Ordained Women in the Early Church: A Documentary History
In a time when the ordination of women is an ongoing and passionate debate, the study of women's ministry in the early church is a timely and significant one. There is much evidence from documents, doctrine, and artifacts that supports the acceptance of women as presbyters and deacons in the early church. While this evidence has been published previously, it has never before appeared in one complete English-language collection.
With this book, church historians Kevin Madigan and Carolyn Osiek present fully translated literary, epigraphical, and canonical references to women in early church offices. Through these documents, Madigan and Osiek seek to understand who these women were and how they related to and were received by, the church through the sixth century. They chart women's participation in church office and their eventual exclusion from its leadership roles. The editors introduce each document with a detailed headnote that contextualizes the text and discusses specific issues of interpretation and meaning. They also provide bibliographical notes and cross-reference original texts. Madigan and Osiek assemble relevant material from both Western and Eastern Christendom.
1013219481
Ordained Women in the Early Church: A Documentary History
In a time when the ordination of women is an ongoing and passionate debate, the study of women's ministry in the early church is a timely and significant one. There is much evidence from documents, doctrine, and artifacts that supports the acceptance of women as presbyters and deacons in the early church. While this evidence has been published previously, it has never before appeared in one complete English-language collection.
With this book, church historians Kevin Madigan and Carolyn Osiek present fully translated literary, epigraphical, and canonical references to women in early church offices. Through these documents, Madigan and Osiek seek to understand who these women were and how they related to and were received by, the church through the sixth century. They chart women's participation in church office and their eventual exclusion from its leadership roles. The editors introduce each document with a detailed headnote that contextualizes the text and discusses specific issues of interpretation and meaning. They also provide bibliographical notes and cross-reference original texts. Madigan and Osiek assemble relevant material from both Western and Eastern Christendom.
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Ordained Women in the Early Church: A Documentary History
In a time when the ordination of women is an ongoing and passionate debate, the study of women's ministry in the early church is a timely and significant one. There is much evidence from documents, doctrine, and artifacts that supports the acceptance of women as presbyters and deacons in the early church. While this evidence has been published previously, it has never before appeared in one complete English-language collection.
With this book, church historians Kevin Madigan and Carolyn Osiek present fully translated literary, epigraphical, and canonical references to women in early church offices. Through these documents, Madigan and Osiek seek to understand who these women were and how they related to and were received by, the church through the sixth century. They chart women's participation in church office and their eventual exclusion from its leadership roles. The editors introduce each document with a detailed headnote that contextualizes the text and discusses specific issues of interpretation and meaning. They also provide bibliographical notes and cross-reference original texts. Madigan and Osiek assemble relevant material from both Western and Eastern Christendom.
Kevin Madigan is the Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University.
Carolyn Osiek is the Charles Fischer Professor of New Testament (retired), Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University.
Table of Contents
PrefaceSource Abbreviations1. Introduction2. New Testament Texts and Their Patristic CommentatorsRomans 16:1–21 Timothy 3:8–111 Timothy 5:3–133. Women Deacons in the East: Literary Texts, Literary Allusions, InscriptionsLiterary Texts and AllusionInsciptions4. Women Deacons in the East: Canons and Comments on Church PracticeDidascalia and Apostolic ConstitutionsOther Sources before the Sixth Century, in Chronological OrderJustinian, Novellae5. Women Deacons in the East: Later Texts6. Women Deacons in the WestLiterary TextsInscriptionsCanons and Comments on Church Practice7. Women Deacons: Testamentum Domini Nostri Jesu Christi and Related Texts8. Women PresytersIn the EastLiterary Texts, Canonical, and LegendaryInscriptionsIn the WestWives of ClericsThree North Africans against Women PresbytersCanons and Episcopal LettersInscriptions9. ConclusionsAppendixesA. Locations of Deacon InscriptionsB. Locations of Deacons in Literary SourcesC. Locations of PresbytersD. Family Relationships Identified for Women in InscriptionsIndex of Ancient NamesIndex of Deaconesses, Presbyters, and EpiscopaIndex of Modern Authors
This publication will be very welcome to a wide audience that will include interested general readers as well as more advanced students of the history of early Christianity and will make a substantial contribution to the field.
Robin Jensen, Vanderbilt University Divinity School, author of Face to Face: The Portrait of the Divine in Early Christianity
From the Publisher
This publication will be very welcome to a wide audience that will include interested general readers as well as more advanced students of the history of early Christianity and will make a substantial contribution to the field.—Robin Jensen, Vanderbilt University Divinity School, author of Face to Face: The Portrait of the Divine in Early Christianity