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Women as clergy

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Passages impacting women's leadership in
the Christian Scriptures (New Testament)

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Overview:

Discrimination against women in leadership positions has largely be eliminated throughout North America except for some religious denominations and the U.S. Armed Forces. The situation in Christian denominations is quite mixed:

bulletUntil the early years of the 20th century, few Christian faith groups allowed women to be ordained. Since then, most liberal denominations have accepted female ministers and pastors. Mainline denominations followed.
bulletVery conservative denominations, like the Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Churches, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a.k.a. Mormons), most fundamentalist denominations, etc. generally still exclude all women from the clergy because of their gender, irrespective of qualifications or talents.
bulletThe Southern Baptist Convention made history in North America when it became the first denomination to stop female ordination in the year 2000, while allowing existing female pastors to continue in their posts.
bullet However, some like the Association of VIneyard Churches, Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship and some Pentecostal Denominations allow women to serve.

The historical trend appears obvious - it may be just a matter of time before almost all denominations will remove their gender barrier, and finally match the rest of society.

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Topics covered in this section:

bulletQuotations & Introduction
 
bulletQuotations from: Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians & Philippians

bulletQuotations from: 1 Timothy to 1 Peter

bulletArguments from biblical silences; biblical forgeries

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Related essays on this web site:

The essay "Women Clergy: priests, pastors, ministers, rabbis" contains additional information on:

bulletStatus of female ordination in various Christian denominations
bulletDates when various denominations started to ordain women
bulletFemale leaders mentioned in the Bible
bulletProhibition of women from positions of power by the early church
bulletOther arguments for and against female ordination
bulletand other topics.

Our essay "The status of women in the Bible" for additional information on the role of women in Old Testament times, during Christ's ministry and during the early Christian church.

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Copyright © 1999 to 2008 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2008-SEP-26
Author: Bruce A. Robinson

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