In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost- grant me the peace to perceive you, the wisdom to accept where I am wrong, and the passion to convince where I know you aright. Amen.
Brothers and Sisters, truly reading this thread has excited my anger. I've had to take a while to sit and pray, and think I've reached a suitable state.
In the interest of full disclosure: the head of the Episcopal Church of America is a woman. Her skilled leadership in a time of great stress has been inspiring. (Flame preemption: before you go making assumptions, perhaps you should look at what the Right Reverend Schiori has done.)
You folks throw around scripture and talk about the face meaning, or 'what it's worth' That's foolish for several reasons- The word of God is complex in many places and requires careful study, but simple in its basic tenets. I can't see where appeals to 'what its worth' aren't an on face rejection of the truth. Second, we are dealing with translation. English is not Greek. It does not contain the same connotations. This is absolutely paramount in this case where we examine Timothy. Others speak of a lack of agreement- that is true, but I have eyes and a mind and I can read. Specifically, I can read Greek. Where we get the translation 'I permit no woman to teach a man' Paul uses the word authentein- (um... no greek char keyboard...)
This clearly and without doubt does not mean teach in the sense of being pastor (or priest, if you please) or teaching God's word to men for two reasons. First, while it means teach, it has similarity to how we use teach in 'I'm gonna teach you a lesson, boy.' It is used to describe what an army does to a sacked city, murder, and domination. None of those seem to have much to do with spreading God's word. Second, authentein is a hapax legomenon- it happens only once in the New Testament. Paul talks about teaching in the sense of being pastor all the time- HE USES A DIFFERENT WORD IN THIS SENSE- A DISTINCTION HE USES ONLY ONCE- BECAUSE HE IS EXPRESSING A DIFFERENT CONCEPT.
As to biblical sources for women teaching men:
The original preacher was a woman- When Christ had risen he appeared only to Mary Magdalene, whom he charged to tell the Apostles that he was risen. In fact, they brushed her aside in their fear and sinfulness and did not recieve the truth (I can't help but think that the chauvenism of the time played a role in that. Consider- if you were an Apostle in that dark time, would your view of scripture permit you to recieve the Good News?)
We know from the introduction to Timothy that the very recipient of the Epistle had been taught about Christ by his mother and grandmother.
Priscilla is indeed a valid example, for do we not read that she instructed Apollos- a great preacher?
Consider the long train in Romans: I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae (a note- the early church did not have leaders as such, but deacons, modeled on Christ's saying that the last shall be first, etc. and were servant leaders.)
Also... 'Greet Prisca and Aquila... Greet Mary... Greet Andronicus and Julia, my relatives who were in prison with me- they are prominent among the apostles and were in Christ before I was.
Now then does not the subordination of women in the church directly violate Paul's charge in Galations 'But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith...there is no longer male or female, for you are all one in Jesus Christ.'
Finally, I charge you to find even one instance when Christ affirmed the subordination of women. I think you'll find the scriptures bare of such a thing. I surely hope that believing all God's children are equal in His eyes and ought be likewise on this earth is not a bad thing, no matter what label you give that.
