Seen but not heard? (#4)

A modern icon or Aghia Magdalini or Saint Mary Magdalene by Alexandra Kaouki in her workshop in Rethymnon (Photograph © Alexandra Kaouki)

Saint Paul is often blamed for attitudes that appear to relegate women to a wholly passive or subordinate role within society, the household, and the Church. One of the key passages cited in support of this view comes from his First Letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 14:33–35):

…women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says.  If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. 

Taken at face value, this is hardly surprising. It is entirely consistent with the social customs of the world in which Paul and the early Christian communities lived. Even so, it is striking that the Lord Jesus himself—according to the Gospel testimony—had nothing to say about women needing to be silent or submissive.

On the contrary, Jesus chose to appear first after his resurrection not to Peter or the other apostles, but to Mary Magdalene, and he entrusted her with the task of announcing his resurrection to them. The conversation between Jesus and Mary in John 20:11–18 is unmistakable on this point. For this reason, none other than Saint Thomas Aquinas, among others, aptly referred to Mary Magdalene as the Apostle to the Apostles (apostola apostolorum). More recently, Pope Francis reaffirmed this ancient title when, ten years ago, he elevated her memorial to the rank of a liturgical feast day.

In fairness to Saint Paul, it is worth recalling his teaching on the ministerial gifts of the Holy Spirit, set out in the very same letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 12:27–31):

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.

It is difficult to escape the conclusion that, in the absence of any fixed ministerial structure in the earliest Church, Paul understood these gifts of the Holy Spirit—including “forms of leadership”—as open to all the baptised faithful. As we will see in a forthcoming post on the diaconate, particularly through the example of Phoebe in Romans 16, Paul was no misogynist and no systematic excluder of women from ministry. Rather, like his contemporaries, he simply did not imagine a radically different society from the one reflected in Jewish history, the Old Testament, and the wider cultures of the ancient Near East.

As the Revd Benjamin R. Cremer observes in a recent substack post about the way that Jesus relates  to women:

Notice what he does. Yes, he addresses wives, but then he turns to husbands, and what does he say? Not ‘rule,’ not ‘command,’ but ‘love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.’ In that culture, no one was telling husbands to die for their wives. No one was calling men to cruciform love—self-emptying, sacrificial, tender, and honouring. This was not reinforcement of hierarchy; it was a quiet revolution.

Cremer goes on to note:

For when mutual submission is replaced with hierarchy, love is replaced with control. When Christlike sacrifice is replaced with entitlement, the gospel itself is obscured.

Finally, we should remember that Paul worked alongside women leaders such as Phoebe, a deacon; Junia, noted among the apostles; and Priscilla, a teacher of the faith. These women were not silent or sidelined figures. They were active co-workers in the work of the kingdom of God (refer to Romans 16:1-7 and Acts 18:2-3).