Lucy Peppiatt’s Rediscovery

Last updated on: August 13, 2019 at 12:02 am by Scot McKnight

Lucy Peppiatt’s Rediscovery 2019-08-03T10:30:03-05:00 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.

Lucy Peppiatt, Rediscovering Scripture’s Vision for Women: Fresh Perspectives on Disputed Texts.

Now available!

I get asked lots of questions about the Bible, but perhaps my favorite went like this: What in the Bible would you tell my church to think about if the leaders are considering more freedom for women in the church’s ministry? I’ll keep it to seven, and I’ll make it seven questions to ponder as you ponder what God is calling women to do in the church.

What did women actually do in the Bible (besides cook and tend to the little ones and farm and carry wood and make clothing, etc)? Anyone asking this question needs to begin with someone like Miriam in Exodus and then spend sometime with that uber-tough Deborah and then take a hard long look at Huldah. How would you describe what they did? They sang, they led, they ran the nation, they led the military machine, and they spoke for God to the people of God. What else? That Proverbs 31 woman, as my friend Alice Mathews said to me recently, has more to say than most bother to hear. Then jump into the New Testament and ask what Mary did, and what Prisca/Priscilla did, and what Junia did, and what about those women leaders in Philippi, Euodia and Syntyche? What did they do? One nurtured the Messiah, one taught the gospel to a male leader, one was nothing less than an “apostle” and the others were co-workers with Paul. Which is about a strong of an affirmation as one can get from Paul. Too often, too many, for too long have gone to the so-called submission passages not realizing they were creating more than a little contradiction in the very man who was working with these women in his mission. Paul knew what these women were doing when he wrote 1 Timothy 2 and he therefore didn’t mean they couldn’t do what’s said about their doings.

Who are the major named women in the Bible? Once I spent some time with college students over coffee talking about two women, Junia and Phoebe. I went on as professors are wont to do, perhaps a bit too long but I was pumped. Near the end a female student was surprisingly irritated, and I thought it was with what I was saying, only to learn that she was nothing less than ticked off with her church. Why? Her words, not mine: “Why have I never heard about these women in my so-called ‘Bible-preaching’ church?” Exactly, I muttered to myself. “Why?” Far more know about the altogether unimportant names Methusaleh or Ehud than know of Phoebe or the daughters of Philip. Each church needs today a series called Women of the Bible.

Who are the women theologians you read today or who on your bookshelves? Of course, if one is a bean counter and one has been collecting books as long as I have – almost fifty years now – one will not have a 50-50 ratio but weekly I am sent books and more and more they are written by women, like my friend and scholar, Lucy Peppiatt. Others include Renita Weems, Haley Goranson Jacob, Morna Hooker, Amy Jill Levine, Lynn Cohick, Marianne Meye Thompson, Carolyn Osiek Ruth Felker Jones, Beverly Gaventa, Ruth Haley Barton, Margaret Macdonald, Nancy Ortberg, Alice Mathews, Amy Peeler, Nancy Beach, Cristena Cleveland… and I’m old enough to say this list has grown exponentially in my life time. There was a time, well, when not many women were in this “line of work” but that day has ended and their books ought to be on any respectable thinker’s shelves.

Who are the women preachers you listen to today? A friend of mine once told me she was preaching at a church where no woman had ever preached. After a few times preaching an old man came up to her and informed her that, while he was formerly against women preaching, after listening to her he became convinced that women not only could preach but ought to be preaching. I often ask my friends who are podcast listeners, “Which women are you listening to?” Fleming Rutledge? Mandy Smith? Barbara Brown Taylor? Tara Beth Leach? I know for me it was reading Morna Hooker as a PhD student that shook me out of lethargy about women as Bible teachers and theologians. I have heard others say it was listening to Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, that made it clear women not only can preach but ought to preach. Speaking of authors and preachers, Lucy Peppiatt, though not as well known in the USA as she is in England, is both a wonderful theologian-author but also a dynamic teacher-preacher. Read her and listen to her.

Who are the influential moms in your church? When the “roll is called up yonder” and those on the list tell their stories about how they came to faith, the #1 adder-to-the-list will be moms. My mother told me about Jesus as a child, and in your church are moms singing to their babies, telling their children the gospel, and guiding the next generation into discipleship behind Jesus. This truth must be told: if we relied totally on males … I’ll not complete that sentence, but I will say this unabashedly: moms are the #1 reason why the church has grown and is growing. Anyone who thinks women can’t teach, preach, or instruct others in the faith needs to take a long look at the moms in church and then apologize for foolishness. Moms are evangelists, catechists, teachers and preachers – from the house to the church.

Which texts in the New Testament need to be explored the most in their historical context? I became aware of the careful theological and biblical work of Lucy Peppiatt when I read a small book of hers about 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. In that book Lucy made it abundantly clear that not only were there a bewildering list of possible interpretations of vexing expressions like headcoverings and what “head” means, but the interpretations many were suggesting were flat-out contradictions of either the Bible itself or of one another. She offered a different question – What if the problem isn’t the women but the men? – and a different solution – some of these lines that don’t fit our theology don’t fit into the Bible because they were the words of Paul’s opponents being quoted. She had me there, and I have followed her work ever since. This book will introduce you not only to her reading of 1 Corinthians 11 (and 14 by the way) but also to her approach to many issues. I am so grateful to Lucy for this wonderful packaging of all her best ideas about women in the Bible and church. She’s probably got more so take this as a sampling.

What about Mary? One time my mother asked me what I was studying and I told her I was studying about Mary. She said out of her Baptist orientation, “Why, she’s so Catholic?!” Welp, I took a big gulp and reminded her that she was the mother of Jesus and that she’s all over the Gospel pages. So often that she’s mentioned only slightly less than Peter. I’m on a crusade to get so-called Bible believers to believe just what the Bible says about Mary. Fact is she’s a powerful young woman, a powerful mother, and a powerful mover and shaker in the Gospels themselves. Who else gets in Jesus’ face to inform him that the wine has run out, that he’s going to get himself in trouble if he keeps offending the religious leaders, who else is present when Jesus, surrounded by an angry mob, is crucified? Who else is talked to from the cross other than Mary? Did you even know Mary’s got to be in the descriptions of the woman in Revelation 12? Protestants are blinded to Mary, so I urge them to open their eyes and watch Mary in the New Testament. When done, they’ll have a better understanding of what God calls women to do.

Those are the seven questions I’d want folks to consider when they ponder anew women in ministry. The simple answer is, and one that hums on every page in this wonderful book, that women can do whatever God calls them to do, whatever the Spirit empowers them to do, and whatever following Jesus leads them to do.

I know this because Lucy’s one of them!

NB: This post is my foreword to Lucy’s wonderful book.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

August 12, 2019

Progressives Learning to Understand Conservatives

Next Post

August 13, 2019 A Green Bible? (RJS)

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

What does "Pentecost" mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Twentieth Twelfth First Fiftieth