Read. Reflect. Write.

Does 1 Timothy 2:12 prohibit women from leading and preaching over men in the church? I recently posted an article examining an approach to this question, specifically evaluating interpretive consistency. In the article, I looked at two passages that appealed to the Old Testament to support the claim being made in the text. The point of the blog post was to shed light on an inconsistency of interpretation by looking at one common argument from the Bible in favor of women in the pastorate and another biblical argument supporting the view of monogamous marriage, between one man and one woman. My general observation is that many Christians who advance this particular argument, allowing for women in the pastorate, also affirm the particular argument for the biblical view of marriage. They both have the same methodological starting point; however, both arrive at their conclusions in completely different ways, demonstrating interpretive inconsistency, which I conclude ste...

Last month I started following a woman on Twitter named Jo Luehmann . She is a pastor and runs a ministry that is aimed at decolonizing faith and spirituality. She has a large following on Twitter, thus she is an influential figure. Our theological views are radically different, which is why I wanted to follow her because I think it is important as a Christian to read and study those who differ theologically, so that one does not become myopic to the point of dismissing others without taking the time to understand their views. It is not charitable, and it can lead to theological hubris. All that to say, it doesn’t mean one has to accept all others’ views as valid; rather, it is so that one avoids misrepresenting others when one engages in discourse. We should care to know what others think. And it is extremely unhelpful to formulate arguments against one’s viewpoint when one doesn’t hold that viewpoint. However, even when being careful, misrepresentation can still happen, but we sho...

To much of the Western world, Augustine has no rival. He is the preeminent—uninspired—theologian of the Christian faith. When reading the titans of the church—i.e., Aquinas, Luther, and Calvin—Augustine’s theology and ideas are voluminously parroted all throughout their writings. His influence is unparalleled. Even the secular world sees Augustine as a mammoth figure in the shaping of human history. And its Augustine’s doctrine of God we will divert our attention to, looking specifically at his articulation of divine immutability Augustine’s doctrine of God is classical, through and through. He writes, “There is One invisible, from whom, as the Creator and First Cause, all things seen by us derive their being: He is supreme, eternal, unchangeable, and comprehensible by none save Himself alone” ( Ep . 232.5).[1] When reading his works, the doctrine of immutability is paramount, coming forth repeatedly. For Augustine, immutability, or God’s unchangeableness, is consequential ...

The discussions about the roles of women in ministry have amassed great attention. A few scrolls down my Twitter feed and other social media platforms (at least in my circles), I almost always come across some comment or post about women in the pastorate, the push for equality of outcome, and other buzz words surrounding this topic. The recent rift in the Southern Baptist Convention over this issue has brought division among pastors, leaders, and the denomination (and other denominations). The Beth Moore fall-out from the SBC gained attention from the secular world because the situation had great appeal to the liberal narrative, thus it was an easy win for its cause, in that it afforded another opportunity to expose Christianity as a “fundamentalist patriarchal oppressive” religion. However, while there are always bad apples in the bunch, such notions couldn’t be further from the truth.   More and more denominations are ordaining women to the pastorate, and the cultural demand of ...