Women and Priestly Ministry: The New Testament Evidence

In August 1976 the Executive Board of the Catholic Biblical Association of America appointed a committee of prominent scholars from its membership to study and report on the Role of Women in Early Christianity. This Committee developed into a Task Force whose members are Madeleine Boucher, Richard J Dillon, John R Donahue, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, Eugene H Maly, Sandra M Schneiders, and Richard J Sklba. The statement is a précis of the ongoing discussion of the Task Force. Their conclusion: an examination of the biblical evidence shows that there is positive evidence in the NT that ministries were shared by various groups and that women did in fact exercise roles and functions later associated with priestly ministry; that the arguments against the admission of women to priestly ministry based on the praxis of Jesus and the apostles, disciplinary regulations, and the created order cannot be sustained. The conclusion we draw is that the NT evidence, while not decisive by itself, points toward the admission of women to priestly ministry

“Queer Eye” in Theology and Biblical Studies:“Do you have to be queer to do this?”

This article addresses the question of whether one needs to be LGBTQ+ or queer-identifying in order to engage in queer studies in theology and biblical studies. In surveying the popularity of queer as cultural currency in the media and the academy, I express concern with queer studies being undertaken as if it were one approach among others, arguing that it is an “anti-approach”. In directly responding to the question, “do you have to be queer to do this?” I argue that one does not need to be queer identified to engage with queer theologies or queer biblical studies. Four points are made about the engagement of heterosexual identifying intellectuals in queer studies: i) queer theory reveals how all identities are unstable, including heterosexuality; ii) heterosexuality is not the site of disruption for queer studies—it is patriarchy, cisnormativity and heteronormativity that require dismantling; iii) queer is about the production of antinormative knowledge, a practice that anyone can engage in; iv) where queer studies are also done in conjunction with nonnormative gender and sexualities, researchers must incorporate voices from those individuals or communities. The article concludes that there should be no concern about straight-identifying individuals doing queer studies, but we should be careful that queer theologies and queer biblical studies do not become “straight” and normative

And We cast upon his throne a mere body: A Historiographical Reading of Q. 38:34

This paper focuses on Q. 38:34 from the perspective of early and medieval works of Islamic historiography and collections of tales of the prophets: the early tenth century works of 'Umara b. Wathima and Tabari, the eleventh century Tales of the Prophets by Tha'labi, the twelfth century folkloric collection of Kisa'i, along with Ibn 'Asakir's History of Damascus, the thirteenth century world history by Ibn al-Athir, and the fourteenth century historiographical work by Ibn Kathir. These various works are viewed not as any particular stage in the development of a genre, but as variations on a (Qur'anic) theme, and the avenue of medieval historiographers and storytellers is utilised as a bridge to explore various possible interpretations of the Qur'anic passage. Historiographers and storytellers provide us with an illustration of how lessons of admonition implied in the Qur'anic text were perceived in medieval Islamic society. They also, as will become clear, provide a picture of Solomon that is consistent with the Qur'anic figure as a whole

Magazine - Biblical Recorder - Jan. 1 2000 - Forrest Feezor

A feature of prominent Baptists of the 1900s.https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/first-baptist-shelby-forrest-chalmers-feezor/1003/thumbnail.jp

Good News Singers Biblical Recorder Cover Aug. 26, 1972

Cover features a photograph of the Good News Singers.https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/baptist-historical-collections-first-baptist-church-music-ministry/1083/thumbnail.jp

Magazine - Biblical Recorder - Jan 28 1967 - John Lawrence

Cover of the Biblical Recorder features the General Board Officers of 1967, including John Lawrence as vice-president.https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/first-baptist-shelby-john-elmore-lawrence/1006/thumbnail.jp

Biblical Recorder February 1, 1969

Van Ramsey honored as Shelby\u27s Young Man of the Year.https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/baptist-historical-collections-first-baptist-church-music-ministry/1081/thumbnail.jp

News Clipping - 1961, August - Ground Breaking Service (Biblical Recorder)

News clipping with photo of the 1961 ground breaking service for the new Concord Baptist Church building.https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/fay-webb-gardner-concord-baptist-church/1012/thumbnail.jp

At Home in Archival Grief: Lost Canons and Displaced Stories

What happens when desires for homogeneity, belonging and possession conflict with realities of migration and loss? What happens when the life of the scholar and the life of the exile are imagined together? What does it mean to live simultaneously within two clashing narratives, as so many scholars do? And what if we treat the past as something other than our homeland? The following stories about archive, canon, and patrimony are also questions about scholarly subjectivity. By recounting scenes of living at odds with racialized or gendered narratives of the proper location and embodiment of knowledge, I seek to expand scholarly imagination. There are many more ways to relate to the past through the Classical or Christian archive than through simple assertions of continuity. Archival grief may be the condition to which the scholarly imaginary is subject

Hidden in Plain Sight: Seeing the Stripping of Jesus as Sexual Violence

Recent work in biblical studies has given increased attention to a reading of Jesus as a victim of sexual abuse. This article explores how the stripping of Jesus might be understood as an example of abuse ‘hidden in plain sight’. Most students are initially surprised or doubtful when it is suggested that Jesus is a victim of sexual violence. However, this scepticism can become a powerful learning resource if they are helped to ‘discover’ it for themselves through an experiential learning process. This might involve a critical examination of crucifixion and stripping images, and/or a contextual bible study on Matthew 27:26–31. Discovering the sanitising and erasure of sexual violence in the dominant (mis)understanding of crucifixion can offer students insight into other ways that past and present sexual violence is often marginalised, normalised, or hidden. Often these classroom exercises prompt a discussion of what makes abuse ‘sexual abuse’