Editorial: Learned and Holy

Doubtless the question will arise concerning our "By Women for Women" issue of the journal: "Is it for women only?" After all, if Scripture prohibits women from teaching men (1 Tim 2:11-15), certainly that includes a journal article that has some exegetical and/or theological content. Are we being consistent here? Perhaps The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood should only send this issue to its female readership. Women are allowed to read nowadays, right? The purpose of this editorial, then, is to assist us in determining how it is that men benefit from the valuable contributions of women in Christian scholarship.

Learned and Holy: An Ancient Practice

In his insightful article, "Women in the History of the Church: Learned and Holy, but Not Pastors," William Weinrich observes an ancient practice that helps to explain how it is that the church, including men, has been richly blessed by the varied ministries of women throughout her history.¹ We might summarize this ancient practice with the phrase "learned and holy." Taken from the Statuta Ecclesiae antiqua of Gennadius of Marseilles (c. A.D. 480), Weinrich's subtitle reminds us that considerations for the service of women in the church have not been determined by intellect or sanctity. Rather, clear apostolic injunctions and the example of Jesus himself have been determinative. Thus, it has been the consistent practice throughout church history—until recent times—that, however learned and holy particular women in the church were, the pastoral office of the church has been reserved for men.²

The pastoral office, however, is not the only way one can make a lasting contribution to the body of Christ. It is true that throughout church history most Christian writing and scholarship has come from men, but this may not be as objectionable as some today would like to make it. After all, the vocation of wife and mother is more foundational and necessary than the vocation of Christian scholar. Still, history is filled with women who have made significant intellectual contributions. Learned and holy women of the past have demonstrated well, in Weinrich's terms, their faithful "service of mind and pen."³ The literary and intellectual legacy of Marcella and Paula (4^th C), Proba (4^th C), Eudoxia (5^th C), Lioba (8^th C), Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Charlotte Elliot (1789-1871), Sarah Adams (1805-1848), Frances R. Havergal (1836-1879), Fanny J. Crosby (1820-1915), and Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957) ought to be, in a very real sense, an inspiration to women today.

Learned and Holy: A Present Day Example

I am reminded of Eta Linnemann—one particularly "learned and holy" woman. A brilliant student of Rudolf Bultmann and Ernst Fuchs, as well as Friedrich Gogarten and Gerhard Ebeling, she had "the best professors which historical-critical theology could offer."⁴ And yet she was troubled for many years. Even with her intellectual accomplishments—two doctorates and an esteemed teaching position—she was sure that she was still seen as inferior to men. In her words,

In my preconversion life, I bitterly fought for women's equality in "spiritual office." The thorn of embitterment was ever driven into me anew by my so-called "brothers in ministry," especially by those who were my mental inferiors and possessed no other merit than the privilege of wearing trousers on the basis of their physical constitution.⁵

This way of thinking all changed, however, on November 5, 1977, when at the age of fifty-one she trusted Christ, ending her rebellion against being a woman. Linnemann describes her conversion to Christ as being "renewed by His grace," the product of which was a sense of fulfillment and contentment according to God's good design for her as a woman.⁶

Her new life was also marked by a new path of Christian scholarship. Within a month of her decision to follow Christ she "repented" of her "perverse theological teaching" and eventually wrote Historical Criticism of the Bible, which, as Robert Yarbrough describes it, was her post-conversion blast against German higher criticism.⁷ That particular book, as to be expected, received extremely mixed reviews. And yet there is no question as to the significance of her scholarly endeavors. Since that time Linnemann has made numerous contributions to the field of NT studies from her unambiguously evangelical perspective. For this evangelicals can be grateful—especially evangelical men.⁸

Learned and Holy: Allowing the Ancient Practice to Inform Christian Scholarship Today

            The question that often comes from both complementarians and egalitarians is this: "If women cannot teach men or exercise authority over men, what can they do in the church?" I will not attempt to address here what I believe to be the inherent chauvinism as well as the inadequate conception of life in the church that such a question assumes (it is actually a great insult to women that any and every other thing they are uniquely fit by God to do and instructed by God to do is somehow less important than teaching men). Instead, I suggest a model for assessing the ministry of women that harmonizes with the ancient practice of the "learned and holy" women of the past. The context here is Christian scholarship, but these ideas should not be limited to such a context.

            This model, developed by John Piper, helps evaluate the appropriateness of women influencing men in the home, the church, and in society. ⁹ The question is not whether or not women will influence men. They will and they should. The question is exactly how can women influence men in ways that are fitting, according to the God-given order that exists between man and woman? Instead of attempting to answer this case-by-case, Piper suggests a set of criteria to help think through whether a particular vocation can uphold God's design for mature masculinity and femininity. He says,  

Here is one possible set of criteria. All acts of influence and guidance can be described along these two continuums:

Personal------Non-personal

Directive------Non-directive

To the degree that a woman's influence over man is personal and directive it will generally offend a man's good, God-given sense of responsibility and leadership, and thus controvert God's created order. A woman may design the traffic pattern of a city's streets and thus exert a kind of influence over all male drivers. But this influence will be non-personal and therefore not necessarily an offense against God's order.¹⁰

  Piper is on to something here. When I apply this set of criteria to the vocation of Christian scholarship, I conclude that it is fitting for women to seek to influence men through the means of written scholarship. Writing to a general audience is on the non-personal end of this continuum. A woman may write a thoughtful, critical, and even theological assessment of modern feminism from which I can learn much as a man (e.g., Mary Kassian's The Feminist Mistake, Crossway). Yet this communication comes to me in a non-personal way. Were it to come otherwise, her effort to influence me would likely contradict the natural order and strain whatever existing relationship there may be.

            Written scholarship is also non-directive. There is no inherent authority in the book I read that has been written by, say, Eta Linnemann or Rebecca Jones. The influence the author is giving is not out of an authoritative office. Additionally, she is not directly ordering me to do this and that. Piper explains the idea of non-directive influence this way: "[It] proceeds with petition and persuasion instead of directives. A beautiful example of non-directive leadership is when Abigail talked David out of killing Nabal (l Sam 25:23-35). She exerted great influence over David and changed the course of his life; but she did it with amazing restraint and submissiveness and discretion."¹¹ When a Christian woman produces scholarly writing she hopes to persuade all who are willing to read what she has written and to learn from her in the process.

            So we return to the question with which we began, is this issue for women only? Scripture is clear that authoritative teaching in the church belongs, by God's design, to men. It is equally clear that women contribute to the church in many and varied ways. One of these ways is scholarly writing, like that of Linnemann, a brilliant lady who is also submissive to the teaching of Scripture. Written scholarship tends toward non-personal, non-directive influence. It is, thus, an influence women may exercise while upholding the God-given order that exists between men and women. We must conclude, therefore, it is fitting that our male readership also benefit from these articles, writings of learned and holy women of today who follow by disposition, by motivation, and by virtue the ancient pattern.