THE BIBLE
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Five Female New Testament Leaders Who Were Given Sex Changes
Christians have been explaining away the uncomfortable truth of female leadership in the Scriptures for centuries. Deborah (Judges 4:4) was only leading Israel because “there were no worthy men available.” Phoebe (Romans 16:1-2) was just a “helper” and “servant,” not a “patron” and “deacon.” The female pastor whom John writes to in 2 John […] Read more…
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Who is Junia? An Overview
by Bridget Jack Jeffries, PhD Student (Church History), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Jump to Series Index) Junia is a first-century woman mentioned in the New Testament, in Romans 16:7. Paul includes her on a long list of greetings to local Christians in Rome: Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison […] Read more…
THE CHURCH
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John Chrysostom on the Apostle Junia
by Bridget Jack Jeffries, PhD Student (Church History), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Jump to Series Index) If you’ve ever read a serious article on the apostle Junia, you’ve read the following quote from John Chrysostom of Constantinople (c. AD 349 – 407), which says: “’Greet Andronicus and Junia . . . distinguished among the apostles.’ […] Read more…
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Did Origen Say Junia Was a Man?
by Bridget Jack Jeffries, PhD Student (Church History), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Jump to Series Index) Miscellaneous hierarchist (complementarian / Christian male headship) Web sites, blogs, and articles will number Origen among the patristic witnesses who said Junia was a man. For just one example, see this 2007 article by Dr. David W. Jones of […] Read more…
SPIRITUALITY
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Should a Christian get cosmetic surgery? I did.
“She needs to get a nose job. That girl has a schnoz.” If I heard it once in my teenage years, I heard it many times. As adolescence descended on me, my nose grew in not just larger than average, but hooked, and not just hooked, but visibly crooked. The first time I saw my […] Read more…
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Special Needs, the Church and the Justice of God
I have a new article at RELEVANT Magazine on people with special needs in church: Special Needs, the Church and the Justice of God Read more…
MINISTRY
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Wedding Vows & Sermon
Here are the wedding vows that we used for our ceremony, as well as the sermon that my friend Katie Langston preached when she married us. Katie and I met online almost 10 years ago when I was mostly blogging about Mormonism, where she was one of the Mormon commentators on my blog. She is […] Read more…
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Tragedy + Time = Gratitude
15 years ago, I said, “I do.” 11 years later, I said, “No more.” Something stronger than pain engulfed me. Not just loss of happiness, but the loss of any sense of purpose. I had been Mrs. Interfaith Marriage for so long, I had no idea who I was or who I might be without […] Read more…