"Female Ministry; or, Woman's Right to Preach the Gospel"

"In short, "there is no end to the errors in faith and practice which have resulted from taking isolated passages, wrested from their proper connections, or the light thrown upon them by other Scriptures, and applying them to sustain a favourite theory." Judging from the blessed results which have almost invariably followed the ministrations of women in the cause of Christ, we fear it will be found, in the great day of account, that a mistaken and unjustifiable application of the passage, "Let your women keep silence in the Churches," has resulted in more loss to the Church, evil to the world, and dishonour to God, than any of the errors we have already referred to.

And feeling, as we have long felt, that this is a subject of vast importance to the interests of Christ's kingdom and the glory of God, we would most earnestly commend its consideration to those who have influence in the Churches. We think it a matter worthy of their consideration whether God intended woman to bury her talents and influence as she now does? And whether the circumscribed sphere of woman's religious labours may not have something to do with the comparative non-success of the gospel in these latter days. "

Catherine Mumford Booth.

Catherine Booth, along with her husband William Booth, founded the Salvation Army in England in 1865. The article this quote comes from was originally published in London in 1859 under the title Female Teaching and republished in 1861. An edited less confrontational version was published 1870 under the title Female Ministry, which is the version that is the source for the quote. You can read the whole article here.

The thing that saddens me is that we seem to not have come particularily far when it comes to the reasoning behind opposition to women as pastors or leaders of any sort within Christian churches. Other - huge - steps have of course come about but we seem to be stuck when it comes to theology and the logic with which the Bible is being interpreted.  

I personally love the fact that the Bible is so multilayered and incommensurable :). God is, too. And humans, as well. Preaching might on occasion be easier if the Bible were simpler and less contradictory but as it is, it isn't, and I do not, for that matter, think it is so by mistake.