Jesus, Justice, and Gender Roles: A Case for Gender Roles in Ministry
By Kathy Keller
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About this ebook
In this original digital short, author and co-founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church Kathy Keller recounts her experience growing up in “gender-neutral” home.
“My first encounter with the ideas of [male] headship and [female] submission,” she writes, “was both intellectually and morally traumatic.”
Yet Keller came to adopt the view that men and women have different roles in marriage and ministry, and that fulfilling such roles pleases God and leads to greater personal fulfillment.
In this unapologetic but nuanced piece, Keller presents a caring and careful case for biblical gender differences and the complementarian view of women in ministry. At the same time, she encourages women to teach and lead in the church in ways that may startle some complementarians. Readers on both sides of this hot-button topic will be challenged by her ministry-tested and thoroughly Scriptural perspective.
Kathy Keller
Kathy Keller was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended Allegheny College. She graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1975 with her MA in Theological Studies. She and her husband, Tim, married one semester before graduation. West Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Hopewell, Virginia, extended a call for Tim to be a three-month interim pastor while they searched for someone more experienced. Nine years and three sons later, the Kellers moved to Philadelphia, where Tim taught at Westminster Theological Seminary and Kathy began work as an editor at Great Commission Publications. In 1989 they moved to Manhattan to plant Redeemer Presbyterian Church. As staff were added, Kathy focused on the Communication Committee. She is now the Assistant Director of Communication and Media and the editor at Redeemer. She also writes and speaks along with Tim. Their three sons are grown and married, and producing amazing grandchildren. They and their families are all members of Redeemer.
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Book preview
Jesus, Justice, and Gender Roles - Kathy Keller
Jesus, Justice, and Gender Roles
A Case for Gender Roles in Ministry
Kathy Keller
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Introduction
Part 1: Hermeneutical Imperatives
What 1 Corinthian 14:33b–38 Cannot Mean
Then What Does 1 Corinthians 14:33b–38 Mean?
1 Timothy 2:11–12
Where Does That Leave Us Regarding the Role of Women?
Do We Have to Obey?
One Last Wriggle
Summary
Part 2: Personal Journeys
Copyright
About the Author
Notes
Introduction
When Tim and I moved to Manhattan in 1989 to start Redeemer Presbyterian Church, we knew that issues that were controversial elsewhere could be incendiary in New York. Over the years sexuality and gender, as well as personal choices in these areas, have been at the top of our list of topics that provoke outrage, tears, shouting, and disappointment.
One woman told me tearfully when she learned Redeemer did not ordain women as elders or pastors, It was like finding out that your fiancé is a child molester!
These are not moderate words that encourage continuing conversation. I wanted to console and help her, but the question becomes: How does one talk pastorally and compassionately to twenty-first-century people so that the notion of gender roles is presented not as an embarrassing antiquity the church is stuck with but as a gift, meant for our good?
The question is not academic for me. I wrestled deeply and personally with this issue as a woman who was once preparing to be ordained in the United Presbyterian Church (USA).¹ Everywhere I have ministered since then, I have felt like a woman without a country. In some places I have been looked upon with suspicion as a raving feminist
because I encourage women to teach and lead, and I do so myself.² In New York I have been called self-hating
and worse because I continue to believe that God gave us a good gift when he created complementary gender roles for men and women.
As a pastor’s wife, a joint founder of Redeemer (and therefore partially responsible for some of its philosophy of ministry), and a woman in ministry, I have seen it as my role to talk women—and men—off the ledge once they realize Redeemer’s complementarian position. It’s not as if we hide the issue. Elders’ names are printed in the bulletin every Sunday, and they regularly stand before the congregation—every one of them a man—for ordination of officers and other events. However, women are so visible on staff and in ministry at Redeemer that it sometimes takes awhile for the penny to drop.³
So how does one approach the issue? Pastorally there are always two fronts to be addressed, and learning opportunities that come with each.
First, the hermeneutical front: How do we discern what the Bible says? What do we make of cultural changes that have occurred since the Bible was written? Do we have to obey or even care about something said so long ago in a time and place so unlike our own? What should obedience to the text look like?
Addressing these questions creates opportunities to discuss the inspiration and infallibility of Scripture, the nature of revelation, the cost of submitting to the lordship of Christ, and not least of all, the discipline of hermeneutics and how one learns to read and understand the Bible.
Second, the personal front: Are you saying that a woman is not as worthy as a man? Not as gifted? Not as filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you by implication suggesting that her sense of calling to the ministry is spurious? This is the twenty-first century; how can you tell a woman that a choice she wants to make is not open to her? This is a justice issue!
Underlying such personal questions