Women in the NT Church: The Movement Morphs into the Institution
Writing for Bible History Daily (biblicalarchaeology.org), Megan Sauter references an article by Holly Beers of Westmont College in which Beers surveys the first century culture that restricted women in the emerging New Testament Church. Both articles were too short to do justice to a topic which has inspired thousands of books. There isn’t one debate point on the topic that hasn’t already been chopped, baked, fried, and diced to oblivion. Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading Sauter’s spinoff on Beers. Sauter pointed out 5 ways that women served in the NT church: a] They served at the Passover meals, b] they offered prayers, c] they led hymns (1 Cor. 14:26), d] they read and interpreted Scripture (Acts 18:24-26), e] they performed acts of charity, ministering to widows, the sick, and those in prison. Actually, pretty bland stuff. One of several NT passages that has caused such turmoil among theologians is 1 Tim. 2:8-15, in which Paul, or someone writing in his name, makes it very cl...