Monday, April 04, 2005
On Feminists and Chauvinists and Trinitarian Doctrine
From reading various articles about the pope's death, it is readily apparent that many in the secular press cannot stand the fact that the late pontiff would not allow women to be ordained as priests. This position is not unique ot the Roman Catholic Church. Many churches in the Protestant world only allow men to be pastors. Only in the last 40 years or so have mainline Protestant denominations started to allow women pastors or priests.
Chauvinists and feminists (I think that is the right noun here) both share an error. Chauvinists believe women are inferior, so they shouldn't be holding leadership positions. Feminists understand that women aren't inferior to men, so they see no reason women cannot be in positions of leadership. The fault assumption in both is that inferiority is associated with being precluded from leadership or other positions. Granted, true chauvinists would take this far beyond roles in church leadership.
This assumption would do horrible violence to the doctrine of the Trinity. The So of God serves the Father and does whatever the Father tells Him. So is the second person of the Trinity inferior to the Father? Or do they just have different roles? Both persons are equally God. Neither is inferior to the other.
Our natural mind cannot understand all this. If you are serving someone, you must be their inferior. Superiority in position does not necessarily mean superiority in being.
From reading various articles about the pope's death, it is readily apparent that many in the secular press cannot stand the fact that the late pontiff would not allow women to be ordained as priests. This position is not unique ot the Roman Catholic Church. Many churches in the Protestant world only allow men to be pastors. Only in the last 40 years or so have mainline Protestant denominations started to allow women pastors or priests.
Chauvinists and feminists (I think that is the right noun here) both share an error. Chauvinists believe women are inferior, so they shouldn't be holding leadership positions. Feminists understand that women aren't inferior to men, so they see no reason women cannot be in positions of leadership. The fault assumption in both is that inferiority is associated with being precluded from leadership or other positions. Granted, true chauvinists would take this far beyond roles in church leadership.
This assumption would do horrible violence to the doctrine of the Trinity. The So of God serves the Father and does whatever the Father tells Him. So is the second person of the Trinity inferior to the Father? Or do they just have different roles? Both persons are equally God. Neither is inferior to the other.
Our natural mind cannot understand all this. If you are serving someone, you must be their inferior. Superiority in position does not necessarily mean superiority in being.
