The late Ian Boyne, famous for the long-running ‘Profile’ on TVJ, had always shown a penchant for progressive discussion on social issues. In this article from all the way back in 1989, Boyne shows a grasp of worldwide trends and an eye for the hot-button issue. In a 2017 Outlook interview with The Gleaner’s Barbara Ellington, Boyne admitted to preferring print to television, though it is the latter for which he is most fondly remembered.

Published June 25, 1989

THE BIBLE IN THE FEMINIST DEN

By Ian Boyne

The 2000 Episcopalians were angry. And they gathered in Forth Texas, earlier this month to register their disgust with their denomination for ordaining its first female bishop. But they gathered to do more than protest through placards and verbal jabs: they formed the Episcopal Synod of America, a split from the denomination.

That’s how strongly some people feel about prohibiting women from the ordained ministry: Hence, the controversy now raging in Jamaica over women’s role in the church is also being waged in other countries, often fiercely. The feminists, however, have been making remarkable strides. Even conservative theologians and Christians have radically their views on whether women can preach in church and receive ordination.

Eighty-four major denominations in the United States now ordain women and between 1977 and 1987 the number of women graduating with a masters of dignity degree increased 224 per to 1496 while the number of males getting a similar degree a paltry 4.6 per cent to 5394. In 1986 nearly 30 per cent of all seminary students were women. Which is a significant increase over 1972 when they accounted for a little over 10 per cent?

           

The secular feminist movement, as well as the increasing modernization and sophistication of the society, have contributed heavily to the re-evaluation of a woman’s role in the church. Some church people like to believe that the church should set the agenda for the world. What has been actually happening is that the world has been setting the agenda for the church. The church has reactionary views on sciences, classes, race, technology, etc, all of which began to change as a result of secular influence, giving credence to Marx's view that it is materialistic reality and not spiritual revelation which guides the Church.

The impact of industrialization and urbanization, which has freed many women from what is seen as the bondage of the home, has led society to re-evaluate a woman’s role not just sociologically the same theologically. But while it is true that it has largely been secular events that have inspired the change in attitudes to women in modern society, some far-reaching theological developments have also had a major impact. The demythologization of the Bible which began with 19th Century higher critics, principally Germans, led many to rethink their view of the Bible.

The Bible has traditionally been seen as being inspired by God. Many Christians believed God dictated every word and that the authors acted as robotized conduits. Fundamentalists believe that you have to believe everything the Bible affirms. Therefore, when Paul told Timothy that “I suffer not a woman to teach or to have authority over men”, this must apply for all times, for it is God’s Eternal Word.

Task

The Biblical critics, who were rated theologians, began analyzing the Bible in its literary, historical and cultural context and discovered that many of the concepts and ideas were not original but were rooted in time and space.

The task of the Christian, therefore, they said, was not simply to take every word at face value but to pump its depths to see what must be discarded. For the Bible writers, they said, were not machines in which the Spirit moved. They were ordinary human beings inspired in the sense that they had caught a vision of God, but very human in the way they expressed their thoughts. Even their prejudices and limitations have left their mark on the Bible, it is said.

Indeed, we are told that some of the books that we felt were written by Paul were not actually written by him. And there was more than on Isaiah. And some of the patriarchs like Abraham were not real historical figures. Besides, many of the statements attributed to Jesus were not actually said by him, but were merely the later – much later – recollections of early Christians who had a strong oral history. By the time the critics had finished updating us on how we should really read the Bible, there was very little left worth reading. No one, for example, who read Baptist Minister Eron Henry’s article on women last week could listen to one of his sermons from the Bible without ransacking his mind as to whether what he’s quoting from is authentic.

The Key

So it was in this environment that the seeds were planted for the theological feminist movement. For if the Bible writers were allowed by God to express their prejudice and cultural limitations, why should we take Paul’s prohibition on women’s speaking as final and universal? Yippyl Here was the key to unlock women’s liberation.

Commenting on the position of the non-Evangelical feminists, Carl Hoch in the Grace Theological Journal says, “the rejectionist asserts that the bible is of no value for constructing a theology of women. The entire Judeo Christian tradition is hopelessly sinful, corrupt and unredeemable”. It is small wonder that if you pick up the typical feminist book on a woman’s role in the church, you will see very little Biblical exegesis. Indeed, the discussion locally has reflected very little Biblical exegesis and has concentrated on emotional and intellectual appeals. It is taken as given that the Biblical writers were bound by their culture, Conservative Biblical exegetes, however, have been mounting an increasingly impressive case for the traditional position debarring women from the priesthood. Among the more outstanding works are Samuelle Bacchiocci’s Women IN the Church, James Hurley’s Man and Woman in Biblical Perspective and George Knight’s The Role Relationship of Men and Women.

Losing battle?

Increasingly, however, it seems they are fighting a losing battle, as the cosmopolitan nature of society plus more liberal social values pressure the conservative position. Clarence Pope, who was elected President of the breakaway Episcopal Synod of America, decries the “loss of respect for the authority of Holy Scripture. If scripture and tradition fit the current fad of the age, then all well and good. If not then toss them aside”, he is quoted as saying in US News and World Report (June 19).

But the liberals insist that it is the conservatives who are attempting to freeze a particular aspect of history, namely first-century patriarchal society. That part of history is no more sacred than today, they would point out.

Just as Paul told slaves to be obedient to their masters and just as he advised Christians, slave masters, not to free their slaves but to treat them well because he did not want to upset the social order, so he turned a blind eye to the sexism of the society then. Today, even conservatives admit that slavery was an evil and should not be practised today. Yet Paul was oft on the issue. Son why insist that we hold Paul’s views on women?

Some feminists, however, ask the kinds of questions that enrage conservatives. Christine Relmers, graduate of Claremont Graduate School of Theology, is quoted in Newsweek (Feb 20) as asking “Can a woman be saved by a male Saviour?” Now that’s something to ponder! 

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