are not lacking her,” to claim that even Mary—a woman—could not have, would in “piety, zeal, learning and whatever else seems necessary for the not have, and should not have functioned in a priestly role. i s pastoral o ce.” may be true formally, but, for Catholics, Mary functions in the He then attempted to explain why women priests would priestly role of mediating on behalf of people to God. Mary has make the Church less like a Church, recognizing the di culty the title “Mediatrix” because of her dual role of speaking to God of answering this question. “ e opposers to women priests at for people and in bringing God to the people in a way that no rst can produce nothing but an inarticulate distaste, a sense male priest ever has, will, or could do: giving birth to Jesus, God of discomfort which they nd hard to analyze.” His purpose embodied! At Medjugorje, a Roman Catholic pilgrimage site in in “Priestesses?” was to interpret this discomfort and distaste. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mary not only functions as a mediator on Lewis denied that opposition to women priests stemmed from behalf of people to God, but she is also viewed as bringing God’s a contempt for women, “for history makes plain,” he wrote, “that word and grace to the people, the task of the prophet. in the Middle Ages the Church carried their reverence of one Concerning Mary, Lewis also (shockingly) wrote: “she is Woman to a point . . . she became ‘almost a fourth person of absent both from the Last Supper and the descent of the Spirit at the Trinity.’” He made this point to underscore that even though Pentecost. Such is the record of Scripture.” Lewis’s interpretation Mary was revered, she was never viewed as a priest, which I will is both uncommon and mistaken. According to Acts 1:12–14, discuss next. However, the near dei cation of Mary in the Middle certain women, Mary, Jesus’s brothers, and the other disciples Ages cannot demonstrate that the Church had no contempt for devoted themselves with one accord to prayer in the upper women. e medieval Church and society did hold women in room. A disciple was selected to replace Judas (vv. 15–26), then contempt. ey idealized not ordinary women, but an asexual, the Spirit fell when “they were all together in one place.” Peter virginal woman patterned a er certain unrealistic ideas that came quoted Joel 2:28–32 to explain the marvelous phenomena that to surround the mother of Jesus, one of which was that she remain included the Spirit’s falling indiscriminately upon both males a virgin forever. Although many found comfort in the motherly, and females (Acts 2:14–21). Would not the “certain women” and mediating, intercessory character of the Church’s Mary, women Mary certainly be included in that “all” since they had just been could not identify with a woman who gave birth yet remained an identi ed? Women, including Mary, were there, witnessed the intact virgin. And neither did the Church see parallels between descent of, and received the Spirit. Mary and ordinary women. Mary so pedestaled did not re ect a In “Priestesses?,” Lewis himself cited NT references to women valuation of women who were wives and mothers. e elevation preachers of the early Church and he was aware of OT examples of Mary did not mean the status of women was elevated! Virginal of women prophets, spokeswomen for God. Here he insists that women in the Middle Ages gained a measure of freedom and biblical women were “prophetesses,” not “priestesses.” e role autonomy, but no woman except the Church’s Mary could be the of the prophet was to represent God’s values, ideas, perspectives, Mother of God, the Queen of Heaven. words to the people of Israel and Judah. Nonetheless, this should Contrary to Lewis’s opinion, the records of the Middle not become a basis for ordaining women, in Lewis’s view. Ages plainly demonstrate that, in Church thought and civil Preaching, teaching, pastoring, leading, prophesying women action, women were o en held in contempt, persecuted, and demonstrate that women are capable and e ective in those roles killed. Medieval Church law permitted wife-beating as a way in Lewis’s view! Nonetheless, he goes on to say that, although to control female corruption and disobedience. To medieval women can represent the people to God (a priestly role in Israel), theologians, women represented sexuality, sensuality, and the they must not represent God to the people (the prophetic role). earth. eir presence, their very existence, tempted men from Here he contradicts himself in being content with biblical high-minded pursuits. ese theologians inherited the views of women prophets, but confessing: “To us a priest is primarily a Greek dualism that male re ected the mind, spirit, and God, but representative, a double representative, who represents us to God female represented the body, esh, and the earth. irteenth- and God to us. . . . We have no objection to a woman doing the century theologian omas Aquinas, like Aristotle and Augustine rst: the whole di culty is with the second.” is means, to before him, believed that females are defective males, the result Lewis, a woman can represent us to God (as a priest), but not of male sperm gone awry, caused perhaps by a “damp south wind God to us (as a prophet). e Church based the evolving practice at conception.” He believed women are dominated by sexual of the priesthood in the OT Levitical institution in which the appetite whereas men are ruled by reason. e Church’s attempt male priest—through various sacri cial rites—represented the to eliminate witchcra through torture and death involved ageism people to God. Lewis had no di culty with a woman doing this. and sexism. No elderly recluse accused of witchcra could hide A woman representing God in the role of the prophet was “the the appearance of growths and moles on her body, which were whole di culty” for Lewis. cbeinternational.org PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring • £ Unbothered by the contradiction, which may have seemed that God includes, and yet is beyond, masculine and feminine; super cial if he had noticed it, Lewis delves deeper into whereas Jesus was limited physically to one sex. is is one of the anthropological and theological matters to nd a more profound restrictions of being human. basis for the exclusively and for his aversion to women priests. Lewis was appalled by the supposals that women priests may He appeals to the sex of God. For Lewis, “the central thing” was show God to be like a good woman, may lead us to pray to a that all priests must image physically the inherent, intrinsic, Mother in Heaven, and call Jesus a daughter as well as a son, for real, and spiritual masculinity of God. Lewis’s discomfort with the following reason: women priests writhed not on scriptural patterns, but on his if [they] were ever carried into e ect we should be fear that a woman priest may be implicitly showing that “God embarked on a di erent religion. . . . Religions [with is like a good woman!” Lewis also feared that we might begin to goddesses and priestesses are] quite di erent in character pray, “Our Mother which art in Heaven,” because he believed from Christianity . . . a child who has been taught to that when Jesus taught his disciples to pray to “our Father,” pray to a Mother in Heaven would have a religious life he was teaching everyone, everywhere how to speak to God. radically di erent from that of a Christian child. However, Jesus was not afraid to liken God to a good woman in the parable of the lost coin (Luke 15:8–10). And many later Why? Because for Lewis, the Christian God was male and disciples have found comfort in biblical analogies of God as a more than male, and the endorsement of this is essential to the nurturing mother and in picturing a motherly image when they nature of Christianity. e exempli es—images—in the esh pray to God. the reality of the masculinity of God. is was, for Lewis, at the Lewis also worried that the mystical marriage might be heart of Christianity. reversed, “that the Church were the Bridegroom and Christ the To understand Lewis’s point, we must recognize the solidarity Bride.” He claims: “One of the ends for which sex was created was that existed for him between image and reality. He was convinced to symbolize to us the hidden things of God. One of the functions that the masculine imagery was inspired while the feminine of human marriage is to express the nature of the union between imagery was not. Christ and the Church . . . .” By saying that the mystical marriage To say that [the masculine imagery] is not inspired . . . is would be reversed, Lewis mixed the traditional metaphor of the based upon a shallow view of imagery. Without drawing priesthood with the biblical metaphor of marriage used to picture upon religion, we know from our poetic experience that the covenant relationship between God and people. e prophetic image and apprehension cleave closer together than marriage metaphor is problematic in Hosea and Ezekiel, but even common sense is here prepared to admit. . . . And as there, as in other places it is used, the metaphor is combined with image and apprehension are in an organic unity, so, for many others, such as parent-child, shepherd-sheep, vine and a Christian, are human body and human soul. vinedresser—all clearly metaphors to demonstrate relationships, For Lewis, the sex of the priest must reect something crucial but none more pertinent or literal than the others. about the character of God. Lewis was convinced that the maleness Indeed, the analogy of marriage conveys unity and intimacy. symbolizes one of the hidden things of God and that the male Within that context, male and female physiology operate to express image is far closer to the reality of God than we dare dream. two becoming one and symbolize the mysterious reconciliation A male priest does not make God male. A priest must be male between God and people. Nonetheless, it is di cult to appreciate because a priest is the image of a masculine deity. To argue against the image of the priest joined with his congregation: he the male, “declaring women capable of priests’ orders,” he did not dwell on they the female counterpart. e priesthood symbolizes what Christ’s maleness, or on Christ’s failure to ordain women, or on the marriage cannot image: Divine grace dispensed through the maleness of the twelve apostles (which are the arguments of the sacraments of host and preached word. Some may be convinced Roman Catholic Church and others who oppose women priests). that the priest is an image of God and Christ and functions as Instead, he stressed that priests must be male in order to reect the a symbol of mediation and dispenser of grace. It is far more pervasive, eternal, and necessary masculinity of God. di cult to understand how the priest functions in relation to worshippers to picture their intimacy and union with God. If all e innovators are really implying that sex is priests must be male, must all congregants be female? No, a priest something super cial, irrelevant to the spiritual life. is not a husband to the local Church. e congregation does not To say that men and women are equally eligible for function as a wife to the priest. If so, the priesthood as image is a certain profession is to say that for the purposes of asked to do too much; it becomes a metaphor forced to walk on that profession, their sex is irrelevant. We are in that all fours when there are other e ective means to share the task of context treating both as neuters. . . . picturing the character and activity of a relational God. If God is male, and the priest images God by depicting Lewis also feared women priests would mean “that the an unalterable reality, then to ordain a woman priest is to Incarnation might just as well have taken a female as a male make up a new religion (or to revert back to old ones which form, and the Second Person of the Trinity be as well called the emphasized sexuality and fertility), because God has no feminine Daughter as well as the Son.” However, there is a vast di erence characteristics or qualities that could be reected by a woman between viewing God as motherly and viewing Jesus, a male in functioning in the priestly role. According to Lewis, to recognize the esh, as a daughter instead of a son. e Scriptures show and appreciate feminine aspects of God is to emulate ancient
¥ • PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring cbeinternational.org fertility religions with sensual worship rituals, and, in order to impassible, powerfully independent, totally self-su cient, prevent this, the must be perpetuated. entirely invulnerable, without need or want of any kind. Lewis’s Masculine God Nevertheless, Scripture does not picture God (or masculinity) this way. Although for Lewis, God was not female at all, Gen 1:27 Clearly Lewis believed that God is not beyond gender or clearly says that male and female together form the image of God. androgynous, that God is only and thoroughly masculine. Genesis 2 says “it is not good that man should be alone”; that, Only one wearing the masculine uniform can represent contrary to Augustine, man is incomplete alone. If a priest is to the Lord to the Church: for we are all corporately and accurately image God, the priesthood should reect both sides individually feminine to Him. We men may o en make of God’s character. I fear Lewis was perilously close to idolatry in very bad priests. at is because we are insu ciently his conception of the maleness of God. Consider Deut 4:15–16: masculine. It is no cure to call in those who are not Since you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at masculine at all. Horeb out of the re, take care and watch yourselves Lewis had an even more narrow view of God than Augustine, closely, so that you do not act corruptly by making who believed that a man alone could reect the image of God. an idol for yourselves, in the form of any gure—the A man is androgynous, so is God; a man is whole, so is God; likeness of male or female. . . . (NRSV) but a woman alone cannot reect God. For Lewis, the feminine Given the pervasiveness, the depth, the signi cance of the image lies outside of, entirely beyond, and is completely other than of the priest as male, and the reason given for the necessity of God. In other words, it is not that God transcends gender, it is a (to accurately reect the sex of God), this was an idolatry far that female transcends God, for God is exclusively male. is more entrenched than any graven image. Lewis himself stressed demonstrates Lewis’s exalted view of maleness. To say that “we in “Priestesses?” that “image and reality are in an organic are all, corporately and individually, feminine to Him” tells us unity.” By insisting on ordaining only males, the Church has volumes about his understanding of femaleness. He believed that for centuries portrayed, promoted, and received an inadequate, feminine is to masculine what human is to divine, and human, single dimensional, even skewed reection of God. relative to God, implies inferior, subject, submissive, dependent, A perpetuation of a can hardly be sanctioned from the NT and responsive; whereas masculine means godlike, powerful, era when women were the rst sent ones (apostolate), sent to resourceful, and authoritarian. tell other disciples by the risen Christ himself. To continue the Does Scripture present God as only masculine? No. Are practice of excluding women from the priesthood based on the Lewis’s de nitions of masculine and feminine adequate? No. Is argument that females transcend the image of God is to idolize insu cient masculinity truly the reason men o en make bad the male, to make God in the image of man. priests? No! Contrary to Lewis’s view, our stories, traditions, and When Priests Fail texts depict an androgynous, holistic, multivalent God, a well- rounded deity possessing a multiplicity of attributes. Although Lewis’s conception of the masculinity of God—a conception that Scripture was written in eras dominated by patriarchy, we nd makes God in the image of man—was never more clear than when therein refreshing views of God as both feminine and masculine he said that male priests fail when they are insu ciently masculine. in the traditional and broader senses of the terms. In the OT, I propose the opposite assertion: that priests and ministers fail, God is likened to a mother giving birth, a mother who is loving, the Church fails, and the cause of Christ fails because most priests nurturing, and providing. To describe God’s character, our and pastors have been insu ciently feminine; they have been sacred stories use images of a woman’s resources of abundance incompletely human and incomplete as divine representatives. and nurture, of provision, strength, and comfort. ey have failed not only in the traditionally feminine roles In Num 11:12, Moses complained that God—not Moses— of being nurturing, comforting, providing, and relational; but conceived, gave birth, nursed, and carried the people. In Deut they have even failed by not being feminine as Lewis thought 32:18, God is referred to as “e Rock that labored and bore you.” of feminine: receptive, vulnerable, empathetic, and dependent. In Isa 42:14, God says: “Like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I My point is not to discuss theories on sexual di erence or the gasp, I pant.” Isaiah 49:15 pictures God as a mother, and more inuences of genetics, conditioning, and culture on gender. My than a mother, for even if a mother could forget her suckling intention is to appeal to our sacred stories to demonstrate that child—and the author intends this thought to be impossible— God is depicted as a lover and a partner who has chosen to rely God will not forget Zion for “behold I have graven you on the upon humans and to possess the vulnerabilities that love and palms of my hands.” In Isa 66:13, a er describing Jerusalem as a partnership entail. Scripture shows that male and female reect nursing, consoling, carrying, dandling mother, God says: “As one the image of God, that God is like a nurturing mother; but where whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you.” Here in Isa 66, and how in our stories and texts do we see God as dependent on Israel is “his” and God is mother. the cooperation of people, as vulnerable and responsive? In our Most people easily recognize the analogical nature of female zeal to defend the power, sovereignty, and supposed masculinity imagery, but resist accepting the analogical nature of the male of God, this interdependent aspect of God, illustrated in the imagery. is is a result of the power of the image formed and macro-plot of the Bible, normally goes unrecognized. enforced by centuries of an overwhelmingly male clergy. To Lewis, From the beginning of Scripture’s story, God relied upon and to many others, God is masculine, and this means absolutely humankind to bear God’s image and to care for the creatures of the cbeinternational.org PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring • ¢ earth. God’s plans and work are dependent on the free response e greatest illustration of the weakness, vulnerability, of humankind. e entire Bible is the story of ful lled or failed and empathy of God is depicted in the incarnation. Here God cooperation with God; when humans failed, God failed, but God became embodied in the weakest and most defenseless form did not quit. In the account of the ood, God was “grieved to the of human life: a human embryo and then a baby. Was the sex heart” over human violence and evil intentions (Gen 6:6). Later of this newborn baby a symbol of God’s power, or was the it became clear that God could not have conceived or gestated infancy of Jesus the embodiment of dependence, weakness, and a people if Abraham and Sarah had not obeyed and believed at identi cation with all humanity? When asked if male babies some points, even if they faltered at others. e story in Exodus are stronger and more powerful than female babies, if they feed insists that God needed a mid-wife, Moses, to assist at the delivery themselves any more adeptly, or learn to speak or walk more of the children of Israel from Egypt. At Sinai the once reluctant, quickly, if they feel the pain of hunger, thirst, neglect, and abuse tongue-tied recruit saved the same people and even God from the less acutely, the only answer is: of course not! e signi cance threatened divine wrath, which, Moses passionately and eloquently of the incarnation is the identi cation with humans. In the argued, was unbecoming to God’s reputation and inconsistent with incarnation, God experienced human limitations as God could God’s earlier promises (Exod 32:11–35). no other way. For the rst time, God was limited to a time, a Repeatedly, the stories of Scripture place God in positions place, and a body, and thus to one sex. God became human to of vulnerability and receptivity. Scripture is foremost the story learn what being human was like. God had always sought the of God’s love. One who loves, one who loves much, is the most love of creature and covenant partner and a dwelling place o en and easily hurt. Yes, God initiated contact and provided among humans. As Jesus, God longed for the acceptance and deliverance to an enslaved, weak people who were few in number, responsiveness of his peers. God was at the mercy of others in a but if they did not voluntarily ratify the covenant and accept its dustier, dirtier, bloodier, more tearful way than ever before. For conditions, it became ine ective (Exod 24, Josh 24). A covenant our sake and for God’s sake, God needed to be vulnerable in this must have at least two amenable parties. No one, including God, way. Hebrews 4:15 says: “For we do not have a high priest who is could have made a covenant alone. If the people were faithful to unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. . .” (NRSV). Indeed, their agreement the covenant remained intact, otherwise God’s we do not need such a high priest! desired purposes failed. In fact, the OT is a story of repeated God in Jesus cried over Jerusalem and over Lazarus and over human failure and hence a story of the weakness and su ering himself. God in Jesus died on a cross. God should have been of God, for in spite of God’s good will and intentions, power and accustomed to being rejected by people, but God as Jesus felt performance, God could not do it alone. None of our defenses of rejection more acutely than ever before. It is riveting to read that God can alter the scriptural plot that God’s pleasure and purposes the women stood by Jesus in his dying hour when he felt with were dependent on the obedience and delity of God’s covenant the Psalmist that even his God had forsaken him. Never have we partners. According to other stories and traditions in the text, seen a weaker picture of God: a paralyzed, dying Jew, a torn and when the children of Israel hurt, God hurt. “In all their aiction bloody member of a subject people, completely oppressed and he was aicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his smitten, powerless and non-aligned. love and in his pity he redeemed them; he li ed them up and Why then do some insist, with Lewis, that the male sex represent carried them all the days of old” (Isa 63:9 RSV). Christ and God on the other side of the altar? Why do we uphold Job, who lost all tangible bene ts and prosperity, demonstrated the masculine to image the God who was oppressed, who endured to God, to the adversary, and to the reader that one could live for the pain and shame, who knows our weakness rsthand, and the truth of God rather than the blessing and comfort of God. carries the iniquities of us all? Why must the historically dominant God depended on Job (unbeknownst to Job) to illustrate that gender re-enact the drama of the su ering Christ and consecrate people can ascend to heights of disinterested morality in contrast the host when politically and religiously powerful males cruci ed to other characters—Adam and Eve, David and Solomon, etc.— him? e one woman among the elite in the story, the wife of who established that humans, even with everything going for Pilate, urged him to have nothing to do with Jesus. Even the male them, easily descend to the depths of moral failure. disciples forsook Christ while the female followers stood with him. In being vulnerable to human choices, God takes tremendous Who is being cruci ed when females are barred from the risks and su ers the consequences. Why do we assume that priesthood? Are the weak and oppressed still being symbolically we have these stories? Why do we explain away their meaning sacri ced when the Eucharist is consecrated and served? Unlike and claim they do not deconstruct the notion that God is Lewis, o cials of the Catholic Church do not assert that God is beyond the needs, feelings, and the weaknesses they portray? male, but like Lewis, they insist that the priesthood must be male Abraham Heschel, a Jewish theologian, says the statements about to symbolize the male Christ, as if that is Jesus’s most important God’s emotions and pathos are “not a compromise—ways of quality. Have they forgotten that the one who identi ed with the accommodating higher meanings to the lower level of human widow, the orphan, the weeping mother, the bleeding woman, the understanding. ey are rather the accommodations of words dying daughter, the accused adulteress, and the maligned Marys to higher meanings.” is is similar to Lewis’s explanation is the perfect representation of God? Has the Church forgotten of the solidarity between image and reality. By insisting God that God, through the mouths of mothers like Hannah and Mary, is masculine, Lewis had not considered the full range of God’s through the mouths of the prophets and the incarnate God, Jesus, character as imaged in Scripture. cried woe to the oppressor?
• PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring cbeinternational.org Conclusion 1. Later published as “Priestesses in the Church?,” in God in the Dock, ed. Walter Hooper (Eerdmans, 1970) 234–39. Male and female together form the image of God. Female priests 2. e American Episcopal Church began to ordain women as priests complete—make whole and perfect—the picture of God that has in 1976. been one-sided for so many centuries. I recognize with the Roman 3. J. I. Packer, e.g., who is also an Anglican, echoed most of Lewis’s Catholic Church that Jesus did not ordain women. However, is 1948 concerns in “Let’s Stop Making Women Presbyters,” Christianity it right to be faithful to something Jesus did not do rather than Today 35/2 (Feb 11, 1991) 18–21. to those things he did do: upli the fallen, heal the sick, raise 4. “Abecedarium Philisophicum,” cited by Margaret Hannay in “C. S. the dead, preach good news to the poor, proclaim release to the Lewis: Mere Misogyny?,” Daughters of Sarah 1/6 (Sept 1975) 1. captive, bring sight to the blind, and set at liberty those who are 5. Hannay, “Mere Misogyny?,” 1–2. W. Andrew Ho ecker and John Timmerman, in “Watchmen in the City: C. S. Lewis’s View of Male and oppressed? Father McBrien of Notre Dame University believes: Female,” e Cresset 41/4 (Feb 1978), cite his earlier relationship to his the real underlying theological argument against the friend’s mother, Mrs. Moore, to claim that Lewis’s view in “Priestesses” ordination of women [is] not tradition. Not the teaching is not couched in rancor or chauvinism. However, I do not think Lewis’s and practice of the New Testament Church. Not the controversial relationship to Mrs. Moore demonstrates that he had a teaching and practice of Jesus. It is that since God is positive view of women. masculine, women are less godly than men . . . women 6. Hannay, “Mere Misogyny?,” 6. as women are incapable of the priestly work of mediation 7. ose who have read Lewis’s ction will note the contrast between his portrayal of Jane in at Hideous Strength (1945) with his portrayal of between God and ourselves. . . . e ordination of women Orual and Psyche in Till We Have Faces (1956) four years a er he met Joy. question . . . is, at root, a question about the nature of God 8. Lewis died in 1963; Joy died several years earlier. and the nature of human existence. 9. See also Deut 23:17–18: “None of the daughters of Israel shall be B. T. Roberts, who founded the Free Methodist Church, wrote: a temple prostitute; none of the sons of Israel shall be a temple prostitute. You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a male prostitute Why does [the Church] not have a more marked e ect into the house of the L your God in payment for any vow, for both upon the lives of those who acknowledge its truth? ere of these are abhorrent to the L your God” (NRSV). In 1 Sam 2:22– must be a cause! e reason is that the vast majority of 25, Eli’s sons are cursed for lying with the women who served at the tent those who embrace the Gospel are not permitted to labor of meeting at Shiloh, but this says nothing about the practices of other according to their ability, for the spread of the Gospel. nations. 10. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, C. S. Lewis was fearful of rearranging shadows and thereby losing God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him an understanding of the mysterious realities of the masculine and who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were the feminine that stand behind earthly gender. I am concerned not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received that we have lost more intrinsically signi cant realities about mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Pet 2:9–10 NRSV). God by excluding from sacramental service to the Church 11. According to Ignatius of Antioch: “Wherever the bishop is, the women who—if they were included—would far better embody whole congregation is present, just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the and bring to pass the themes of the songs of Hannah and Mary whole Church.” (Smyrnaeans 8, cited by William Spencer, “e Chaining which underscore the exaltation of the lowly and the lowering of of the Church,” Christian History VII/1/17 (1988) 24. the mighty. 12. Peter Fink, “Priesthood,” in Westminster Dictionary of Christian I conclude with a poem written by Roman Catholic author eology, ed. Alan Richardson and John Bowden (Westminster, 1983) 465. 13. Spencer, “e Chaining of the Church,” 25. Frances C. Frank, mother of three and grandmother of three. 14. Spencer, “e Chaining of the Church,” 25. Did the woman say 15. Packer, “Let’s Stop Making Women Presbyters,” 20. When she held him for the rst time in the dark 16. “Women Once Served as Priests,” e Progress (24 Oct 1991) dank of a stable, 2. “Otranto concedes that even when women served as priests, the A er the pain and the bleeding and the crying, practice was the exception rather than the rule and was condemned by “is is my body; this is my blood”? the Church hierarchy.” But dioceses ordaining women remained in full Did the woman say, communion with the Church. See also Karen Jo Torjesen, When Women Were Priests: Women’s Leadership in the Early Church and the Scandal of When she held him for the last time in the dark rain eir Subordination in the Rise of Christianity (Harper, 1993). on a hilltop, 17. Fink, “Priesthood,” 466. A er the pain and the bleeding and dying, 18. Complementarian Protestants consider the restrictions found “is is my body; this is my blood”? in 1 Cor 14:34–35; 1 Tim 2:11–12, 3:12; and Titus 1:6 normative for all Well that she said it to him then, Churches in all times, dismissing other references to women coworkers, For dry old men, ministers, and prophets found in Acts 2:1, 16–21; 16:11–15; 17:4, 12; 21:9; Brocaded robes belying barrenness, Rom 16; 1 Cor 11:4–5; Phil 4:3; Col 4:15; 2 Tim 4:19; Titus 2:3–4; etc. ey Ordain that she not say it for him now. also ignore or minimize the vastly varied cultural situation between the rst century and now. Notes 19. e Vatican’s Declaration on the Order of the Priesthood, “Inter A version of this article will appear as a chapter in the author’s forthcoming Insigniores” issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith book on Christian feminist theology. concerning the admission of women to the ministerial priesthood, Origins cbeinternational.org PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring • 6:33 (3 Feb 1977) 517–24, and L’Observatore Romano (3 Feb 1977) 6–8. 43. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 237. See also Paul Jewett, e Ordination of Women (Eerdmans, 1980) 84. 44. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 237. 20. “One in Christ Jesus: A Response to the Concern of Women for 45. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 237. Church and Society,” e Bishop’s Pastoral, Roman Catholic Archdiocese, 46. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 237. Seattle Wash. (24 May 1990) 11. 47. I disagree with Maggie Kirkman and Norma Grieve in “Women, 21. Rosemary Reuther examines this concept in her article “Entering Power and Ordination: A Psychological Interpretation of the Objections to the Sanctuary: e Roman Catholic Story,” in Women of Spirit: Female the Ordination of Women to the Priesthood,” Women’s Studies International Leadership in the Jewish and Christian Traditions, ed. Reuther and Eleanor Forum 7/6 (Great Britain, 1984) 489. ey say that Lewis believed spiritually McLaughlin (Simon and Schuster, 1979) 380. Speaking of “Inter Insigniores,” androgynous male priests properly image an androgynous God. But to she says: “It asserts that, following Jesus, the Church has always believed in Lewis, God is only masculine and only a truly masculine man will truly the equality of women with men in the natural order. Exclusion from the reect God. priesthood is not based on any such concept of inferiority or subjection, but 48. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 239. rather on some mysterious sacramental bond between Christ, maleness, 49. Augustine, De Trinitate 7.7, 10 quoted by Kirkman and Grieve (488) and priesthood.” and Rosemary Radford Reuther, Religion and Sexism (Simon and Schuster, 22. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 235. 1974) 156. “e woman together with her husband is the image of God, 23. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 235. so that the whole substance may be one image. But when she is referred to 24. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 235. separately in her quality of a helpmate, which regards the woman herself 25. Barbara MacHa e, Her Story: Women in the Christian Tradition alone, then she is not the image of God. But as regards the man alone, he (Fortress, 1986) 52. is the image of God as fully and completely as when the woman too is 26. MacHa e, Her Story, 44. joined with him.” Also see Not in God’s Image, ed. Julia O’Faolain and Lauro 27. MacHa e, Her Story, 44. See also Transforming Grace by Anne Martines (Harper and Row, 1973) 130. Carr (Harper and Row, 1988) 1–59. 50. See Jewett, “Ordination of Women,” 86. 28. Summa eologiae I, 92, I; note 18, IV Sent. 25, 2, 1, quoted by 51. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 237. Will Durant, Age of Faith (Simon and Schuster, 1950) 973, 826; and Ruth 52. For culturally conditioned men in authority to give their sisters in Tucker, Daughters of the Church: Women and Ministry from New Testament Christ full equality may have been too much to expect, and too much for Times to the Present (Acadamie, 1987) 164. the Greco-Roman world to accept. Christianity itself was revolutionary, 29. Rosemary Reuther, “Persecution of Witches: A Case of Ageism too much for that world to accept, and Christians were severely persecuted and Sexism?,” Christianity and Crisis 34 (23 Dec 1974) 291, cited by and martyred for their misunderstood devotion to God and Christ. e MacHa e, Her Story, 56. According to MacHa e, in some places the fact remains that the Spirit of God came equally to women, that women ratio of women tried as witches to men was 2/1; in others it was 20/1; and probably spread the gospel as much—or more than—men. We have not others 100/1. “In Essex County, England 90 percent of the inhabitants been told the whole story. And the story we do know contains evidence tried for witchcra were women. . . . e witch trials of 1585 le two that women were an integral part of early Christianity when it was poor, villages with only one female each . . . the image of the witch was—and persecuted and hounded. Note the apostle Junia, cited in Rom 16:7. continues to be—female” (56). MacHa e cites Malleus Mallecarum 53. Philip Yancey, Disappointment with God (Zondervan, 1988) 171–72. (Hammer of Witches, 1486), which asserts that witchcra is more likely 54. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey, In His Image (Zondervan, 1984) 282. to be found among women because they were “feebleminded and easily 55. See Brand and Yancey, In His Image, for a moving discussion of the swayed by false doctrines . . . were morally weak . . . inclined toward weakness and pain of God. deceit and revenge; . . . they would seize any opportunity to harm those 56. Like Father McBrien and many others have stressed, the fact that around them; [their] faith was weak and they would easily renounce Jesus did not ordain women when there was no formal ordination process Christianity . . . they had insatiable lust, which caused them to submit of any sort carries little weight. e same reasoning would lead the church willingly to the sexual advances of the devil” (56). to jettison ordination altogether. e Roman Catholic Church has said: “the 30. MacHa e, Her Story, 57. Church in delity to the example of our Lord does not consider herself 31. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 235. authorized to admit women to priestly ordination.” See “Inter Insigniores,” 32. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 235. 10–11; Jewett, “Ordination of Women,” 84. 33. e Bishop’s Pastoral, “One in Christ Jesus: A Response,” refers to 57. McBrien, in “Inter Insigniores,” 6. these same verses to prove the presence of women at Pentecost and their 58. B. T. Roberts, Ordaining Women (1992, Dayton edition) 116. resulting activity. “In the early Church, women along with men received 59. 1 Sam 2:1–10, Luke 1:46–55. the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:14, 2:3–4) came to believe (Acts 5:14). . . . ey 60. Frances C. Frank, A Matter of Spirit: A Peacemaking Journal of the prophesied (Acts 21:9) and taught others about Jesus (Acts 18:26), braving Northwest 4 (Easter 1990) 5. persecution and imprisonment for the sake of the Name.” 34. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 236. 35. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 236. 36. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 236. 37. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 237. KAREN STRAND WINSLOW teaches biblical 38. Julian of Norwich referred to Jesus—and medieval artists depicted studies at Azusa Pacific University in southern him—as “our Mother Jesus.” Julian of Norwich: Revelations of Divine Love, California. She holds a master’s degree from trans. Cli on Wolters (Penguin, 1966) 33. Asbury Theological Seminary and a PhD from the 39. Wolters, Julian of Norwich, 33. 40. Wolters, Julian of Norwich, 33. University of Washington. She has authored and 41. Gen 1:27, Eph 5:22–32. edited numerous publications and is an ordained elder in the Free 42. Lewis, “Priestesses,” 237. Methodist Church.
• PRISCILLA PAPERS | / | Spring cbeinternational.org CBE International CBE International (CBE) is a nonprofit organization of Christian men and women who believe that the Bible, properly interpreted, teaches the fundamental equality of men and women of all ethnic groups, all economic classes, and all age groups, based on the teachings of Scriptures such as Galatians :.
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