Woman in Ministry

Last updated on: September 12, 2006 at 2:30 am by Scot McKnight

Woman in Ministry 2006-09-12T02:30:44-05:00 Scot McKnight

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This will be the first in a series of posts on women in ministry — as long as everyone behaves. Some of these will pertain to specific issues women face who are in ministries, some will be about biblical texts and themes, and yet others will be about theological issues. The number of issues we could converse about is so vast that I’m not sure how even to begin. What I chose to do was begin with someone who ministered: Mary, mother of Jesus.

Not just because I’ve spent a lot of time with her of late, but because in Mary we find someone who “ministered” and she’s not connected to some controversial “ordination” text. Sometimes we get lock into deductive logic: we look at a text — sometimes disputed — from the NT and then we infer the limits of practice; other times we need to look at practice itself as exhibited by women in pages of the NT and then see those texts in light of those practices. Well, enough of that.
What do you think we can learn from Mary about “women in ministry”?
First, Mary sang a song under the inspiration of the Spirit that shows profound awareness both of what God was about to do in this world and — this one startles the careful Bible reader — a profound grasp of the Old Testament scriptures. Sometime sit down with Luke 1:46-55, check out your marginal references, and observe how profound a grasp Mary had of the Old Testament. I infer from this that Mary was a “student” of the Old Testament — and this probably means a profound memory.
Second, Mary “taught” her children — both Jesus and James. In Jesus Creed, which I develop even further in The Real Mary, there are several themes in the Magnificat of Mary that show dramatic parallels in Jesus’ own teaching. “Holy is his name.” Critique of unjust leaders. Concern for the humble and poor. Critique of the rich. Read Luke 1:46-55 and then Luke 6:20-26.
A neglected influence can be found by comparing the Magnificat and the letter of James: the minimum one can say is that both James and Mary breathed the same Jewish, biblical theology; it is more likely that Mary had a direct influence on James’ concern for the poor and for his critique of the rich. But what about this: “Pure and undefiled religion before God and Father is this: to look after the orphans [this means “fatherlessness” more often than it means “parentlessness” in Judaism] and widows in their affliction” (James 1:27). Mary was most likely a widow; her children therefore “orphans” in Judaism; Jesus was deeply concerned with widows. Not hard to put together.
Third, I suggest for your consideration this: without minimizing the influence of the apostolic oral testimony to the words and deeds of Jesus, we need also to consider that at the bottom of some — if not more than some – stories in the Gospels was the testimony of Mary herself. Luke tells us he investigated things from the very beginning — and we have to ask who was there at the beginning? Mary and Joseph.
Who but Mary knew about Gabriel’s words to Mary? who else heard Elizabeth’s words? who else knew what Joseph heard from the angel? who else spoke to Jesus in the temple when he was twelve? I’ll skip some here.
Who was given to John, the beloved disciple, at the cross and who therefore lived with John but Mary? and where was John during those early days except in the very middle of the Jerusalem church (see Acts 4-5 esp)? Whose name was mentioned at the heart of the Pentecost church? Mary. Acts 1:14.
I make this suggestion: when we speak of “ministry,” however you might define it, Mary seems to me to have had a significant hand in the shaping of significant portions of the Gospels we now have and I assign one of the early voices of our Gospels to Mary.
If we take Mary as an example of “ministry,” we would say women are:
1. Empowered by God to speak prophetically in the power of the Spirit,
2. Expected to teach their children the ways of God in this world as a result of their own grasp of Scripture, and they can
3. Establish direction in the Church by bearing witness to what God is doing through them.
I’d like to say more, but I don’t want to give away all my secrets.

Mary

Women and Ministry

Previous Post

September 12, 2006

Scriptures and Scripture 2

Next Post

September 13, 2006 Irrevocable

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who told God, "I am slow of speech and of tongue"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Samuel Aaron Moses Isaiah