The Bible, the Church, and Spirituality
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…
“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…
Cheated On: The Divorce Minister Guide for Surviving Adultery and Keeping Your Faith by David Derksen [Divorce Minister: 2018] I divorced my husband for adultery in 2014. If you want to get more technical: I told my husband I wanted a divorce in 2013 and physically separated from him, but the actual divorce was filed […] Read more…
Today is my birthday. It’s great to be 22 again! As it turns out, I have quite a few January 17th birthday buddies who are just a little more famous than I am. Here they are, and since I’m a church historian, I’ll start with church history: — Catherine Booth (1829 – 1890) Female preacher […] Read more…
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…
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…
by Bridget Jack Jeffries, PhD Student (Church History), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Jump to Series Index) Origen (AD 184/185 – 253/254) serves as one of six patristic witnesses [1] who commented on the apostle Junia and confirmed two of the three points of contention about her, namely, her gender and her apostolic status. While many […] Read more…
