Re: [asa] Gender Roles & Genesis Interpretation

Hi Christine. I belong to a denomination (Evangelical Presbyterian Church) that takes no official position on the issue of whether women should serve as elders, leaving the decision up to the individual congregations. However, most of the congregations vote not to have women elders. In researching the issue a number of years ago I ran across a book, "Beyond sex roles:What the Bible Says about a Woman's Place in Church and Family" by Gilbert Bilezikian.
(http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Sex-Roles-Womans-Church/dp/0801031532/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210602869&sr=1-3)
It's been a while since I've read the book, but Bilezikian makes the case that the NT Greek does not prohibit women from serving as elders. I read it and was convinced. Unfortunately I was unable to persuade my congregation to reconsider the issue.

William E. (Bill) Hamilton, Ph.D.
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"...If God is for us, who is against us?" Rom 8:31
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----- Original Message ----
> From: Christine Smith <christine_mb_smith@yahoo.com>
> To: asa@calvin.edu
> Sent: Friday, May 9, 2008 3:15:27 PM
> Subject: [asa] Gender Roles & Genesis Interpretation
>
> Hi all,
>
> I was pondering the role of women in church with
> respect to the New Testament texts (a particularly
> thorny question for me, as I don't like the idea of
> writing off such texts as merely "the culture of the
> time"), and as I reread them, the thought occurred to
> me--if we understand Genesis 2 & 3 in
> mythological/theological terms, rather than strictly
> "literal" or "historical" terms, how then does this
> affect our interpretation of (in particular) I
> Corinthians 11:2-16 and I Timothy 2: 8-15. And
> conversely, how should these NT texts affect our
> interpretation of Genesis? Just curious on what your
> insights might be into this...thanks!
>
> In Christ,
> Christine (ASA member)
>
> To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
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Received on Mon May 12 10:50:59 2008