I recently heard from a young woman (I assume from Biola) who
had this to say at
Flash Point:
I am ... surrounded by many intellectual single women who
see no definition of womanhood outside the context of
marriage and children...Before single women learn to engage
their culture, they need to understand their own identity,
and part of that is their gender.
I understand the longing to have God speak to each of our
circumstances. For myself especially, it often feels hopeless
being a thinking Christian woman with academic aspirations, but
also being unequally yoked....I'm not exactly the posterchild
for what is considered the ideal Christian woman. I have a lot
to say about relationships, faith in God, and functional
singleness as a married woman. But the bible doesn't have a lot
to say about my particular situation, and so I depend on knowing
what God has revealed to all of us.
So I ask, does a woman need to contemplate her femininity, her
identity as a woman, prior to exercising her intellectual gifts?
Outside or independent of the question of pastoral or elder
leadership in the church, the answer is 'no.' These areas of
leadership are not the only place in which the life of the mind
is relevant. There is not monopoly on the role of the intellect
by church leaders. Christians who tend toward the academic or
intellectual in their gifts find themselves baffled by how to
serve, but none more than women.
Does a man first contemplate his gender or identity as a man
prior to his inquiry about the meaning of life, the problem of
evil, the nature of the atonement, or which method of
apologetics is most biblical? Obviously not. While I do hold
that it is important to have a proper perspective on roles in
the church, there is no exclusive correlation between these
roles and the life of the mind. No where in Scripture are women
asked to suppress their talents, but to use them to God's glory
within the framework that is established in Scripture. And this
is not limiting of women, the issue of roles in the church is
very small in light of how large our world is. Women aren't
expected to disengage their mind so as to cause men to look more
intelligent. In fact, Mary of Bethany would have been with
Martha in the kitchen if this was the expectation. What Jesus
said was that being at his feet was "the good part."
So does this answer Amy Beth's concern? I think Mary of Bethany
is a great example of a single Christian woman pursuing God. But
I don't think her gender was a consideration in her sitting
where she was until it was pointed out that she wasn't
conforming to the cultural norms that existed at that time.
The definition for Christian womanhood (single or otherwise) is
this: to be an obedient follower of Christ, willing and eager to
serve the church with the gifts God has blessed her with. Let's
not assume that so much is wrapped up in our gender that we
cannot do anything until we understand what it is that makes us
not male. What about what makes us human? I believe that
understanding that we've been created in the image of God is of
much greater significance and it is from there that we must
function.
