Who is "a woman" of 1 Tim. 2:12?

In a radio debate last week Cheryl Schatz wanted to tell who she believes "a woman" of 1 Tim. 2:12 is. But the man she was debating would not permit her to do so. So she has blogged that she believes this was a particular woman in the congregation Timothy was helping. Click here to read the rest of the story.

A Wide Field of Service, by Mary Kassian

In this article, Mary Kassian describes ministry opportunities open to women, as complementarians understand the teachings of the Bible.

Suzanne on Authority

Suzanne has started, on her Bookshelf blog, what promises to be a new series on Authority. Much of the post is a quotation from Luther showing that all Christians have authority, indeed "all are truly priests, bishops, and popes", on the basis of their baptism. And since baptism is not dependent on gender, nor should Christian authority be. This is certainly a helpful post. My main question is, why did Suzanne post it on her blog and not (as she has been invited to) here at Complegalitarian?

Women co-bloggers needed

This blog needs women co-bloggers. If you are a female complementarian or egalitarian (or neither, but follow the debate), and are attempting to operate in the home and ministry as you understand the teachings of the Bible, please consider volunteering to blog here. You can email any of the co-bloggers already signed up if you wish to volunteer (click on our names in the margin). Please give us some background about yourself and tell us something about how you typically communicate with people, especially when there are sharp differences of opinions, which we can expect on this blog.

Radio debate: Can women be pastors?

Click here to read about the second radio debate on this topic between Matt Slick and Cheryl Schatz. There is a link so you can listen to the debate.

Michael Kruse on “head” as a metaphor in Greek

Michael Kruse is continuing his long series on Household, in the ancient world and in the Bible, and has now presented his conclusions on “head” as a metaphor in Greek:

First, “head” is not used to signify “rule over” or “have authority over,” although it clearly is used on occasion with regard to people who rule and have authority. It is sometimes used to indicate a differential in these qualities. ... The head is figuratively the summit, not a body part that controls or rules the body.

Second, I believe there are actually three ways the metaphor is employed in the New Testament based on three different ways of perceiving a physical head. We can view the physical head in terms of function, representation, and elevation. ...

The supporting evidence for this position is in his previous posts in the series.

Michael intends to continue the series by applying this understanding of the “head” metaphor to the New Testament passages where the metaphor is used, including (if his series index is accurate concerning future posts) those which are relevant to the complegalitarian debate.

Michael also reminds us his readers of his interesting earlier observations about charis “grace” in the ancient Greco-Roman world as patronage conveying status to the one bestowing it; indeed he defines it as

a process where you did something for someone so significant they could not possibly repay you. You became the patron and the recipient of your gift became your client. ... Status was measured by how big a pyramid of clients you had established for yourself.

Michael shows how God's grace is in some ways similar to this, but also fundamentally different in that the world's concept of status was completely inverted. He concludes by noting that

I believe this inversion of status plays prominently in some head metaphor passages in the New Testament.

Women in Ministry

Jeremy, who has just joined the blogsphere, blogged on Women in Ministry as his first post. After presenting some of the key biblical passages and a fair summary of both the complementarian and egalitarian positions, he says:

Personally, I subscribe to the egalitarian model. I have a beautiful wife who compliments me so wonderfully. Her strengths are my biggest weaknesses. Our marriage works beautifully.

Also I support that Woman can hold a leadership role in the Church. I affirm that ministerial authority is based upon a person’s character, calling and giftedness, not his or her gender. These Biblical text are writing to a particular context.

Later he asks and answers a critically important question:

So this raises the question of: Well, so do we get to pick and choose what scriptures apply for today?

No. The notion of "Smorgasbord Christian"---a Christian selecting what truth applies to them, is a bit extreme. One interprets scripture according to the author's intent, the historical background, and context all in light of the entire Biblical context. Always extrapolate a truth from a set of verses, then compare and contrast it to the theme of the entire Bible while asking the question of: Does this align to the Spirit of God? Is this truth covered with Love?

Q&A on Complementarianism

Complementarian professor Denny Burk blogged this week on Q&A on Complementarianism. I thought that the tone of the post and comments on it were above average for many interactions that take place between complementarians and egalitarians.

The Complementarian-Egalitarian Divide

Claude Mariottini has blogged today on the Complementarian-Egalitarian Divide.

Blog name

A wise person once said something to the effect that you can't please all of the people all of the time, but you can please some of the people some of the time. With that in mind, would you please contribute to the birthing of this new blog by indicating your reaction to its name. Here is a poll to help (I could not get it to work in the margin of this blog):

Please tell us how you react to the name of this new blog. Check all that apply for you.
	I like it.
	I don't like it.
	I think it is too narrowly focused on one issue.
	It nicely captures non-translation discussion from BBB.
	other
pollcode.com free polls

Welcome!

This blog is intended to be a safe place where complementarians and egalitarians can share their differences. There is no party line or official position at this blog. All comments which conform to standards of professional etiquette are welcome.

This blog was initially created to be a place where discussions beginning on the Better Bibles Blog could be taken when they move from a central focus on how to improve English Bible versions, including passages which discuss issues of concern to egalitarians and complementarians. Of course, discussions can originate here, as well.