Table Of ContentPatricia Gundry D J. I. Packer D Clark Pinnock D Gretchen Gaebelein Hull
Richard N. Longenecker D Catherine Clark Kroeger D David M. Scholer D Ruth Tucker
Roger Nicole D Stanley N. Gundry D Marianne Meye Thompson D Nicholas Wolterstorff
Robert Johnston D Joan D. Flikkema D Berkeley Mickelsen D Walter Liefeld
Susie Stanley D Timothy Weber D Frances Hiebert D W. Ward Gasque
Some of today's
leading evangelicals
seek to break through
a critical impasse
.1io .•
. ·"'
~
Evangelicals have reached ac ritical impasse,
Advocates of more traditional roles for women say the heart of the
matter is biblical authority. Those supporting more open roles say
the crux is not biblical authority but biblical interpretation and
application.
D What are the real issues in this controversy?
D How can we make sense out of key passages in I Corinthians,
Galatians, Ephesians and I Timothy?
D How.can legitimate change be encouraged in the church?
D How can we keep in mind that the decisions we reach affect
living, breathing human beings?
The twenty-six evangelical leaders represented here, all partici
pants in the recent Evangelical Colloquium on Women and the
Bible, ask the hard questions about women's roles. Not all of them
agree on everything. But they do agree that we must begin with the
question, "What does the Bible teach?" They also agree that too
often poor exegesis has been used to advocate positions on either
side. Here support for women's ministry allies itself with scholarly
rigor in the effort to break new ground.
Essential reading for all concerned about women in the churc~.
ISBN 0-87784-608-1 > > $9-95
EDITED BY ALVERA MICKELSEN
- I
----~·
AUTHORITY
&THEBIBLE
INTERVA RSITY PRESS
DOWNERS GROVE, IWNOIS 60515
The essays and responses contained here were selected from among those presented at the
Evangelical Colloquium on Women and the Bible held October 9-11, 1984, in Oak Brook,
Jllinois. Thirty-six evangelical leaders attended the three-day colloquium, which was open by
invitation only, in hopes off llrthering dialog on the biblical and hermeneutical issues
surrounding women in ministry. Catherine Clark Kroeger, David M Schaler and Stanley N.
Gundry were the conference conveners.
First published in the UK in 1987 by Marshall Morgan and Scott Publications Ud, part oft he
Marshall Pickering Holdings Group, 3 Beggarwood Lane, Basingstoke, Hants., United Kingdom.
A subsidiary oft he Zondervan Corporation.
ISBN 0-551-01422-9
© 1986 by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship oft he United States ofA merica
All rights reserved No part ofthis book may be reproduced in any form without WJitten
permission from lntervarsiiy Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, Jllinois 60515.
Intervarsity Press is the book-publishing division oflnterVarsity Christian Fellowship, a
student movement active on campus at hundreds ofuniversities, colleges and schools of
nursing. For information about local and regional activities, write PUblic Relations Dept„
Intervarsity Christian Fellowship,. 6400 SChroeder Rd., P.O. Box 7895, Madison, W1
53707-7895.
Distributed in Canada through InterVarsity Press, 860 Denison St., Unit 3, Markham, Ontario
L3R 4HI, canada.
Philip Barton Payne's response in chapter 6 is © P. B. Payne 1984 and used by permission.
Cover illustration: Roberta Polflls
ISBN 0-87784-608-1
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
Ubrary of Congress Cataloging In Publication Data
women, authority & the Bible.
Jncludes bibliographical references.
/. Womeri-Biblical teaching-Congresses. 2. Bible
Evidences, authority, etc.-Congresses. L Mickelsen,
Alvera. IL Title: Women, authority, and the Bible.
BS680. W7W55 1986 261.8'344 86-7158
ISBN 0-87784-608-1 (pbk.)
17 18 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 8 5 4 3
99 98 97 98 95 94 93 92 91 90 89 88 87
Inmemoryof
Frank E. Gaebelein
Another piece of unfinished business
relates ... to the place of women in our
society. . . There are areas in which
they need greater freedom and more .
support and recognition. An attitude of
male domination rather than mutual
submission in Christ still persists among
us, and we need to do more about it.
Frank E Gaebelein, "Evangelicals &
Social Concetn," ETS Annual Meeting,
December 29, I 981
1. Why Are We Here? 9
L Why We're Here D Patricia Gundry 10
Response D Gretchen Gaebelein Hu// 22
D. Biblical Authority 29
2. Biblical Authority & Interpretation D Robert K. Johnston 30
3. Biblical Authority & Feminist Aspirations D Roger Nicole 42
4. Biblical Authority & the Issues in Question D Clark H. Pinnock 5 l
Response to Pinnock, Nicole and Johnston D Stanley N. Gundry 59
ID. Biblical Views of Authority & Headship 65
5. Authority, Hierarchy & Leadership Patterns in the Bible
D Richard N. Longenecker 66
Response D Willard M. swartley 85
Response D Marianne Meye Thompson 9 l
6. What Does Kepha/e Mean in the New Testament?
D Berkeley & Alvera Mickelsen 97
Response D Ruth A. Tucker 111
Response D Philip Barton Payne 118
IV. Diffi.cult Passages 133
7. Women, Submission & Ministry in 1 Corinthians D Walter L liefeld 134
Response D Alan F. Johnson 154
8. Galatians 3:28-Conundrum or Solution? D Klyne R Snodgrass __ 161
Response D Susie C Stanley 181
w.
Response D · ward Gasque 188
9. 1Timothy2:9-15 & the Place ofWomen in the Church's Ministry
D David M SCho/er 193
10. 1 Timothy 2: 12-A Classicist's View t:I catherine Clark Kroeger __ 225
Response D Walter L Uefe/d 244
Response to SCholer and Kroeger D Nancy Wiles Holsey _____ 248
v. Changing the Church ____________ 255
11. Strategies for Change D Joan D. Flikkema 256
Response D Frances F. Hiebert 274
Response D Timothy P. Weber 280
VI. What Have We Accomplished? ---------285
12. Hearing the Cry D Nicholas Wolterstorlf 286
13. Understanding the Differences D J. L Packer 295
14. Turning Re~lity into Dreams D Jeannette F. Scholer 300
WHY ARE WE HERE? .
1
1
WHY WE'RE HERE
Patricia Gundry
1 wouw LIKE to tell you a story; it's two stories, actually. You people are
scholars. Most people don't teil you stories anymore. They just teil you
facts. And arguments. Neat and crisp, or fuzzy and half-formed, but
almost always the kind of thing you can file in orderly piles in your head,
or quickly put in your mental wastebasket.
And that is why I am going to teil you a story instead. Maybe because
I know you need to hear stories, and not just arguable facts. When you
were little boys and girls you loved stories. You could see the soldiers
as you heard the words marching along. You could feel the fear and the
relief. Stories bring us to experience and to life.
Once upon a time there was a little boy. He was smart in school.
People praised him for being quick to figure things out and remember
facts. Most of those people were grown-ups-people with authority.
, Some people did not like him because they suspected he was smarter
than they were. They threw rocks at him sometimes as he walked the
path on the way home enjoying the flowers and listening to all the
human and animal sounds, and the earth sounds like wind, and feeling
the rain.
He found he enjoyed learning more than playing with people who
threw rocks. And so more and more he studied and less and less he
played with others who could throw rocks.
