Questions Week 3 Day 5

DAY 19

2 Timothy 2:11-15

Why then has the church not accepted female leaderships in many times and places? Why have we downplayed the texts and perspectives I’ve mentioned? Culture shapes what we tend to see and impacts our hidden presuppositions.

Egalitarian texts have been underplayed and often read through one or two passages like the one we are reading today, because male precedence and leadership felt natural for most of human history. Feminism is a relatively new phenomena! Before we are too hard on all previous generations of men, remember how different life patterns were. In agrarian societies and in eras where war and conflict were almost continuous, men were leaders, farmers, and warriors—three roles where biology gives them a measure of advantage. Women, on the other hand, had to organize extended families that included enormous numbers of children. Prior to family planning, pregnancy was a nearly yearly reality. Survival for clans meant specialized roles, and these roles felt inevitable and biological, therefore necessary and natural. This combination of roles and assumptions is called patriarchalism.

Does this discussion make sense to you?  

 FAMILY TIME—

How does our society differ from earlier ones?

Tags: feminism