The Bible, the Church, and Spirituality
I have a new article out in the Trinity Journal called “The Consecrated Virgin and the Princess Bride: Historical Applications of Ps 45 to Women in Education and Ministry.” As part of my doctoral studies, I took an interdisciplinary class in Spring 2022 wherein the main task for us students was to write a paper […] Read more…
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…
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…
(Jump to Series Index) One would not expect a conflagration of controversy from the ending of Paul’s epistle to the Romans. The sixteenth chapter lacks the robust theology expounded on in earlier chapters, instead containing a seemingly innocuous list of salutations to local Christians at the church in Rome. Yet controversy is exactly what the […] Read more…
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…
“Women are not called to public preaching!” I’ve honestly never understood people who take this position given that the Bible contains a very specific example of a woman preaching in public: There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her […] Read more…
Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. ~ 1 Cor. 14:34-35 […] Read more…
