Gender Ontology and Women in Ministry in the Early Church Carrie L

Gender Ontology and Women in Ministry in the Early Church Carrie L. Bates Two gender ontologies notionf o the intrinsic worth of every human being into Greco- Roman culture. It based that tenet on Genesis 1:26: All human One’s ontology of gender underlies both hermeneutic precedence beings are equally bearers of God’s image—a concept radically at and exegetical considerations. Is human nature divided into two odds with Aristotle’s philosophy. kinds, male and female, or is it a single nature, shared by males Peter Brown, in his work on the history of permanent sexual and females? The answers to this question drive hierarchist and renunciation in the early church, offers readers a look at Greco- egalitarian hermeneutics and exegesis. Roman notions of gender. Citing second-century medical litera- Deborah. F Sawyer, in her history of women and religion in ture, Brown points out that a Roman man understood the dif- the first Christian centuries, believes that Christianity prescribes ference between himself and women “in terms of a hierarchy distinct gender roles founded on essentialist notions of gender: basedn o nature itself.”8 sYet, hi nature was not irrevocably dif- Men and women are constituted differently and thus function ferent from that of a woman. In fact, a fetus in the womb was differently. She sees these notions, along with similar ones in undifferentiated until it had either amassed a “decisive surplus Judaism, developing from dialogue with classical Greek philo- of ‘heat’ and fervent ‘vital spirit’” that rendered it male, or failed sophical ideas, in particular, with Aristotle’s notion of essential to do so, rendering it female. This male quality of heat was pre- gender identity.1 Sawyer notes that Aristotle did not remain un- carious. Lack of it at any time in a man’s life could cause him to challenged even in his own day. The persistence of the Amazon collapse back into that primary undifferentiated state. He would myth, the historical examples of Spartan women, and the popu- not actually become a woman, but he always faced the possibil- larityf o the writer Sappho demonstrate pluralistic Hellenistic at- ityf o becoming womanish. His best protection against this was titudes toward women.2 sThi pluralism militates against arguing to cultivate the character qualities of self-control that marked a from universal experience to universal precepts, because, even man o and t avoid the character defects of convulsive violence and within ancient Greek culture, there was no universal construc- irrational cruelty that they believed marked a woman.9 tion of gender roles.3 Justin Martyr, in his Apology, wrote that demonic powers Gender teachings of the post-apostolic writers stood behind the Roman government—powers whose intent was to blind people to the truth of one God from whom all humanity Sawyer sees early Christianity—the Jesus movement—as a Jew- derived its existence. Brown locates Justin’s concept of human- ish renewal movement with apocalyptic overtones that radically ity within second-century Jewish images of the human person. challenged conventional notions of society in general, including Although humanity was plagued by a dualism between the body family relationships and gender roles.4 Historian Karen Jo Torje- and the soul, its primary problem was that of a willful heart.10 sen concurs, noting that the earliest stages of Christianity lacked The heart could either pursue obedience to God (singleness of the buildings, officials, and large congregations that marked its heart),rt o i could rebel against God (waywardness of heart). Je- later stages. It is best understood as a social movement, informal, sus demanded a singleness of heart that included a radical break often countercultural, and adaptable. It was “marked by a fluidity with the normal patterns of settled life. Sexual renunciation was and flexibility that allowed women, slaves, and artisans to assume oney wa (among others) to demonstrate singleness of heart, and leadership roles.”5 sHowever, a Christianity developed, it moved thisys wa wa open to both men and women. Justin praised Chris- away from Jesus’ egalitarian vision and adopted the prevailing tiansf o both genders who had heroically practiced voluntary Aristotelian notions of gender. sexual renunciation.11 A universally applicable problem with a A third historian, Elaine Pagels, tracks the development of universally applicable solution suggests a universal human na- Christian notions of gender, sin, and freedom. Unlike Sawyer and ture. Although Justin did not explicitly advance an egalitarian Torjesen, Pagels does not find a monolithic adherence to Aristo- gender ontology, many who followed him did.12 telian notions of gender in post-apostolic Christianity. Indeed, Clementf o Alexandria, in Protreptikos Logos, rejected the tyr- she does not find a monolithic version of early Christianity at annyf o the imperial cult because it was “monstrous that . . . hu- all.6 She points out that the first four hundred years of Christian man beings who are God’s own handiwork should be subjected orthodoxy denounced Gnostic interpretations of Genesis in the to another master.”13 Clement saw Christ’s divinity as pervading namef o moral freedom, only to modify that theme radically in all humankind equally.14 nI Stromata, Clement urges all Chris- theh fift century with the writings of Au- tianso t engage in philosophical thought and its resultant moral gustine.7 Early Christianity introduced the self-restraint, “both slave and free must equally philosophize, whether male or female in sex. . . . For moral self-restraint is CARRIE L. BATES lives and works in northern New common to all human beings who have chosen it. And we admit York and is currently a master’s candidate at the that the same nature exists in every race, and the same virtue.”15 State University of New York at Potsdam. In Miscellanies, Clement posits a “sameness with respect to the soul” when thinking of virtue; only with respect to the “particular

6 • Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 25, No. 2 ◆ Spring 2011 construction of the body” are women destined for childbearing God o and t become different from its fellow beings. The body and housekeeping.16 was necessary for the slow healing of the spirit, but it was tran- In the second century AD, Tatian and the Encratites (a sect sient. Societal roles that derived from the body were evanescent foundedy b Tatian) taught that Adam and Eve had originally be- and inferior to the purity of the spiritual world.23 longedo t one category (nonanimal), had possessed the Spirit of Cyrilf o Jerusalem joins Clement, Origen, and Chrysostom God, and had been destined to live forever. The fall occurred when in rejecting an essentialist notion of gender. In Catechetical Lec- Adam and Eve turned away from God and to each other. Because tures, Cyril states, “The soul is immortal, and all souls are alike Adam had left his Father and Mother (God and the Holy Spirit), (homoiai) f both o men and women; for only the members of the he had become subject to death. Marriage to Eve and procreation body are distinguished.”24 eH opposes the view that women are had then become the only means by which humanity could con- by nature seductive and affirms the goodness of the human body, tinue. Adam and Eve’s sexuality led them to become part of the “including the female body.”25 animal world that was subject to death, and, in procreating to Ambrosef o Milan promoted virginity and the ascetic life as overcome death, they founded a false society. Sexual renunciation virtues that allowed women to transcend the course of fallen hu- allowed each person, male or female, to take steps “to regain the man nature. Virgins (male and female) were able to revert to the original unconfused ‘holiness’ that possession of the Spirit had innocent lives led by Adam and Eve before the fall. Ambrose’s conferredn o Adam and Eve.”17 Adam and Eve had lost what they gender ontology posits sexual differences, and any role differ- had shared—the same original, essential nature of holiness. Every ences arising from sexual distinctions between men and women, aspectf o human society that followed that loss, especially sepa- nots f a part o God’s original plan, but as the result of sin. Women, rate male and female roles, was contrary to God’s design. however, are more culpable than men, because Eve led the way John Chrysostom, regarded by some as giving voice to classic into sin. Thus, women had to “endure the bondage, galling yoke, antiwoman theology, wrote and spoke on several occasions of the and slavery of marriage.”26 Marriage was an endless battle against equal essence of men and women.18 .David C Ford claims that sensuality, the great thief that robbed humanity of paradise.27 Chrysostom was not a misogynist and lists six factors that support These men accepted their culture’s roles for the sexes and al- his claim. Chief among those six are Chrysostom’s use of rhetori- lowed those roles in the church, but they did not find theological cal exaggeration and his theological ethos affirming the goodness justification for those roles in the original creation. Their notion of f all o God’s creation. Ford portrays Chrysostom as viewing all of gender was culturally, not essentially, constructed. They stand membersf o the human race as connected to each other “by virtue in opposition to others who did in fact see women as constitu- of their identically shared human nature.”19 Chrysostom saw the tionally different from men. Ambrosiaster, in Quaestiones veteris principal female roles in society as those connected to the care of et novi testamenti, s wrote, “It i man who has been made in the the household and the family, but praised women who achieved imagef o God, not woman,” and concludes from this that women extraordinary heights of spirituality, even though he held that are o not t teach, witness, or judge, much less exercise any author- male leadership in the church and family was normative.20 ity.28 Pelagius, later condemned as a heretic for his teaching on Chrysostom held that the normative pattern of leadership/ the goodness of human nature, believed that Paul’s prohibitions submission in the world was not original to creation, but was ne- stemmed from the order of nature, since man was created first. cessitatedy b the fall. Sin led to women’s subjection. Unlike Ori- Theodoretf o Cyrus also saw the creation order as grounds for gen, who thought that sexual differentiation occurred at the fall women’s inferiority.29 and will not persist into the next life, Chrysostom held sexuality Jerome’s gender ontology is inconsistent and confusing. In and marriage in such high regard that he believed both were eter- Rome,e h taught women ascetics to practice scriptural exegesis nal.21 eTh pattern of male headship, however, will not persist into on their own.30 His teachings on the life of virginity indicate the next life. Thus, Chrysostom could posit an equal-with-differ- thate h believed virginity, in some sense, made men and women ences theology that affirms the intrinsic equality of the sexes as equal. Yet, his writings against Helvidius and Jovinian redound of the same substance (tēs autēs ousias) f and o the same honor with criticism of women monastics who thought that after a life- (isotimia) while accepting male leadership as necessary and or- timef o asceticism they could be the equals of men. In his advice dainedy b God to bring order to a fallen world. The single nature to women contemplating the ascetic life, he urges them to remove sharedy b men and women is also shared with Christ, a concept all f traces o femaleness, to become manly, and to practice manly that allows for the human man, Jesus, to represent both men and virtues.31 eH may have been defining manly virtues by prevail- women in his priestly work and to stand as a substitute for both. ing cultural standards rather than by essential standards, since it Origen looked at sexuality and gender as a passing phase—a seems unlikely that he would have urged women to act contrary “dispensable adjunct of the personality that played no role in de- to the nature that God had given them. fining the essence of the human spirit.”22 eTh redeemed human Augustinef o Hippo, in On the Literal Meaning of Genesis, spiritsn wa o a journey back to an original perfection of dwelling wondered why God made women at all and concluded that pro- in the life-giving warmth of the presence of God. Each created creation must be the only answer, since companionship is more being shared an original equality of essence. The body in which pleasant with two men than it is with a man and a woman. Wom- a being now dwelt was the result of its choice to move away from en were created to be helpers to men, but, with what, Augustine

Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 25, No. 2 ◆ Spring 2011 • 7 wonders, would Adam have needed help? Before the fall and the prophesy.e H (or she) also alludes to the divine prerogative of curse, the earth yielded its fruit with no effort on the part of hu- the Holy Spirit to administer all gifts to all people, an ambigu- manity.e H concludes that the only way that a woman can help a ous reference either to justify further penning the account, or man is by having babies.32 to point out that the gift of martyrdom comes to whomever the Augustine saw the leadership/ Spirit wills, whether those persons submission dichotomy as built into hat is indisputable from the text is are r male o female, slave or free. The the texture of creation. In his Literal Wthat Perpetua has no hesitation in characters in this drama are both male Commentary on Genesis,e h offers the approaching God on behalf of herself and the and female, slave and free. Perpetua, a reason for female subordination: “[I]t others to ascertain the outcome of their case. young woman from a good family, is is necessary for one of two people liv- accompanied by two slaves, Revocatus ing together to rule and the other to obey so that an opposition and Felicitas, and two other young men, Saturninus and Secun- of wills does not disturb their peaceful cohabitation. . . . One per- dulus. Saturus, whom the redactor does not include as one of the sons wa created before, the other afterwards, and most signifi- arrested catechumens, but whose vision he records, is likely the cantly, the latter was created from the former, the woman from instructor of the others prior to their arrest.38 the man.”33 Apparently, Augustine believed that the potential for Perpetua reveals her self-identity early in her account, when interpersonal strife existed prior to the fall and considered that she o insists t her father that she must be called what she truly God preempted that possibility by creating a ruling order.34 is—a Christian.39 She does not identify herself as a Christian Unlike Jerome and Ambrose, who believed that the fall was woman, but simply as a Christian. Arguments from silence or a fall into sexuality, Augustine saw sexual differentiation as part omission do not prove or disprove anything, but this omission is of God’s original plan.35 nsI hi Confessions, Augustine compares interesting. Perpetua’s concern for her family’s suffering and for the two forces of the human soul (reason and nature) to the two her infant son show that she does not reject traditional female genders. Reason is the dominant force because it deliberates, and roles, but neither does she confine her identity to those roles. natures i the subjective force because it obeys. Reason is analo- Her reputation (presumably for spirituality) is so great that her gouso t the male gender, nature to the female.36 Women have a brother40 suggests that she ask God for a confirmatory vision. He nature different from, but equal to, the nature of men. Augustine’s does not suggest that he approach God with a similar request. gender ontology is essentialist. Again, caution dictates that we do not read too much into this, butt i certainly could indicate that Perpetua and her companions Post-apostolic women writers regard s her a their leader. What is indisputable from the text is What gender ontology did the women of early Christianity hold? that Perpetua has no hesitation in approaching God on behalf of Very few works by early Christian women are extant. The list herself and the others to ascertain the outcome of their case. is o limited t just four: Perpetua’s prison diary, preserved in The In Perpetua’s vision, she ascends the ladder to heaven after Martyrdom of Perpetua; Proba’s Cento; Egeria’s travelogue, The Saturus. She and he seem to be the only ones from the arrested Pilgrimage of Egeria; and Eudokia’s epic poem, Martyrdom of band who figure in this vision. Perhaps he precedes her because St. Cyprian.37 These writings do not directly address the issue of ofs hi status as teacher, or perhaps because of the voluntary nature gender ontology, so readers must look within each text for clues ofs hi arrest.41 Perhaps the only significance is that someone had thatt hin a how these women understood their personhood. Did too g first because the ladder was too narrow to permit more than they believe that God had created them intrinsically and inher- onet a a time to ascend. Perpetua describes her ascent in terms ently different from men, or did they see themselves as having the reminiscent of Genesis 3:15 and Revelation 12. She identifies with same nature as men, with the only God-given distinction that of the f seed o the woman who will crush the head of the serpent/ physiology? The danger of reading into the text what one wants dragon. That seed is male and was understood by Christians to tod fin always exists, and this is especially true in this instance. refer ultimately to Christ. Perpetua sees herself as so united to Nevertheless, we must attempt to hear from these women what Christ that she becomes like him in function, a theme borrowed they believed about their own natures. from Revelation 12:11. Her identity is tied to Christ and, therefore, exceeds gendered church and cultural restrictions. She conquers Perpetua the dragon and climbs the dangerous ladder, not primarily as a The Martyrdom of Perpetua reflects the teaching that she as a manr o a woman, but as a Christian. The shepherd figure who catechumen would have received. The first two sections of the waitst a the summit addresses her as his child and feeds her from account come from an eyewitness redactor, possibly Tertullian; his own hand. Saturus has disappeared from the vision and Per- sections three through ten are Perpetua’s own words, and the fi- petua faces God alone.42 nal eight sections contain an account of Saturus’s vision and the A second vision places Perpetua in the position of interces- redactor’s conclusion. The redactor justifies the account by point- sor for her blood brother who had died at the age of seven. A ingo t its edificatory value and establishes an egalitarian tone by third vision assures her that her prayers on his behalf had been settingt i within the context of the last days when God will pour answered.n I these visions, Perpetua does not work through the outs hi spirit on all humanity, and men and women alike will hierarchal church structure, indicating that she has circumvented

8 • Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 25, No. 2 ◆ Spring 2011 the priest, who normally spoke to God on behalf of the people. hersn a a aberrant female and a threat to God-instituted male/ This indicates that she believed she could approach God directly, female differences. Even Augustine, whose gender ontology was without the mediation of an earthly priest.43 less than flattering to women, honored Perpetua by preaching In a fourth vision, Perpetua faces an Egyptian fighter in the sermons in her honor, quoting and paraphrasing from the ac- arena and discovers that she will battle him as a man, prevail count of her martyrdom.51 against him as a man, and receive the victor’s branch as a woman. Proba Thereso i n hint that she thinks of her essential nature as any different from that of her male companions, as is evidenced by her Proba, the second of the four early women writers, wrote in an abilityo t envision herself as either female or male.44 That which era (the mid-fourth century) when Greco-Roman women were is essential to her self-image is her Christianity. beginningo t experience more freedom, but women in the church Prioro t the day of her martyrdom, God grants Perpetua a were increasingly restricted from roles they might have held release from both the emotional and physical pain of caring for earlier.52 eTh very act of a woman writing a theological treatise her infant son, an indication that God has not confined her to during this period demonstrates a “radical character” and a “self- traditional female roles. She transcends the normal physical limi- assertive identity.”53 Despite opposition from Jerome and Gela- tationsf o lactating women. A similar idea is conveyed by the su- sius, the church retained Proba’s Cento sa a school text for the pernatural early labor of Felicitas. God intervenes, allowing her, instruction of boys until the twelfth century, alongside such other too, to transcend the limits imposed by pregnancy.45 workss a Aldhelm’s Symposia and Enigma; the poems of Cyprian, The redactor includes Saturus’s vision in which he and Per- Gregory, and Fortunatus; and works of Abelard and Seneca.54 petua are carried, side by side, to heaven by four angels. Other A s cento i a literary work wherein one author uses bits and angels honor and admire the martyrs and direct them to the pres- piecesf o another author to create something entirely new. Proba encefn o a aged man sitting on a throne (representing God), who selects and reorganizes lines and half-lines from Virgil’s Aeneid treats them both in the same manner, stroking their faces with and Georgics ot show that the incarnation of Christ fulfills the his hand. Neither receives preference. They also encounter two Old Testament. Her intent is to educate her posterity and pos- bishops who entreat the martyrs to make peace between them. sibly her husband.55 eTh enduring significance of her work as a In this vision, merit supersedes hierarchy, and Perpetua counsels school text testifies that some part of the church accepted Proba the bishops. Perpetua’s gender is no hindrance to her ministry, as a theological writer and teacher.56 and she receives the same treatment as Saturus does. In Saturus’s The nature of a cento requires that we do not read too much view, women and men do the same things in heaven; no gender theology into the work. Proba was limited to what Virgil had roles are evident there.46 Saturus’s vision includes both his and written. Nevertheless, her choice of lines allows the reader a Perpetua’s activities, an indication that he viewed her as his equal. glimpse into the theology that underlies the work. Proba’s Cento The redactor comments on Roman cultural sexism as he pens opens with allusions to her previous literary efforts that had ad- the account of the mad heifer used to attack Perpetua and Fe- dresseds les exalted subject matter; presumably, this was not her licitas, “selected so that the woman’s sex would be matched with first work.57 She makes no apology for trespassing on ground thatf o the animal.”47 eH records the ineffectiveness of the animal, forbiddeno t women, possibly because she felt she had breached implying that God supernaturally intervened to circumvent any no gender boundaries. The Cento moves through the creation lossf o honor in the women’s martyrdom. The account presents account, which culminates in the creation of humanity on the an egalitarian spirit among the martyrs: Women and men mu- sixth day. Proba chooses lines that explain the creation of Eve in tually encourage one another; slaves and free persons seal their termsf o her coregency with Adam over the rest of God’s crea- martyrdom by giving each other the kiss of peace.48 tures: “Now another is sought for this one [Adam], but none Perpetua functions as a symbol of the universal Christian. dares come forth to be called his comrade in sovereignty.”58 None Her depiction in terms of both male and female indicates that of the animals is fit to reign with Adam, so God creates someone the early church saw the prophetic Spirit breathing where it who is. Proba retains orthodoxy by portraying both Adam and willed, with no gender preference. No one in the group (includ- Eves a culpable in the fall, with Eve following the serpent’s lead. ing the redactor) perceived Perpetua’s actions as violating a God- The lines from Virgil that depict the temptation do so in terms of ordained male headship. Perpetua and her fellow martyrs pro- the serpent usurping God’s authority and leadership, and not in vide a “universal solution valid for men and women.”49 terms of Eve usurping Adam’s headship.59 Perpetua’s ability to envision herself as either male or female Proba skillfully demonstrates the post-fall change in Adam’s contradicts Paul Jewett’s assertion that our gender identity is es- attitude toward Eve by using lines from Virgil that praise the sentialo t our self-awareness.50 Jewett may subscribe to an essen- maiden (Eve) as a wondrous gift before the fall and lines that tial f notion o gender; Perpetua does not. The text of The Martyr- depict her afterward as full of treachery and monstrous crime.60 dom of Perpetua offerso n hint that Perpetua, her companions, When Proba comes to the judgment, she finds Virgilian lines that or her redactor viewed her perception of herself as both male compare with the Genesis account to describe Adam’s punish- and female as a psychological anomaly. Nor did the church that ment in terms of unremitting labor as he struggles to find food, included this account as part of its literature for services view fear between animals and humans, and suffering, disease, and

Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 25, No. 2 ◆ Spring 2011 • 9 death. For Eve, however, the punishment is less specific: She will saw societal gender separation as evidence of women traveling not know what kinds of perils she faces, and she, too, will die.61 tI with Paul and the other apostles in order to evangelize women is unclear if Proba felt that male headship resulted from the fall; in their own quarters.64 Solid evidence of female deacons comes she may have been unable to find suitable material from Virgil to from Pliny the Younger. In his Epistle to Trajan (ca. 110), eh r - express such an idea, or she may have believed that the change in ferso t the torture in Bithynia and Pontus of two female slaves Adam’s attitude, depicted earlier, amply demonstrated the cor- who were deacons (or ministers).65 yB the third century, widows responding change in the male/female relationship. functioned as clergy in the Alexandrian church. Origen saw wid- Proba’s actions in writing a theological treatise demonstrate ows,r o senior women, as exercising a teaching ministry to other that, in her eyes at least, women did not have to be subordinate to women, but never to men.66 eTh function of church widows was men in the ecclesial matter of teaching, nor does the material she to “inculcate in young women the qualities which make them chose from Virgil contradict the egalitarian ontology implied by good wives, good mothers, good housekeepers, gracious and Proba’s actions. If Proba believed that women could teach men, charitable Christians.”67 Women may have ministered in the role then she would hardly have believed that male headship was of teacher, but only to other women. mandatedy b God at creation and carried forward into society In Syria, the ministerial roles of widow and of female dea- and the church by his decree. con were governed by rules recorded in the Didascalia Apostolo- rum.68 Qualifications included age and quiet demeanor as well as Egeria and Eudokia marital status and duties centered on prayer. A widow was not to The remaining two works do not offer much insight into the gen- instruct those who asked her about the Christian faith unless she der ontology of their authors. Egeria (possibly late fourth cen- was refuting idols or speaking about the unity of God. For deeper tury) composed a travel journal of her pilgrimage to the Holy teaching, she was to direct questioners to the rulers of the church. Land with the intention of sending the writing to her friends at Reasons offered for restricting women from teaching includ- home, a group of biblically literate and devout women who had ed their general lack of education, the Gentile (non-Christian) banded together and who served the church in some unspecified attitude about the unreliability of women, and the example of Je- way. Egeria’s focus on liturgical practices hints that these women sus in appointing only men to be his teaching disciples.69 yB this may have functioned as precursors to the later canonesses of me- time, the early church had appropriated the religious structures dieval Europe who oversaw the proper observance of the liturgy of Israel, adding the all-male priesthood of the Old Testament to in the cathedral.62 eTh connections between what Egeria and her reasons for excluding women from the offices of priest, presbyter, contemporaries may have done in the church and their view of and bishop.70 Ironically, the Didascalia repeats the typology of genders a either essential or constructed are too tenuous to draw. Ignatiusf o Antioch in presenting the deaconess as the typologi- Eudokia, the remaining author, enjoyed a privileged status as calef figur o the Holy Spirit, but restricts her from teaching in the the f wife o the Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II. Late classical church, which is one of the functions Christ delineates as belong- and medieval writers attribute six works to Eudokia: two poetic ing to the Holy Spirit (John 16:13).71 paraphrases of the octoteuch (the first eight books of the Old John Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople, and Theodoret, Testament) and the prophecies of Daniel and Zechariah, a poem bishopf o Cyrrhus, commented on Phoebe (Rom 15) as a deacon about the martyrdom of St Cyprian, a speech to the people of An- and praised those who imitated her. Both men, along with Theo- tioch, a poem celebrating the victory of her husband over the Per- doref o Mopsuestia, saw the text of 1 Timothy 3:11 as providing siansnD i A 422, and a Homeric cento on the life of Christ.63 sA qualifications for women deacons.72 Chrysostom follows what by with Proba, the act of writing for the public realm, especially theo- thens wa the tradition of conflating teaching with authority and logical writing, indicates that Eudokia held a gender ontology that restricts women from teaching. His reasoning was based on the would see nothing inherently wrong with women teaching men. post-fall condition addressed by Genesis 3:16 and supported by The testimony of these four women writers of the early church 1 Timothy 2:11.73 may e not b representative of all Christian women in the first By h the fift century, practice in the eastern church was more five centuries. The evidence available to us, however, shows that varied.e Th church at Edessa put deaconesses in charge of read- there were indeed some women writers and teachers of the early ing the Divine Office (the recitation of certain prayers at fixed church and that these women did not view themselves as consti- hours) for the nuns. A deaconess may also have functioned as tutionally unfit for leadership. Whatever restrictions their gender the f head o a community of nuns. In spite of this authority and imposed on them derived from culture, not from creation. liturgical function, however, no deaconess or other woman as- Other ministerial roles sumed a sacramental leadership role.74 eTh Arabic Canon of Ni- caea 47 records the deaconesses’ sole function as that of receiving The historical evidence for women in teaching and authority women in baptism.75 eTh Justinian legislation (Novellae)f o the roles in the early church may be ambiguous, but the evidence for sixth century varies considerably from one piece of legislation to other ministerial roles is more conclusive. In the late second or another, sometimes indicating ordination for deaconesses and at early third century, Clement of Alexandria extrapolated the need other times excluding them from the list of clergy.76 for female deacons from 1 Corinthians 9:5 and 1 Timothy 3:11. He

10 • Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 25, No. 2 ◆ Spring 2011 Contemporary gender teaching question about the significance of Jesus’ maleness: Is it soterio- logicalr o cultural? Contemporary egalitarians acknowledge that Contemporary essentialist notions of gender blend aspects of the the male incarnation may have been culturally necessary; they gender ontologies and roles discussed above. Men and women deny t that i could have been soteriologically necessary. Grenz are equally human and equally bear God’s image, but are con- and Kjesbo, while fundamentally agreeing, explain that sexuality stituted differently. Men are designed to lead, women to follow. “isn a indispensable dimension of our ex- This difference comes directly from God n essentialist notion of gender leaves istences a embodied human creatures.”85 in creation; it is not the result of the fall. They hasten to add, however, that the in- Explanations from Genesis 1–3 by propo- Athe nature of one gender unassumed carnationf o God the Son as a male does nents posit male headship as both natural and unrepresented before God. not mean that maleness constitutes es- and normative. They fail, however, to tell sential humanness.86 First-century AD society would have dis- us why any kind of headship was necessary before the fall. missed a female incarnation of God solely because of her gender. One proponent defines male headship, instituted by God at Teachings about self-sacrifice and the treatment of women as so- creation, thusly: “In the partnership of two spiritually equal hu- cial equals would have lost their radical force had those teachings man beings, man and woman, the man bears the primary respon- come from a woman. Christ came into a specific historical cul- sibilityo t lead the partnership in a God-glorifying direction.”77 ture; in order to gain a hearing for the message of God’s liberating This statement is somewhat similar to Augustine’s assertion, cited love, he came as a male.87 earlier, that, to prevent a clash of wills when two people live together, one person rules and the other obeys. Just as one wonders Gender ontology and biblical texts how, o prior t the entrance of sin into the garden, the wills of two people could clash, one also wonders why, in an equal partner- Gender ontology influences which texts readers view as filters for ship, one partner bears “primary responsibility.” Furthermore, their interpretations of other biblical passages that refer to wom- why would one spiritual person need to be led by another person en in the church. Male hierarchists interpret all the work of New who was equally spiritual? Testament women as supportive, but never as authoritative. One Another proponent of male headship is more explicit about such proponent of male headship, after listing the women Paul the equal-but-different character of the sexes. God’s creation of mentions in Romans 16, concludes that, even though women had humanity provides concrete examples of man-ness and woman- an active role in spreading the gospel, “the New Testament of- ness: two different kinds of humanity.78 sThi writer views human- ferso n examples of female apostles, evangelists or elders. There itys a consisting of two pieces that were joined at the beginning: areo n examples of women teaching in public.”88 oEvidence t the “in that original ‘put-together,’ woman was derived from man,” contrarys i explained in a way that keeps the principle of male thus providing a rationale for “some kind of male precedence in headship, based on creation, intact. Another hierarchist refers public Church relations.”79 eTh difference between the two na- to Philip’s daughters, who prophesied, and Prisca, who taught turess i highlighted in 1 Timothy 2:8–15, culminating in verse 14, Apollos, and concludes that, while their service is gifted and of which forbids women from teaching or ruling due to their sus- profit for the church, it is within the “biblical limits of the tradi- ceptible nature.80 tionf o male authority.”89 Two leading hierarchal writers explain This concept (a dual nature of humanity) is fraught with dis- the apostle Junia in Romans 16:7 in one of three ways. (1) She was turbing implications, the foremost being which kind of human- possibly a man, because sometimes the name is rendered Junias, ity Christ assumed. Gregory of Nazianzus wrote in his refutation which could be a man’s name. As support, they cite Epiphanius of Apollinarianism, “The unassumed is the unhealed.”81 Gregory of Salamis who believed that Junias was a man who became the contradicted Apollinaris’s claim that Christ had a real human bishopf o Apameia in Syria. They do add, in an endnote, how- body, but not a real human mind.82 Gregory believed that the ever, that they are perplexed by Epiphanius’s reference to Prisca seatf o sin was in the mind—that was the precise place where as a man, when they know from the biblical text that she was humanity most needed healing. If the Son of God did not assume a woman. (2) Possibly, she was not an apostle, but simply well a real human mind, he could not redeem the human mind. The knowny b the apostles, or (3) she was an apostle of a non-author- same principle holds true for gender. If the two-kinds-of-human- itative type, a messenger, such as Epaphroditus. If this is the case, ity position is correct, then Christ, who was a real human man, she simply traveled with a group and did not have a ministry of must have had real male humanity. He did not have real female authority similar to Paul’s apostleship, which was as governor of humanity. Women, therefore, have no acceptable sacrifice, since the churches. These writers do not explain why Junia, as an apos- the sacrifice must be of the same nature as those for whom it is tle, would not fit the category of teaching apostle exemplified by offered.83 nA essentialist notion of gender leaves the nature of Barnabas, Silvanus, Timothy, and James.90 one gender unassumed and unrepresented before God. Egalitarians point out that, when Scripture refers to men who Stanley Grenz and Denise Kjesbo point out that the patris- worked hard or served, no one tries to explain their roles as sup- tic writers and church councils avoided the problems inherent portive. They conclude that gender role presuppositions drive the in essentialist gender ontology by emphasizing Christ’s human- exegesisf o these texts rather than a careful consideration of the ity rather than his maleness.84 Grenz and Kjesbo ask a critical terms themselves.91 Moreover, Arthur Frederick Ide argues that

Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 25, No. 2 ◆ Spring 2011 • 11 there were New Testament female elders and points to 1 Timothy istry does not have to disappear because the particular conditions 5:1 and 2: “Do not rebuke a male presbyter (presbyteros) but ex- that shaped the office have changed. Some in the early postapos- horts him a you would a father; treat younger men like brethren, tolic church excluded women from teaching or leadership roles women presbyters (presbyteras) like mothers, younger women in mixed company, yet their rationale for exclusion often reflect- like sisters.”92 sIde i not alone in asserting that Christian women edn a “anthropology which could not be unanimously admitted held the office of elder. Karen Jo Torjesen cites evidence from ear- today.”100 Others believed that the early church utilized women ly inscriptions that shows that both Jewish and Christian women as apostles, bishops, and elders.101 eTh orthodox church eventu- held leadership offices. She lists the memorial inscriptions of four ally evolved along the lines of a traditional interpretation of the different Christian women from three different centuries and Ephesian model: a hierarchal authority structure with no women from three different places: Paniskianes the presbytera r(second o in positions of leadership and a feminine deaconate restricted to third century Egypt), Epikatas the presbytis r(third o fourth cen- serving other women. Why did the church follow that model and tury in Thera), Ammion the presbytera (third century, no place not the Galatian one—based on the principle of equality? We can given), and Kale the presbytis r(fourth o fifth century in Sicily).93 only speculate on probable causes. Perhaps a more profitable ex- Torjesen also points to a Roman basilica with a mosaic and an ercise would be for the church to reexamine the biblical texts in inscriptiono t Theodora Episcopa—Bishop Theodora—with the the f light o their historical contexts and to think hard about the “a” in Theodora partially marked by scratches as though some- presuppositions upon which its gender ontology and tradition one had tried to deface the feminine ending.94 Francine Card- has developed. mans add two more women presbyters to the list: Leta from the Notes catacombf o Tropaea in southern Italy and the presbyter Flavia Vitalia, recorded on a sarcophagus from Salona in Dalmatia. She, 1. Deborah F. Sawyer, Women and Religion in the First Christian too, mentions Bishop Theodora, but concludes that the date of Centuries (New York, NY: Routledge, 1996), 4–5, 110–12. 2. Sawyer, Women and Religion, 55–58, 112. Sawyer notes that Aristo- the chapel (c. 820) and its decoration (mausoleum style) make it tle’s strong negative reaction against the Spartan women was later taken likely that the inscription refers to Theodora, the mother of Pope toe b the universal Greek cultural attitude toward women. John Temple Paschal I, who likely had the chapel built to honor her.95 Fur- Bristow sees a unified Stoic and Aristotelian disdain for women as mark- ther inscriptional evidence includes a fragmentary epigraph on a ing the Hellenistic philosophy of Paul’s day (John Temple Bristow, What tombstone from Solin that reads sacerdota ro female priest. The Paul Really Said About Women: An Apostle’s Liberating Views on Equality crossn o the stone indicates that the entombed was a Christian, in Marriage, Leadership, and Love n[Sa Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1988, repr. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 1991], 8–14). The Stoic Sen- not a pagan.96 eca, however, in urging a female acquaintance to refrain from excessive One hierarchal theologian acknowledges that egalitarians grieft a the loss of her son, grounds his entreaty in her ability, furnished present biblical passages (Titus 2:3, in particular) that might be by “Nature, which draws no distinction between persons.” Nature, ac- interpreted to prove the existence of female elders. However, he cordingo t Seneca, has not constituted females essentially different from believes those interpretations are wrong.97 eH fails, however, to males: “But who has stated that Nature has been ungenerous to women’s natures and has tightly restricted their virtues? They have just as much address the passage mentioned by Ide: 1 Timothy 5:1–2. He ex- energy, believe me, just as much aptitude for noble actions, should they plains that the author of the Pastorals does not refer to female el- wish; they endure pain and toil as well as we do, if they have grown ders in Titus 2:3. This text uses the word presbytidas, er which h a - accustomed to them” (Seneca, “Consolation to Marcia,” in Seneca: Dia- gues means older women, but not women elders. This theologian logues and Essays, trans. John Davie, ed. Tobias Reinhardt [Oxford: Ox- supportss hi argument by commenting that the usual word for ford University Press, 2007], 60–68). elders has a feminine form (presbyteras), and that form does not 3. Sawyer, Women and Religion, 58. See also Judith P. Hallett, “Wom- en’s Lives in the Ancient Mediterranean,” in Women and Christian Ori- appear in the Titus passage.98 His analysis of the words is accu- gins, ed. Ross Shepard Kraemer and Mary Rose D’Angelo (New York, rate, e but h seems unaware that, in 1 Timothy 5:2, Paul did indeed NY: Oxford University Press, 1999), 13–34; and James Malcom Arland- use the very word ethat h acknowledges should be used to refer son, Women, Class, and Society in Early Christianity: Models from Luke- to female elders: presbytera.s Thi argument against reading the Acts (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1997), 1–13. Both authors caution Titus passage as meaning women elders supports Ide’s argument against assuming a uniform women’s experience in the ancient world and cite wealth, status, and power as factors that influenced women’s (as about reading 1 Timothy 5:1–2 as evidence of women elders.99 well as men’s) lives. Implications and applications 4. Sawyer, Women and Religion, 43. 5. o Karen J Torjesen, When Women Were Priests: Women’s Leader- What does the historical development of women’s ministerial ship in the Early Church and the Scandal of their Subordination in the Rise roles imply for modern Christianity? The female deaconate seems of Christianity (San Francisco, CA: Harper, 1993), 11. to have existed primarily to observe propriety. Women deacons 6. Elaine Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent (New York, NY: Vin- tage, 1989), 152. (or ministers) could visit women parishioners without arousing 7. Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, xxv. suspicions of improper sexual relationships. Male priests and 8. Peter Brown, The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Re- bishops who feared women as potential seducers could delegate nunciation in Early Christianity (New York, NY: Columbia University to female deacons those tasks that might bring male clergy into Press, 1988), 5. too personal and private contact with women. Yet, a helpful min- 9. Brown, Body and Society, 10–11. 10. Brown, Body and Society, 34–35.

12 • Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 25, No. 2 ◆ Spring 2011 11. Justin, Apology 15.1–5. Cited in Brown, Body and Society, 34. been the leader (Augustine, On the Literal Meaning of Genesis, IX.56). 12. Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, 39. Cited in Torjesen, When Women Were Priests, 220–21. 13. Clement, Protreptikos Logos 10, 92. Cited in Pagels, Adam, Eve, 35. Malone, Women and Christianity, 154. and the Serpent, 39. 36. Augustine, Confessions XIII.32. 14. Clement, Protreptikos Logos 11, 114. Cited in Pagels, Adam, Eve, 37. Patricia Wilson-Kastner, Ann Millin, Rosemary Rader, and Jer- and the Serpent, 39. emiah Reedy, A Lost Tradition: Women Writers of the Early Church (Lan- 15. Clement, Stromata 4, 8. Cited in Pagels, Adam, Eve, and the Ser- ham, MD: University Press of America, 1981). pent, 51. 38. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 31 n. 8. 16. Clement, Miscellanies IV.viii, Patrologiae Cursus Completes, Se- 39. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 20. Malone interprets ries Graeca (hereafter PG), ed. J.-P. Migne, 8.1272A, 1272C, 1276A, 1280A Perpetua’s response as moving her out of the ancient world’s father/ (Ante Nicene Fathers, 419–42). Cited in David C. Ford, Women and Men daughter relationship. Perpetua’s Christianity places her beyond the in the Early Church: The Full Views of St. John Chrysostom a(South C - controlf o both the government and the family. Her identity is simply naan, PA: St. Tihkon’s Seminary Press, 1996), 29. that of a Christian. Malone, Women and Christianity, 108. 17. Brown, Body and Society, 90–96. 40.s Thi term would seem to indicate a male believer rather than a 18.e On Eastern Orthodox scholar who views Chrysostom as mi- sibling. Perpetua refers to her deceased sibling as her blood brother, but, sogynists i Eva Catafygiotu Topping, writing in Holy Mothers of Ortho- when she refers to this man, he is simply her brother. Wilson-Kastner et doxy (Minneapolis, MN: Light and Life, 1987), 43. Cited in Ford, Women al., A Lost Tradition, 20, 23. and Men in the Early Church, xiv. 41. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 21. 19. Ford, Women and Men in the Early Church, 41, citing Homily XV 42. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 21. on St. John (Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers [hereafter NPNF]), 1, XIV 43. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 23. 54; Homily XXVI on St. John (NPNF ),1, XIV 93; Homily XXXIV on 1 44. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 24. Corinthians (NPNF 1, XII), 204; and Homily I Concerning the Statutes 45. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 22, 26–27. (NPNF 1, IX), 343. 46. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 25–26. 20. Ford, Women and Men in the Early Church, 45, 103–09, 114. 47. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 29. 21. For Origen’s views, see Ford, Women and Men in the Early 48. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 29–30. Church, 27 n. 70. For Chrysostom’s views, see Ford, Women and Men in 49. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 10. the Early Church, 144–45. Role and status differences are temporary and 50. Paul K. Jewett, Man as Male and Female (Grand Rapids, MI: transient, and, as such, their significance is secondary. When Chrysos- Eerdmans, 1975), 172. Cited in John Piper, “A Vision of Biblical Com- tom uses the terms “superior” in regard to men and “inferior” in regard plementarity: Manhood and Womanhood Defined According to the to e women, h refers to this difference in role and status. Likewise, when Bible,” in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to he o refers t women as weaker, he means that they have physically weaker Evangelical Feminism, ed. John Piper and Wayne Grudem (Wheaton, IL: bodies, not that they are constituted spiritually or intellectually weaker. Crossway, 1991, repr. 2006), 34. Chrysostom refers to maleness and femaleness as “bodily accidents” that 51. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 11, 17. neither injure nor assist a person to enter the new covenant (139 n. 6, 52. Wilson-Kastner et al. provide details about the possible and commenting on Galatians). probable identity and dates of Proba. A Lost Tradition, 33–35. 22. Brown, Body and Society, 168. 53. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 35. 23. Brown, Body and Society, 160–77. 54. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 37 39. Wilson-Kastner 24. Catechetical Lectures IV.20, PG 33.480C–481A. Cited in Ford, suggests that Gelasius may have objected to the use of Proba’s Cento no Women and Men in the Early Church, 31. the grounds of its literary weaknesses: The Virgilian material lacked 25. Ford, Women and Men in the Early Church, 31. enough salient detail that those unfamiliar with the theology implied in 26. . Mary T Malone, Women and Christianity, Volume 1: The First the Cento might miss it altogether. Thousand Years (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2000), 156. For English transla- 55. Cento, lines 54–55, 692–695. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradi- tionsf o the writings of Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine, Malone re- tion, 46, 68. fers readers to The Library of the Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers oand t 56. Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 42. Patrology, Vol. IV, The Golden Age of Latin Patristic Literature from the 57. Cento, lines 1–54, in Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition., 45. Council of Nicea to the Council of Chalcedon, ed. Angelo Di Berardino, 58. Cento, lines 123, 124, in Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, 49. withn a introduction by Johannes Quasten, (Allen, TX: Christian Clas- 59. Cento, lines 190–200, in Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Tradition, sics, 1992). 51. For the contemporary hierarchal view that reads the sin in the garden 27. Malone, Women and Christianity, 159. in f terms o gender role reversal, see Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr., “Male- 28, Quaestiones veteris et novi testamenti 45, 2–3 (Corpus scriptori- Female Equality and Male Headship: Genesis 1–3,” in Recovering Biblical um ecclesiasticorum latinorum 50, 82, 14–83, 7). Cited in Roger Gryson, Manhood and Womanhood, 95–112. The Ministry of Women in the Early Church, trans. Jean Laporte and 60. Cento, lines 130–135, 235–241, in Wilson-Kastner et al., A Lost Mary-Louise Hall (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1976), 92–95. Tradition, 47, 52. 29. Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on 1 Timothy (PG 82, 809A). 61. Cento, lines 250–268, in Wilson-Kastner, et al, A Lost Tradition, Cited in Gryson, The Ministry of Women in the Early Church, 87. 53–54. 30. Malone, Women and Christianity, 136. 62. Wilson-Kastner et al., “Introduction: The Pilgrimage of Egeria,” 31. Malone, Women and Christianity, 160. in A Lost Tradition, 74. 32. Augustine, On the Literal Meaning of Genesis, IX.56. Cited in 63. Contemporary scholars question her full authorship of the cen- Torjesen, When Women Were Priests, 220–21. to, ascribing the beginning of it to a Bishop Patricius and only the end of 33. Augustine, Literal Commentary on Genesis, IX.5. Cited in Sawyer, ito t Eudokia. (Wilson-Kastner et al., “Introduction to Eudokia’s ‘Mar- Women and Religion, 152. tyrdom of St. Cyprian,’” A Lost Tradition, 139–40). 34. Augustine saw this potential as possible even in a hypothetical 64. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 3.6.53. Cited in Ordained all-male household in Eden and posited rank according to creation or- Women in the Early Church: A Documentary History, ed. and trans. Kevin ders a the solution. Whichever man had been created first would have Madigan and Carolyn Osiek (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University

Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 25, No. 2 ◆ Spring 2011 • 13 Press, 2005), 117. The authors cite their sources as Griechischen Christ- 82. Davidson, A Public Faith, 82–83. lichen Schriftseller (Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs; Berlin: De Gruyter, 1879–); 83. Hebrews 2:14–17: “he shared in their humanity . . . to make and Monumenta de viduis diaconissis virginibusque tractantia, ed. Jose- atonement for the sins of the people.” phine Mayer. Florilegium Patristicum 42 (Bonn: Peter Hanstein, 1938). 84. Stanley J. Grenz and Denise Muir Kjesbo, Women in the Church 65. Pliny the Younger, Epistle to Trajan 10.96. Cited in Madigan and (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1995), 206, 262. The authors state that Osiek, Ordained Women in the Early Church, 26. Sources: R. C. Kukula, this principle dates back at least to Irenaeus and refer readers to Ire- ed., C. Plini Caecili Secundi. Epistularum Libri Noven, Epistularum ad naeus, Adversus Haereses 5.14, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Traianum Liber Panegyricus (Leipzig: Teubner, 1912), 317; Pliny, Letters Roberts and James Donaldson, 10 vols. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, and Panegyricus, trans. Betty Radice, LCL (Cambridge, MA: Harvard 1975), 1:541. Grenz and Kjesbo also recommend: “An Examination of University Press, 1969), 2.284–91; and Mayer, Monumenta, 5. See also Apollinarianism,” in Documents of the Christian Church, ed. Henry Bet- Gryson, Ministry of Women, 14–15. tennson,d 2n ed. (London: Oxford University Press), 45; and, J. N. D. 66. Commenting on 1 Cor 14:35, Origen wrote, “‘It is shameful for a Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines,h 5t rev. ed. (London: Adam and Charles womano t speak in church’ whatever she says, even if she says something Black, 1977), 297. excellentr o holy, because it comes from the mouth of a woman.” Cited 85. Grenz and Kjesbo, Women in the Church, 208–09. in Patricia Cox Miller, Women in Early Christianity: Translations from 86. Grenz and Kjesbo, Women in the Church, 209. Greek Texts (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 87. Grenz and Kjesbo, Women in the Church, 209. God created men 2005), 29. Miller cites her source as Origen, Commentary on 1 Corinthi- and women to live in egalitarian harmony; the fall destroyed that mu- ans, fragment 74, text in Claude Jenkins, ed., “Origen on 1 Corinthians,” tuality; Jesus freed males from the bondage of their roles in hierarchal Journal of Theological Studies 10 (1908–9): 29–51. domination, which belongs to the fallen order; and he freed women 67. Gryson, Ministry of Women, 28. See also Madigan and Osiek, Or- from the cultural restrictions of a patriarchal system by bringing them dained Women in the Early Church, 14. into a new order where sex distinctions no longer determine rank. 68. Madigan and Osiek, Ordained Women in the Early Church, 106– 88. Susan Foh, “A Male Leadership View,” in Four Views, 79. Foh 07. Source: Didascalia Apostolorum, . ed. F X. Funk, 2 vols. (Paderborn: F. adds a footnote to explain that neither Junia, whose name may or may Schoeningh, 1905), 1.105; Mayer, Monumenta, 18. not have been feminine, nor her companion Andronicus, who definitely 69. Miller, Women in Early Christianity, 51–61. Source: Didasca- was male, was an official apostle (n.11, 103). lia Apostolorum, . trans. R Hugh Connolly (Oxford, Oxford University 89. Culver, “A Traditional View,” 46. Press, 1929), selections from 3.1–11, 4.5–8. 90. Piper and Grudem, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Woman- 70. Madigan and Osiek, Ordained Women in the Early Church, 107. hood, 80–81. 71. Gryson, Ministry of Women, 41. 91. See Mickelsen, “An Egalitarian View: There Is Neither Male nor 72. Madigan and Osiek, Ordained Women in the Early Church, Female in Christ,” in Four Views, 189–91, and Craig S. Keener, “Appendix 14–20. John Chrysostom, Homily 30 on Romans 16:1–2, PG 60.663–64; A: Women’s Ministry Elsewhere in Paul,” in Paul, Women, and Wives: Homily 11 on 1 Timothy 3:11, PG 62.553; Mayer, Monumenta, 18; Theodo- Marriage and Women’s Ministry in the Letters of Paul (Peabody, MA: retf o Cyrrhus, Commentary on Romans 16:1–3, PG 82.217; Commentary Hendrickson, 1992), 237–57. on 1 Timothy 3:11, PG 82.809; Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on 92. Arthur Frederick Ide, God’s Girls: Ordination of Women in the 1 Timothy 3:11, in Epistolas Beati Pauli Commentarii: The Latin Version Early Christian and Gnostic Churches (Garland, TX: Tangelwüld, 1986), with Greek Fragments, . ed. H. B Swete, 2 vols. (Farnborough: Gregg, 87. Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza also sees these verses as referring to 1969), 2.128. male and female presbyters: Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist 73. John Chrysostom, Discourse 4 on Genesis 1. Cited in Miller, Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins (New York, NY: Cross- Women in Early Christianity, 30. Source: Women in the Early Church, road, 1983), 290, citing R. E. Brown, “Episkopē and Episkopos: eTh New Messagef o the Fathers of the Church, vol. 13, trans. Elizabeth A. Clarke, Testament Evidence,” Theological Studies 41 (1980): 322–38, 335. 1983, used by permission of the Liturgical Press. 93. Torjesen, When Women Were Priests, 10, 20. 74. Madigan and Osiek, Ordained Women in the Early Church, 121. 94. Torjesen, When Women Were Priests, 10. 75. Madigan and Osiek, Ordained Women in the Early Church, 123; 95. Cardman, “Women, Ministry, and Church Order in Early Chris- Canon 74 (Torres), Sacorum Conciliorum Nova et Amplissima Collection, tianity,” in Women and Christian Origins, ed. Ross Kraemer and Mary Editio Novissima, .ed. G. D Mansi (Paris: H. Welter, 1901–27), 2.978, 1008. Rose D’Angelo (New York, NY: Oxford, 1999), 321. 76. Madigan and Osiek, Ordained Women in the Early Church, 123– 96. Madigan and Osiek, Ordained Women in the Early Church, 197. 30; Justinian Novellae, text from Mayer, Monumenta, 34–37; Corpus Iuris The authors suggest that the use of sacerdota, rather than presbytera, Civilis, vol. 3, Novellae, ed. Rudolf Schoell and William Kroll (Berlin: denotes a woman with high official status, possibly a bishop. Source: Weidman, 1954), 18–23, 43–45, 604, 608–11, 616, 623–24, 661–62. Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarium, ed. Deutsche Akademie der Wis- 77. Ortlund, “Male-Female Equality and Male Headship,” 95. senschaften zu Berlin (Berlin: G. Reinerum, 1862–), 3.14900; Ute Eisen, 78. Robert D. Culver, “A Traditional View: Let Your Women Keep Women Officeholders in Early Christianity: Epigraphical and Literary Silence,” in Women in Ministry: Four Views, ed. Bonnidell Clouse and Studies (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2000). Translation of Amsträgerin- Robert G. Clouse (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1989), 30. nen im frühen Christentum. Epigraphische und literarische Studien (Göt- 79. Culver, “A Traditional View,” 31. tingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1996), 132–33. 80. Culver, “A Traditional View,” 36. On p. 37, Culver cites H. D. M. 97. Thomas R. Schreiner, “The Valuable Ministries of Women in Spence in Ellicott’s commentary on the Bible, which he thinks reflects the Context of Male Leadership: A Survey of Old and New Testament the f views o several standard theology texts. Spence also emphasizes that Teaching Examples and Teaching,” in Recovering Biblical Manhood and theresn i a “essential difference between masculine and feminine nature.” Womanhood, 220. From Charles John Ellicott, ed., A Biblical Commentary for English Read- 98. Schreiner, “The Valuable Ministries of Women,” 220. ers (London: Cassell, n.d.), 8:188. 99. Vern Poythress examines 1 Timothy 5:1–2, but does not mention 81, Cited in Ivor J. Davidson, A Public Faith: From Constantine to the the Greek words at all. Perhaps he assumes that the author uses the same Medieval World; AD 213–600, vol. 2, The Baker History of the Church words there as he does in Titus. See “The Church as Family: Why Male (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2005), 86. Source: Gregory of Nazianzus, Leadership in the Family Requires Male Leadership in the Church,” Epistle 101.32. in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, 233–47, esp. 238–39.

14 • Priscilla Papers ◆ Vol. 25, No. 2 ◆ Spring 2011 William Hendriksen, in his commentary on 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, in the church.” Atto explains that the term could refer to a woman who notes that the term presbyteros, when used elsewhere in the Pastorals, had married a priest prior to that priest’s ordination, but adds that the means elder or presbyter (referring to function), but, in this instance, it primitive church, because it lacked enough men to do the work, used to means a man of advanced age, “as the context clearly shows.” He points ordain women to preside over some churches and refers to Phoebe (Rom out that aged man/presbus (the word in Titus) cannot mean church el- 16)s f a one o those women. He believes that women “who were called der, and that older man/presbyteros (the word in 1 Tim) elsewhere in female presbyters assumed the office of preaching, leading and teaching the Pastorals is rendered church elder. He also explains the same kind . . . a custom that is no longer expedient.” Although the letter itself is late of distinction between aged woman/presbytis (Titus), and older woman/ (early tenth century), its author clearly believed that, prior to the fourth presbyteras (1 Tim), but fails to draw any implications (William Hen- century, churches ordained women as presbyters who functioned in the driksen,C, NT I and II Timothy and Titus A:[Carlisle, P The Banner of exact same way that male presbyters did. The Council of Laodicea put Truth Trust, 1976], 166, 363 n. 196.) In his commentary on the Pastoral ando en t the practice. A letter written six centuries after the document Epistles, Patrick Fairbairn follows Chrysostom in translating/interpret- upon which it comments cannot provide unambiguous evidence as to ing prebyteros sa elderly person (man), with the emphasis on relative age they wa the original readers of that document would have defined the rather than official standing, but reminds readers that the opposite view term presbytera, t but i does prove that someone in the history of ortho- once prevailed and is the translation of the Authorized Version. When dox Christianity believed that women could have held the office of pres- he approaches the passage in Titus, Fairbairn, too, notes the difference byter. Sources: Council of Laodicea Canon 11, Mansi, Sacorum Concilio- between the words presbys (Titus) and presbyteros (Timothy) and com- rum, 2.565–66; Mayer, Monumenta, 11; full English text with comment, ments that the latter might have been understood by Titus to refer only NPNF (n. s.), 14.130–31; Letter of Atto, Bishop of Vercelli, to Ambrose the to persons in office. That, however, is as far as he goes. Patrick Fairbairn, Priest; Letter 8, in Patrologia Latina, ed. J.-P. Migne et al. (Paris: Garnieri Pastoral Epistles (1874, repr. Minneapolis, MN: Klock & Klock, 1980), Fratres, 1844–91) 134.114–15. Mary Rose D’Angelo reminds readers that 192, 271. longstanding tradition, repeated as late as Thomas Aquinas, awarded 100. Gryson, Ministry of Women, 112. Mary Magdalene the title apostola apostolorum, the apostle of the apos- 101. Madigan and Osiek, Ordained Women in the Early Church, 163– tles. (D’Angelo, “Reconstructing ‘Real’ Women from Gospel Literature: 64, 191–92. The authors refer to the “Letter of Atto,” Bishop of Vercelli, to The f Case o Mary Magdalene,” in Women and Christian Origins [see n Ambrose the Priest, in which Atto replies to Ambrose’s questions about 3], 105–06). For a full history of the tradition, D’Angelo recommends the term presbytera in the ancient canons. The canon to which Ambrose Jane C. Schaberg, “Thinking Back through the Magdalene,” Continuum 1 referss i Canon 11 fo the Council of Laodicea, held in the late fourth (1991): 71–90. John Chrysostom counted Junia as an apostle and praised or h early fift century. This canon condemned the practice of appoint- her, exclaiming, “Oh! How great is the devotion of this woman, that she ing female presbyters: “Concerning those who are called presbytides or shoulde b even counted worthy to be called an apostle!” In reference to female presiders (prokathēmenai),ts i i not permitted to appoint them Rom 16:7; PG 60.670A (NPNF 1, XI, 555). Cited in Ford, Women and Men in the Early Church, 107.

Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn— for he has done it. – Psalm 22:30–31

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