Women's Ordination: A Five Part Series from The Anglican
Why Faithful Anglicans Continue to Disagree About Women's Ordination
Quotable Anglicans on the Ordination of Women to the Priesthood
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“The issue is not whether women are inferior to men, for they are not; nor whether women have gifts for ministry, for they do; but whether Scripture authorizes women to exercise certain leadership roles in the church.” —John Stott
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“The question is not whether women can minister. Of course they can. The question is whether we have allowed later traditions to silence parts of the New Testament.” —N.T. Wright
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“The innovators are really implying that the Incarnation itself can be detached from its historical particularity.” —C.S. Lewis
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“We have chosen to live with dual integrities.” —Bob Duncan
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Dear Readers,
Over the next few weeks, I intend to publish a series of essays on a subject that never seems to go away: the ordination of women.
For those in the Anglican Church in North America, this conversation is immediate and relevant. For others, it might be deeply personal. It could painful, shaped by experiences of disappointment, conflict, or hurt. For me, it has been the single most persistent theological and ecclesial debate of my more than forty years of ordained ministry in both The Episcopal Church and the ACNA.
When the ACNA was formed in 2009, many leaders used the vivid image of the Titanic. The Episcopal Church was taking on water, sinking fast, and faithful Anglicans were looking for lifeboats. Bishops, dioceses, congregations, and clergy came together from different traditions within the Anglican/Episcopal family to build a new Province. More than a few times I heard the expression that we were lashing our lifeboats together, as it were.
I also heard the Shakespeare line a few times that “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”, meaning that Anglo-Catholic, Evangelicals, and Charismatics were suddenly, and reluctantly, making common cause together.
The ACNA founders knew they could not settle every theological disagreement among the bedfellows leaving TEC, or being pushed out. However, one of the most significant practices of ordaining women to the priesthood was set to one side. Rather than divide over the issue, the Province adopted what Archbishop Bob Duncan famously called “dual integrities.”
We agreed that faithful Anglicans held different convictions, and those differing convictions would be respected as we sought to build a new Anglican Province together.
Current Day
Fifteen years later, that arrangement is being questioned. Is it even sustainable? Can the College of Bishops lead us through this sticky wicket on the heels of the Trial of an Archbishop drama later this summer?
The differences are wide and varied.
Some dioceses, such as Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO), ordain women to the priesthood and clearly expect all clergy in the diocese to support it. (Read their statement here.) Other dioceses do not ordain women as priests at all. Between those two positions are a variety of other approaches. Some bishops will not ordain women, but will receive them into their dioceses from other places. Some bishops will ordain women, but only to the diaconate. Recently, one diocese came to a deadlock when trying to elect a bishop based on their position about ordination of women to the diaconate.
All of these positions are in the ACNA, reflecting a rich, and sometimes frustrating, diversity of Anglican theology and practice. In this five-part series, I hope to describe the differing positions as fairly as I can.
Along the way, we’ll consider these titles and topics. (subject to change)
Part I: The Anglican Conversation — When the ACNA adopted “dual integrities.”
Part II: What Does the Bible Actually Say? — Why faithful Anglicans find different answers in the same Scriptures.
Part III: What Is a Priest? — The deeper theological question beneath the debate.
Part IV: Priesthood, Fatherhood, and Representation — Why I have reached my own conclusions.
Part V: Why Anglicans Keep Disagreeing — Understanding the different theological traditions within Anglicanism.
My purpose is not to relitigate a sensitive issue or to generate more heat. Neither do I imagine that five essays will settle a question the Church has wrestled with for decades.
My hope is much more modest.
I want to help us think like Anglicans: to read Scripture carefully, listen respectfully to the wisdom of the Church, and engage one another with both conviction and charity.
I will state my own conclusions candidly in the fourth article. I also trust the readers of The Anglican to grant me the freedom to do so, even if you ultimately disagree. One of the marks of Christian maturity is the ability to hear one another thoughtfully without questioning one another’s love for Christ or His Church.
If you are a paid subscriber, this series will arrive automatically in your inbox, and I look forward to a thoughtful conversation in the comments. If you are not yet a paid subscriber, I invite you to join our growing community at The Anglican and follow the series from beginning to end.
DHR
Grace and peace,
David Roseberry +
The Anglican
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The Anglican is the Substack newsletter for LeaderWorks, where I share insights, encouragement, and practical tools for clergy and lay Christians. I’m also an author of over a dozen books available on Amazon.
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You are very brave to tackle this subject, and I look forward to reading your articles.
Regarding the deadlock of the Diocese of the Western Gulf Coast, the candidate statements appear almost identical: women are welcome in the permanent diaconate, but only men may be priests. There must be some other distinction that is not apparent at first glance.
Thank you for exploring this issue. It seems N. T. Wright’s statement you quoted above implicates the unanimously agreed upon statement by the College of Bishops from 2017, that there is “insufficient scriptural warrant” for the ordination of women to the priesthood. Yet it is nonetheless embraced as an acceptable practice. The idea of “dual integrities” takes some effort to reconcile. I look forward to your contribution!