Women's Ordination...

Here is an essay by Frederica Matthewes-Green expressing an Orthodox perspective on the ordination of women.

The words that jumped out of the essay for me were these:

"I don’t mind if Protestant denominations want to ordain women. Many times, this just means allowing them to do things Orthodox women have always done."

I am intrigued by one thing in the conversation that has been taking place in LMC regarding this issue. It seems that we have leaped over a more fundamental theological issue in the conversation. That is, what is the theological significance of ordination? Since the word is not used in the New Testament, what sources are we drawing from to guide our thinking on what the meaning of ordination is? I have heard the pragmatic answers, but I have yet to hear a deeper engagement with Scripture and Tradition.

At the LMC Leadership Assembly, time was spent considering what missional authority might look like. A question for me is this--what is the relationship between missional authority and ordination. I would assume that one could have missional authority without being ordained. What then is the authority that comes with ordination and how is it distinct from missional authority?

Mennonite/Orthodox Dialogue...

We had a good afternoon at Annunciation for the Mennonite/Orthodox dialogue. You can download the paper I presented here. It is not perfect, but it is an iteration of how Anabaptists read and interpret the Bible. I think the part on how authority is expressed in the Mennonite (and more broadly the Protestant/Evangelical stream) is particularly important to understanding the contemporary situation in Western Christianity.

How is the way of Christ revealed? And what value (authority) do we give to the Apostolic "mindset" that is represented in Tradition as a way we discern Biblical faithfulness to Christ? I suggest, that what we tend to see expressed in the modern approach to Scripture, particularly in American Christianity, is an individualistic engagement with the Gospel--private, subjective interpretation, un-accountable to a broader (Apostolic) mindset through which the Christ of Scriptures is crystallized and expressed. Grenz and Franke offer this critique. I included this critique in the paper, but skipped over it in my presentation, because of time constraints.

I'm thinking about starting another blog that is a forum for ongoing converstation between Anabaptism and Orthodoxy. Stay tuned.

Mennonites and Classical Theology...

Mennonite theologian A. James Reimer says, "Nicene Orthodoxy needs to be retrieved by the Christian church in general and by the Mennonite Church in particular as a way of remaining faithful to the Bible, as a way of preserving the essential tenets of the Christian faith within a post-biblical context, and as a theological framework for contemporary ethics."

"...I believe we need to enter vigorously into conversation with other theological traditions like Eastern Orthodoxy, which can teach us much in this regard. These other traditions, however, may also be able to learn something in turn from the Radical Protestant emphasis on personal and social ethics based on a particular Reading of the Gospels...."

A. James Reimer, Mennonites and Classical Theology: Dogmatic Foundations for Christian Ethics (Kitchener, ON: Pandora Press & Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 2001), 249.

In the spirit of these words of James Reimer, another dialogue is being planned for March 3, 2007.

Interpreting the Bible: Voices from Two Traditions
Mennonite/Orthodox Ecumenical Dialogue
March 3, 2007
1:30-3:00 pm
Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church
64 Hershey Ave
Lancaster, PA 17603

More information on this event can be found at the SMC website.