Step 4.

Have women been forbidden for all time to ‘teach in Church’?

The prohibition “I do not allow women to teach in church, etc.” is found in 1 Tim 2,11-15 and 1 Cor 14,34-35. Let us first look at its interpretation in some traditional sources.

The idea that women are not allowed to ‘teach in Church’ greatly influenced the ban on women priests. Theologians and church lawyers argued: “If women are not even allowed to preach, how could they ever be priests?” Read the following texts as examples:

• The prohibition to teach featured in the earliest collection of church law, the Decree of Gratian (1024 AD) which persisted until 1916, and even in the new code of law of 1917.
• It became an argument against women’s ordination in such theologians as Richard of Middleton (13th cent.) see esp. §9, John Duns Scotus (1266 - 1308 AD) see § 19 and 20, and Durandus a Saint-Pourçain (1270 - 1334 AD) see no 4, and others.

The authorities in Rome still maintain that Paul’s word established a lasting norm.

Then what was the meaning of the scriptural texts? Before we go into the exegesis of the text itself, we need to know more about the role of an author’s ‘intended scope’. Click here!

We can now look at the texts themselves:

• 1 Tim 2,2,11-15;
• 1 Cor 14,34-35.

The answer is therefore: the prohibition for women to teach in church was a temporary and local prescription. To say that it established a permanent norm is to go well beyond the intention of the inspired authors.

Women do actually preach in churches, as is well known. Read the life stories of Claire Daurelle, college chaplain and pastoral worker in Lyons, France, from 1978 to 1998, and Alice, missionary in Africa, in charge of isolated St. Andrew’s parish.

If you have questions at any stage, please, let me know. Click on the envelope and send me an email!

• Anne Baring, ‘The Separation from Nature and the Loss of the Feminine Aspect of Spirit’;
• ‘It Won’t Wash With Women’, by Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, in The Tablet, March 15th., 1997.