Fulcrum Newsletter August 2011
Women’s Ministry and Homosexuality: Questioning the Connections
by Stephen Kuhrt
Co-published, with permission, with the Church of England Newspaper 12th August 2011
A common assumption within the church today is that a close connection exists between support for the full ministry of women and support for a revision of the church’s traditional stance on homosexual practice. Conservative evangelicals are well known for presenting both of these positions as resulting from a single liberal trajectory which has allowed prevailing cultural norms to outweigh ‘the clear teaching of Scripture’. In response, many liberals might challenge the amount of ‘cultural baggage’ still being carried by conservatives. Most of them as well, however, would probably still understand their support for women’s ministry and the acceptance of homosexual practice as part of a single paradigm; the liberation and inclusion found in Jesus Christ which should control or even override the interpretation of ‘difficult texts’ on both issues. We are thus in a situation where many on opposite sides of the debates concerning women’s ordination and homosexuality assert that these issues belong closely together and that if you are ‘conservative’ or ‘liberal’ on one, you will also (if you are being consistent) be ‘conservative’ or ‘liberal’ on the other. Simple to understand, the close connection between these issues is also assumed by much of the secular media and general public and was represented in the portrayal of both lead characters in the most recent clerical sitcoms, The Vicar of Dibley and Rev.
The perception that such a connection exists has supplied some of the momentum behind the recent attempts to set up alternative, separatist structures to resist the tide of liberalism within the Anglican Communion; GAFCON in 2008, the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) in 2009 and, more recently the Anglican Mission in England (AMiE). Particularly in the case of FCA, this helped to disguise the reality of a somewhat ‘unholy alliance’ between those whose agendas are actually very different. Whilst some in FCA are undoubtedly solidly ‘conservative’ on both women’s ministry and homosexuality, this is far from the case with others. The FCA ‘alliance’ has included some, for instance, who are very concerned to resist the gay agenda but quietly open to women’s ordination (such as Paul Perkin and Michael Nazir Ali). Alongside them were others whose strong opposition to women’s ordination, particularly as bishops, can hardly be said to be matched by a similar concern about homosexuality (such as large sections of Forward in Faith). Unsurprisingly, after an uncomfortable launch in Westminster Central Hall in July 2009, FCA is now a coalition rapidly starting to unravel.
Part of what this should prompt is a reconsideration of the relationship between the issues of women’s ministry and homosexuality. Back in 2000, Dick France published a brief study entitled A Slippery Slope? The Ordination of Women and Homosexual Practice – a Case Study in Biblical Interpretation (Grove Biblical Series no.16). In this book, which would still repay purchase and study, France makes the case that the hermeneutical issues involved in seeking biblical support for women’s ministry and homosexual practice are very different. Pointing to the significance of passages in the New Testament that appear to heavily endorse women’s full ministry (such as Romans 16:1-16), France argues that a properly biblical approach will always seek to weigh up such passages against those traditionally seen as restricting women’s ministry (such as 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:11-12). The result (as Ian Paul has also shown in another recent Grove book Women and Authority: The Key Texts) is a strong and completely credible case for the Bible’s overall support for women’s full ministry. The primary point of France’s book, however, is that a similar case is much more difficult to make for revising the church’s traditional teaching on homosexual practice since no positive biblical material specifically addressing homosexuality exists to be weighed up against those passages that appear to speak more negatively about it. Whilst conservative evangelicals may disagree with those who believe that the Bible supports the full ministry of women, it is therefore not legitimate to claim that the same hermeneutics that have led to this understanding will also lead to a revision of the church’s traditional position on homosexual practice.
In addition to these points, I would wish to add something further concerning the relationship of this issue to that of women’s ministry. Convinced of the Bible’s support for the full ministry of women, I have sought to put this very strongly into practice in the church of which I am vicar. This has led to a dramatic effect upon the life of the church and, in turn, a much deeper theological understanding of the power that is released when our worship anticipates the new creation through both men and women being allowed to express within this worship the fully equal divine image-bearing unity that they share in creation. Preaching, sacramental worship, pastoral care, decision making and the whole atmosphere of Christ Church has become transformed through women and men taking a fully equal role in their provision. Reflection upon this, however, has then driven me back to a fresh examination of the texts in Genesis 1 and 2 and Paul’s use of them in Romans 1 and served to strengthen further my conviction about the God-given uniqueness of life-long heterosexual marriage through the equal power of new creation displayed (not least through the procreation of children) when a man and a woman become one. Rather than making me more ‘liberal’ on homosexuality, my reflections upon the rightness of women’s full ministry within the church has therefore consolidated my conservatism on this issue and strengthened my conviction that it is God’s will for those who are gay to remain celibate. Somewhat controversially, making this connection has then opened my eyes more fully to the extent to which a gay agenda may be motivating (perhaps more subconsciously than consciously) more of the opposition to women’s ministry within the church than is often acknowledged.
Obviously not everyone will agree with these conclusions. Both conservative evangelicals and members of Inclusive Church have expressed a measure of shock when I have shared this perspective because it is a set of connections rather different from the one that people are used to hearing. But as the church continues to respond to two of the most pressing issues it currently faces in women’s ordination as bishops and its response to homosexual practice, I would suggest that a re-evaluation of the connections that exist between them is very much required.
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Stephen Kuhrt is Vicar of Christ Church, New Malden and Chair of Fulcrum ______________________________________________________________________________
Stephen Kuhrt is Vicar of Christ Church, New Malden.