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Community decides this person should be a minister
Usually involves education and a formal ritual
Sets person apart in the community
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Catholicism: indelible mark on soul
Gives person responsibilities and powers
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Preach, counsel, “pastor”
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Can consecrate sacraments

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Unusually spiritual, perhaps marginal forms of Christianity
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Quakers, Shakers: women can speak with inspiration of Holy Spirit
Congregationalists (1853)
Holiness and Pentecostal female preachers (late 19 th /early 20 th c)
Early 20 th century: possible but rare
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Presbyterians (1922 as deacon, 1956 as minister )
Methodists (1926 as elder, 1956 as minister)
Second Wave Feminism: Possible and more frequent
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Lutherans (1970)
But note more conservative Lutheran denominations do not ordain women
Reform Judaism (1972)
Conservative Judaism (1985)
Episcopal Church (1976) and Church of England (1992)

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Main: Biblical verses that restrict women’s teaching
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1 Timothy 2:12
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1 Corinthians 14:34
Created order: God intends for a wife to be submissive to her husband; males are intended to be in authority
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Genesis 3:16; Ephesians 5:22
This does not imply superiority, but complementary roles
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Hierarchy is good, b/c it is God’s way of maintaining order

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Biblical arguments
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Women in NT were deacons, apostles, “fellow-workers”, and house church leaders (see Romans 16)
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Therefore passages prohibiting women’s teaching can’t really be that broad
Jesus included women in his group
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Mary Magdalene, “the apostle to the apostles”, is the first to spread the good news of Jesus’ resurrection
Created order does not imply submission; this comes from interpretation of the Fall of Eve
Cultural arguments
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Bible’s teachings reflected culture, were totally appropriate at the time, but culture has changed
Protestant Reformers like Luther and Calvin

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Bible alone does not answer the question (1976
Pontifical Biblical Commission)
Issue is not teaching authority, but tradition and sacramental power
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Cannot represent Christ because she lacks a natural resemblance to Christ
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“the faithful must be able to recognize [the sign] with ease”
Male priest represents Christ the bridegroom
Tradition cannot be changed
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Jesus only chose male disciples, even though he associated with women and thus could have had female disciples
Church does not have the authority to change the doctrine
Thus calling only men to priesthood

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All people can be “in persona Christi”, otherwise,
Christ could not be their savior
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Salvation depends upon Christ becoming human, just like us [“what was not assumed was not healed”]
The Last Supper was not an ordination ceremony
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Women did participate in early Christian ministries, which give us a fuller view of what ministry was about
Is this a genuinely new moment for the tradition of the church?

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Form of Holy Orders in Catholicism
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Three types: deacon, priest, bishop
Includes ministries of preaching, instruction, counseling
Women were deacons in early Christianity (cf. Council of
Chalcedon, 451)
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Included a ritual
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Ceased ca. 500s
Diaconate changed, but was restored in 1960s to lay men, who can be married
So, can it be restored to women?