Women Governors and Women Pastors

When Republican Presidential candidate Senator John McCain announced that Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska was his choice as running mate, I was excited and pleased. The more I read about her, her husband and family, the more I find myself happy with his choice. The decision will be explored in great detail throughout the week before us as the Republican Party has its convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. It is not, however, my task on this Blog to explore the ins and outs of political campaigns. What I want to look at from the Biblical viewpoint is the question of the ordination of women into the public office of the holy ministry, especially in the light of the strong influence of American culture.

With the nomination of Governor Palin, much is being made of the fact that women suffrage in the USA did not take place until, in August 1919, the 19th Amendment gave women full voters rights. Around the world women won voting rights in New Zealand (1893), Australia (1902), Finland (1906), Norway (1913), the Soviet Union (1917), England & Poland (1918), Sweden (1919), Germany (1919), and Ireland (1922). 

After World War II woman-suffrage laws were adopted in many other countries, including France, Italy, India, and Japan. Women now comprise more than half of the U.S. electorate. Among them is my granddaughter, who will be voting for the first time in her life. She is curently beginning her freshman college year at M.I.T. in Boston. As far as public office holders go, Wyoming elected the first U.S. woman governor, Nellie Tayloe Ross, in 1924. Twenty-nine women have been or are currently serving as the governor of a U.S. state.

Women now serve at all levels of government and participate at all levels in the worlds of business, education, science, the law, sports, communications, news, entertainment and the arts. As I said, I'm delighted with these advances by women in public and private offices. Why, then, are there some Christian denominations that do not permit women to occupy the public office of pastor or priest? In the majority of American protestant denominations this question is no longer an issue. Women have served in the local pastorates and various oversight positions for decades.

The largest denomination in the U.S. still forbidding women to the priesthood is, of course, the Roman Catholic. Among Catholics you can find many movements and books by theologians urging the change of this policy. Arguments for the admission of women to the Catholic priesthood include: 
 1. All baptized women are members of the priesthood of all believers. 
 2. Since Jesus' mother and other women were present at the first Lord's Supper, they were empowered by Him to perform the Eucharist; thus He empowered them to be priests. 
 3.There has been a cultural bias against women as being less than men physically, mentally and emotionally. They were also the carriers of sin since Eve first sinned and their monthly menstrual cycles made them unclean. 
 4. Women were ordained as deacons well into the tenth century. 
 5. Mary was long believed to be a priest who offered Jesus in the Presentation at the Temple and during His crucifixion. Those following this line of thinking also believe her capable of offering the forgiveness of sins. 
 6. The wider church (e.g. Anglicans, many Lutherans, Presbyterians, etc.) ordain women to the priesthood. Supported by the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has something to learn from them.
 7. The fact that many responsible Catholic women discern in themselves a vocation to the priesthood is a sign of the Holy Spirit we may not ignore.

The denomination that offered me ordination back in 1957 also does not permit women into the public office of the pastoral ministry. I speak, of course of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. I do, in fact, support that position and have been discussing it on the website by the same name as this Blog. I am the editor of Reclaiming Our Heritage. 

If you would like to read more about my reasons, I invite you to drop in to look at the articles on The Role of Women in the Life of the Church. I will be submitting the fourth in that series in September and a fifth in October. My reasons have to do with the Gospel and the forgiveness of sins we are all offered in the person of the Man Jesus Christ, Son of God. None of the seven reasons noted above apply, especially since they are not drawn from the one authority in the Christian church, namely the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God. 

The question of women's equality to men is also, in fact, not the issue in this case. Women and men all share in the image of God. They are all called by the Gospel and in Christ share in His eternal life. If, upon reading my articles, you would like to discuss this matter further, feel free to drop me a note.