Q.
134
Why the seeming contradiction?
José F. Morales Jr.
Who is...
?
José F. Morales Jr.
I have two quirks that complement each other:
I hate the smell of food on my hands and I love
the smell of institutional hand soap.A.
First things fi rst: The Bible was written by men reared in a strongly
patriarchal society. Therefore, we should read scripture with what
feminists call “a hermeneutic of suspicion,” weeding out the dan-
gerous patriarchal elements.
With this said, Paul, of all people, was a powerful witness for equality.
When Paul declares that there is therefore “no longer male or female” (Gal.
3:26–28), he became the fi rst in antiquity to pronounce equality. Moreover,
Paul worked with women and called them “prophets,” “deacons,” and “apos-
tles.” Paul considered Junia “prominent among the apostles” (Rom. 16:7).
He also mentioned Priscilla before her husband Aquila (Rom. 16:3), which is
signifi cant. Paul affi rms female leadership.
Having said this, there are antiwomen texts included in scripture, but so
are all those passages that affi rm female leadership. So we ultimately make a
choice. In The Good Book, Peter Gomes separates biblical practice from biblical
principle, noting that even though a couple of texts speak to the contrary, the
early church overwhelmingly practiced inclusion, making the early Chris-
tian gatherings “the most egalitarian groups of their day” (Wills, What Paul
Meant, 90).
In this case, I think the church should preach what it practices.Gary Peluso-Verdend
A.
Let’s address the last question fi rst. Contradictions may occur
because an author changed his mind over time. Or there may
be contradictory stances in one book of the Bible because we are
reading two different authors, made less visible to us now by an editor who
merged two voices into one biblical book.
When it comes to the role of women in the church, the scholars I follow
believe we are reading the latter situation. Some scholars argue that Paul’s
radical views on the equality of women and men in the church and in Christ
led the persons who edited his letters to shave the edges off his radical stance.