It was only this morning that I discovered Psephizo, the blog of Revd Dr Ian Paul, who describes himself as
on the staff of St John’s, Nottingham (one of 11 Anglican colleges in England), currently as Dean of Studies and teaching New Testament and Practical Theology.
This morning I borrowed from Ian Paul for my post The Rapture? Why I want to be Left Behind. His similar post Why I want to be Left Behind was the first I had seen on his blog, but there is a great deal of other good material there.
Of particular interest to me was his series Can women teach?, in three parts: part 1, part 2, part 3. This is in fact part of a longer series, for as Ian writes at the start of each post in the series,
I am in the process of writing a Grove Biblical booklet with the title ‘Women and authority: key biblical texts’ which aims to explore all the key texts in 28 (or more likely, 32) pages! Due out this month.
The material on 1 Timothy 2:8-15 is apparently a section from the Grove Booklet, or a draft of it. As such it is an eminently sensible brief introduction to the main issues with this passage. It interacts in scholarly but concise way with the main arguments for and against taking this passage as prohibiting women from teaching. The discussion fully justifies the conclusion concerning
the picture emerging from careful exegesis of this text, as a corrective that, far from suggesting hierarchical order of men over women, is restoring equal partnership in the face of arguments for a hierarchical ordering of women over (or independent of) men.
…pleased to learn from sound lecturers
Rachel, you are certainly blessed at St John’s. I was surprised not to find anything on your blog about this aspect of Ian Paul’s teaching, but maybe that’s just because the search missed it.
I think in some ways St John’s cured me of my slight obsession over this passage. I was embroiled in debating it 2008 and 2009 but the last two years have found other aspects of life and faith to blog about …probably a good thing really
Fine, Rachel. I don’t want to rekindle your obsession. But I know a lot of other people are still obsessed with this passage, so it is worth posting these links to someone not so well known among bloggers.
Oh definitely – I am just really glad there is now good, published (or nearly in this case) scholarship out there … keep up the good work Peter.
Peter, thanks for the referral and kind comments. I don’t know if you saw that I mentioned Wycliffe in a post a couple of days ago about the theology of translation. regards
Ian, thank you for your comment. Yes, I saw your post with the picture of Mary Gardner. I knew her a little. You indeed made some important points about translation. On this subject, you might be interested in my 2002 paper Holy Communicative? (draft – the final version is in a book Translation and Religion: Holy Untranslatable?)
Thanks Peter. I came across this discussion before in the context of participating in the Scripture and Hermeneutics Seminar. I look forward to reading at some stage; my particular interest relates to the effect on metaphors in translation, as I think this is such a key part of language as human communication.
Pingback: Ian Paul's Summary: the Bible on women and authority - Gentle Wisdom