Video Transcript: Conclusions

So, here we are in the last segment of this course, which is called, fittingly, conclusions. And  actually, there are going to be three questions. And one conclusion, one, statement. So I'm  going to go out a little far on a limb here, I'm going to ask some questions that you might  think are outrageous. But I think it's good for asking the questions for examining the the  presuppositions behind them. Okay, so the first question is, was Christianity good for women? You may might say, well, of course, of course, well, I mean, let's just stop and think of it. In  one sense. It elevated the status of women, sort of, but it was already part of the environment of the Roman environment the a greater autonomy for women, ability to control their own  lives, etc. So. So in that sense, I would say that Christianity was part of that movement. And  in other ways, it seems to have slowed it down. When you have these elements of resistance  that we pointed out, it doesn't seem as if Christianity advanced the status of women. But now let's back up and ask another a prior question. Good for women, good for women, in what  way? And here we have a number of approaches. what do what do women want? You know.  And and if your approach is that that, only what forces change? What brings about change?  What creates further autonomy is good, then you're going to have some kind of checkered  answers here. Remember the discussion about agency that we had way on I think it was  maybe the first day, the first segment? And if, on the other hand, by agency you accept  embracing a role that is given to you that makes sense to you that you you want to live out?  Well, then perhaps you have a more an easier, more direct answer to this. Was Christianity  good for women in bringing salvation in Christ? Absolutely. When you look at some of the  other finer points, you have to say that it was part of its world in some ways, in some ways, it  changed it's world in other ways, it was part of it, and didn't change it. And it continued, many of the things that were already there in the world, whether they were in its world, whether  they were for better or for worse. So it's a, I think, a provocative question. It's something to  think about, not to reject out of hand, but just to, to consider, and to come up with different  approaches. Second thing is a statement. And this is something I want to be sure is really  clear, because I continue to hear the opposite from the pulpit, in popular writing, and it is a  bias, an anti Jewish bias. Jesus did not free us from the law. There was no need to free us from the law. First of all, there we mean the Jewish law, of course, the Mosaic law, because devoted Jews do not see the law observing the law as oppression, it is rather a way that is pointed out  a way that is shown in very similar to the way we see the gospel of living out of the gospel. So I do continue to hear this and and in the early stages of some of this research about women in Judaism, I would hear it, we read it as well, that the Jewish law was so oppressive to women.  And Jesus said, You don't have to observe it. No, that's not it at all. The the law was not  oppressive to women. There are elements of every law that are oppressive to somebody, of  course, but it on the whole it was not the purity laws were concerned almost strictly with  temple observance. For people who are going into the temple. It was not that people had to  live their whole lives that way. The Pharisees, however, we seem to think were, well, we  haven't talked about the Pharisees. They were the progressives of their day in in Judaism, and they were the ones who were saying that all of life is as Holy as the temple and therefore let's think about extending the laws for the temple to, to all of life. And that's where you get into  the observance of purity laws, which were for men as well as women. So that's a whole other  thing, but just to to make it clear that we didn't need Jesus to free women from the oppression of Judaism. Jesus brought us salvation, it was not at the detriment to to, to the detriment of  Judaism. Now, this seems like a radical question to0 can a male Savior save women? This was  a question that was asked by Rosemary Ruether some some years ago. And it's really worth  pondering you see if we say that the maleness of Jesus was so important that it's, it  eliminates leadership positions for women, because only men can, why can only men do that? Well, because it was Jesus because of Jesus, who was a man, then you have to raise this  question, well, then On what basis does Jesus save women? And you, you have to say, I think  that that in this line of thinking, that you somehow you're extending the salvation given to  men, because through the male Jesus, you're somehow extending it to women. But that's not  really what the Gospel says, You see, or what Paul says, you know, in Christ, there is no male  or female. So it's, it's not that, that women are sort of in a secondary position of salvation  through men. But rather, there's free access to salvation in Christ, for men and for women. 

And then you have to say, yes, a male Savior can save women, because women as well as  men are equal in the sight of Christ, and have equal access to salvation. So that's another  question that I think is worth asking. And finally, where are we? And where can we go today?  Where do we go today? So we've looked at a lot of the history of the early church, and its  women. And we've looked at how things developed, how things were problematic, and how  they solved some of those problems and how some of those problems and tensions remain. I  think, for example, that they were living all the time, with the tension of freedom in Christ,  and observance of appropriate social expectations from the world around them. And I think  that's where the household codes come from, for example. So so they are living with tensions  and ambiguities. And we are too. So I'm not an expert on how life is lived. Today you are, and  you are the expert in looking at your own situation and how you live in it, and how you are  going to cope with it, especially if you're a woman, and you're dealing with the the kinds of  restrictions that have been given to you by your culture. And, and to some sense, in some  sense by the the Christian tradition as well. And it's up to you to, to discern where you want to go with this. We we have the clear proclamation of Jesus, that salvation is given through him  and whether we are female or male. The trouble is, as one feminist theologian said, in Christ,  there is no male and female. The trouble is everywhere else there is. It's everywhere else. It's  when we come down from the mountain, that we have to work out these solutions to how we  are going to respond to the gift of the Spirit, how are we are going to respond to the gift of  prophecy that challenges us. And we need to continue to listen to that voice of prophecy that  challenges us and not always fall back. on order, but rather on have some, some confidence  in our ability to discern the challenges given by prophecy. And that's not an easy task. It's, it's an everyday challenge. It's an everyday adventure as to how we are going to continue to live  out this call, particularly as a call to ministry. We do not, as one biblical scholar used to say,  We cannot live in first century Bible land we cannot live exactly the way they did in the first  century, our world has just changed too much, too much has happened in between, but we  can look to them as an inspiration. And we can continue to derive questions and challenges  and, and prophetic challenge from them, as we try to navigate the world as it is today with all  of its terrific change that is happening now. I am of a certain age and will not see many of the  changes that are happening and many of you will and you will carry on the the message of  the gospel in the message that that women are as capable of every stage every bit of  ministry, as men are. And moreover, that both that we are called both women and men to do  this ministry for God and for the sake of God's people.