What does the Bible really say about women in leadership? Author finds answer isn’t simple.
Book review: ‘From Genesis to Junia: An Honest Search for What the Bible Really Says about Women in Leadership’ by Preston Sprinkle, ★★★★✯
When Southern Baptists at their annual meeting last week affirmed their longstanding position that the Bible does not authorize churches to put women in certain leadership positions, such as pastor, they were not alone: Some of the largest Christian denominations take the same position, among them the Catholic Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod), the Eastern Orthodox churches and the Presbyterian Church in America. So do many evangelical denominations as well as many so-called nondenominational1 churches.
The opposite view also is held by many churches, most notably mainline Protestant churches such the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Methodist Church, which tend to be liberal theologically and socially. But the recognition of women as pastors or other types of leaders isn’t limited to the liberal churches: Many historically black churches lean toward egalitarianism, as do quite a few theologically conservative, Pentecostal and/or evangelical churches: The Assemblies of God, the Salvation Army, the Church of the Nazarene, the Wesleyan Church and the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel are among them.
In other words, even some churches that have a high view of the Bible, viewing the Bible not only as inspired by also as the ultimate authority for faith and practice and infallible in its original manuscripts, see the Bible as allowing for women to lead churches. This viewpoint is often called egalitarianism, which contrasts with the males-as-leaders view called complementarianism.
So who’s right about what the Bible really says about women in ministry? Perhaps evangelical theologian Preston Sprinkle, who heads The Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender, is among those best suited to answer that question. He is the author of several books and maintains visibility in social media — and has been criticized by fellow evangelicals both for being too liberal, such as when he says he is fine with calling trans people by their preferred pronouns, and for being too conservative, particularly for his opposition to same-sex marriage.
Having no conclusion on the issue is where Sprinkle begins his newest book, From Genesis to Junia: An Honest Search for What the Bible Really Says About Women in Leadership. He begins like this:
I’m writing this introduction in real time. It’s May 2022, and I’m about to embark on a theological journey to figure out what I think the Bible says about women in church leadership.
I’m a bit nervous about this journey, since I don’t know my destination. I honestly don’t know where I’ll end up. Authors typically write their book’s introduction last, after they’ve written the rest of the book and sorted out their conclusions. That’s how I wrote most of my previous books.
But this one is different. I’m not starting with a settled conclusion and then writing the book to convince you of it. Rather, I’m inviting you to peek over my shoulder as I journey through Scripture to figure out what I believe it says about this contentious issue.
I’m not going to tell you in this review where he ends up; I don’t care to spoil the adventure for readers. But I will tell you how Sprinkle tackled his task.
As an evangelical, Sprinkle was compelled by his belief system to look at each word carefully and fit them together into a coherent whole where more liberal scholars might be willing to read the text with more of a 21st-century perspective end in mind. It isn’t always easy, and Sprinkle’s frustration shows at times, but it’s the type of frustration that leads him to dig deeper for insight, going to studies of ancient Israelite and Greek culture, for example, or seeing how secular Greek writings used certain words. Although Sprinkle does his best to keep his book accessible to those who haven’t done graduate-level Biblical studies, most nonacademic readers are likely see the book as getting bogged down in places.
The Junia of the book title is mentioned only once in the Bible, in Romans 16:7, which refers to her in the context of apostles. Sprinkle’s analysis of that verse shows the challenges he faced in coming to conclusions. As he points out, while Junia is a woman’s name, there has been debate about whether the original text referred to a Junia or a male Junias. It’s also not perfectly clear whether the verse calls her an apostle. And it’s not clear that even if she is an apostle whether she’s the kind of apostle that is a leader.
Sprinkle writes that the most difficult passage he has ever studied in his life is 1 Corinthians 11:3-12, in which Paul talks about women being the glory of man and that they should wear head coverings “because of the angels.” The passage, Sprinkle says, is full of “odd statements” and apparent contradictions. But that doesn’t keep him from writing 23 pages about the matter, plus voluminous footnotes.
He uses twice as much ink on 1 Timothy 2-3 — a section that some opponents of equal gender roles claim seals their case. In that chapter especially, Preston not only examines the Biblical passages but also looks line by line at what scholars on both sides of the issue have written.
I’ll give this much away about the book’s ending: Sprinkle ends up admitting that both sides of the argument have strong cases to make. Near the end, he writes:
It should be clear by now where I’ve landed in this debate. I believe [redacted]. I don’t hold this view with the same level of confidence as I hold doctrines like the Trinity or the deity of Christ. I still think some [differing] arguments have exegetical credibility. But after a long and sometimes tedious journey, I believe [my current] view is more biblically persuasive.
And so it is that readers who believe, as Southern Baptist delegates did last week, that women don’t belong in key leadership roles can find plenty of ammunition in Sprinkle’s book if they care to debate the topic. So will those Wesleyans and Pentecostals who want Biblical backing for their egalitarian views.
It isn’t so much the destination that makes From Genesis to Junias so compelling: It’s the journey. The thoroughly sourced book will almost certainly find itself on the shelves of seminarians and inquisitive churchgoers for decades to come.
Many churches that describe themselves as nondenominational use a strict definition of that term to mean that their churches are not controlled by an outside body. But many of them, such as churches belonging to the Southern Baptist Convention, are actually denominational in the sense that they belong to an association of churches that has an advisory and supporting role and can remove them from the association if they fail to meet the association’s standards.