When Women Were Priests: Women's Leadership in the Early Church and the Scandal of Their Subordination in the Rise of Christianity

I found this book to be very well written with sound, thorough research done of historical evidence. Who can dispute that? The negative reviews don't have a leg to stand on, really, except personal dislike for the author herself. Is there a conspiracy to keep women from knowing their birthright??? This book was part of my research to dismantle Complementarianism and it's male-centric, male-dominated hierarchy in today's evangelical church that confirmed other sources I've found that prove its' pagan-inspired roots! Kudos to the author. I will take some issue with her view of Paul, if I remember correctly, she paints as somewhat of a misogynist, but was anything but. The way traditional teaching has portrayed him sounds like he's agreeing with his congregations' laws and cultural norms (which I believe is done on purpose to keep males in leadership in church and the home), when he was actually challenging them and asserting freedom for women and slaves, giving them equality like only Jesus can. Without these biased opinions from books and the pulpit, the Bible is quite clear in equality for women. Historical evidence is the nail in the coffin for Complementariainism and that's just what they're fighting tooth and nail to prevent. I recommend the book "I Suffer Not a Woman: Rethinking 1 Timothy 2:11-15" by Kroeger and Kroeger and " The Equality Workbook: Freedom in Christ from the Oppression of Patriarchy" by the Edwards' to help other readers untangle the confusing passages of Paul's writings.

This book argues that the early Christian church had many women leaders in various roles. Once it became an official church of Rome, a religion found in public spaces instead of in house churches, the traditional gender roles of Greco-Roman society took over. Men came to lead the churches and the Church, and steadily excluded women. To do so, they drew from conceptual categories and philosophical theories from ancient Greece that also played central roles in Roman society.It’s a powerful set of claims. To make it, Torjesen offers a synthesis instead of engaging in the nitty-gritty of scholarly debate. That means she does not respond to her potential critics as she might in a different format. She writes in the style of an academic lecture, so the book is more accessible than a densely-argued academic tome but less accessible than a book aiming for a popular audience.Her strategy also makes the book somewhat unbalanced. Torjesen places women in the context of Greco-Roman society to understand New Testament women better. She spends a lot of time talking about Greco-Roman society, and her final chapter also looks at pre-Greek archaeology in northern Europe. She probably spends too little time on the New Testament for most readers, and spends very little time discussing Judaism, either before or after Jesus.Still, she makes a striking case that the theology of gender and sexuality in the Christian thought Augustine and Tertullian reflects Greco-Roman categories and neither the teachings of Jesus nor the practice of the early Christian house churches.

10 Stars! This book is a explanation of the historical timeline of women in the church. It contains many facts from historical documents, memoirs, and references. This is not a book of opinion, it paints a picture of a historical journey. If you are questioning the position of women in leadership or in the church, then you must read this book.

Excellent hypothesis about the important role of women in the early Christian church and how that role changed even before Christianity became the religion of the Roman empire.

With little evidence and a big-mouth, the author constantly attacks an institution she clearly does not understand. In every single chapter, she lays a confusing groundwork, then circumvents the main point with piecemeal quotes and nothing other than speculative conjecture.Every sentence in the book is punctuated by strong, strident (shot at the author here), and biased language. The author paints one veiled accusation after another in layered subtexts and overtures of incredibly piss-poor attempts at intellectual discourse. The end-result is that the author comes off like a whiny, ignorant, ill-tempered, yet better educated than most, two-year-old throwing a temper-tantrum because a bully stole her milk and cookies.An intelligently written feminist discourse of gender-bias in Ancient Christianity is something I strongly encourage. An intelligently written feminist discourse of gender-bias in Ancient Christianity this is most certainly NOT, however. And that is the saddest thing of all, given the potential merit this book would have otherwise had. :(

Definitely presented from the feminist perspective which for me as a male having listened to conservative Christian rhetoric is exactly why I needed to hear.

Ecxellent, I mean really ecxellent and when the principles are properly adjusted to their proper orders it will be excellent. One thing, the roles of women in the eastern church would have made an interesting additional chapter.

read alongside Band of Angels and the Rise of Christianity, although these are predominantly Academic books, you don't need to an academic to understand.

This is a well written work that gives every impression of having been well researched and it benefits from stating its case mildly and without acrimony, which is in marked contrast to some of the hysterical male reaction to the very idea of women priests. Considering that the word hysteria comes from the Greek word for the womb, such male reaction would suggest that those indulging in it have failed to mature effectively since they left the womb. The outstanding question is: if women can become world leaders, scientists, doctors, lawyers, teachers, naval officers and much more besides, why can they not become priests?Karen Jo Torjesen is actually conventional in her approach, mostly accepting the veracity of the New Testament without question, preferring instead to find evidence for female leadership within the text as it currently exists. Although the Gospel of Mary Magdalene is brought into the equation, it isn't in any way over-emphasised. The reader might also feel that the author has been too easy on characters such as Augustine of Hippo, who was so adept at revealing himself as a miserably mixed up misogynistic moaner of the highest order. Augustine was the arch-interpreter of post-Constantine Christianity. Subsequent Christian teaching has suffered considerably by, all too often, interpreting the Christian message through his theology. After Augustine came Pope Gregory I, who was largely responsible for turning Mary of Magdala into a whore.Karen Jo Torjesen is to be congratulated for not falling into the trap of using the polemical ferocity beloved of so many opponents of the ordination of women. She writes in a carefully worded, step by step, easily assimilated fashion, setting forth her evidence in a revealing, non-assertive manner. The reader does not have to agree with her interpretation of the Christian message to enjoy this book, although all fair minded people in favour of sexual equality will be delighted that she has championed the ordination of women as Christian priests in such a well researched and convincing fashion.Not only is this work of interest to Christian readers, those who question the veracity of the bible , including the New Testament, will find it helpful. Considering the mess male leadership has made of Christianity over the past 2000 years, turning it into a power-hungry, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, intolerant, torturing monster, it's now surely time that the male leadership resigned en masse and handed it all over to the ladies. Then, perhaps, we would be able to visualise deity as a truly caring, womb-centred universal Great Mother, who would have far more in common with the universe as we now know it than the current Christian concept of a three headed daddy in the sky.For too long Christianity has been stuck in a mire of intransigence, refusing to accept truth when it's staring it in the face as such scientists as Copernicus and Galileo found out to their cost. When the Christians destroyed the great library in Alexandria it plunged Europe into the Dark Ages and retarded progress for a thousand years. Women invented religion centred around hearth and home. They domesticated fowl and pigs. When the men went out hunting and came back empty handed, the women would say: 'Never mind dear, we can kill one of our nice fat pigs and eat that.' Everything became much better when the men learned all kinds of useful crafts, working with wood, stone and metals. Men are better at doing things; women are better at managing things. This is why the world is in such a mess, because too many men are managing things and not doing enough to make things work. Women are natural managers because they have to manage home and children and they are also much better at managing religion. The reason why some religions hate pigs is because they were seen as a woman-thing and therefore a danger to male dominance, besides which men preferred wandering over the landscape with flocks and herds whilst their women folk remained at home doing all the hard work. Anyway, read Karen's book; it's a real eye-opener.