New Feminist kicks off its series on Christianity and feminism by reminding its readers (all two of them – hello, whoever you are!) that the ordination of women is biblical.
Not only biblical – sanctioned by Paul.
“I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea,” he writes. The important word here is “servant” - diakonos in Greek. When used of men in the New Testament, it generally gets translated as “deacon” (thus the origin of the word) or “minister.” Used of Phoebe, it gets to mean “servant.” Ri-i-ight.
One of the greatest forces keeping people from the truths of feminism is Christianity, so-called – therefore, one of the greatest forces leading people to feminism can be, and should be, Christianity, rightly called. Recognizing that Paul himself approved of women ministers (and that women were ministers for the first several hundred years of the church and not banned until the sixth century), is an important first step.
[...] Part 1, we looked briefly at Phoebe, the woman minister that Paul spoke of with approval. Little attempts [...]