Conversation Starter part two

Irish Bible Institute Lecturer Patrick Mitchell talked to author, theologian and Christian blogger Scot McKnight during his recent visit to Ireland. The interview is published in the latest edition of VOX magazine. Here we look at the second of Scot McKnight's more controversial discussions.

Q: In The Blue Parakeet you talk extensively about women in ministry. Why is this issue important to you?

I’ve had female students who were really fantastic thinkers, sharp communicators and godly Christians gifted by God to teach but could find no place to teach.

In the past I’ve had some colleagues that were really strong against women teachers and I respected them and I thought as a young professor ‘That’s not a battle I want to fight right now.’ I developed the idea that women don’t need men defending them, it’s patronising. So I stayed out of the conversation.

But over time I became convinced that women needed male voices speaking on their behalf. I’m convinced that the Bible has so much evidence of women in actual ministry that conflicts with the restriction of women in ministry in our churches.

I like to ask a very simple question: ‘Do you allow in your churches women to do what women did in the pages of the Bible?’ If you do, you’re being biblical and if you don’t you’re being unbiblical.

In the Bible women can teach (like Priscilla), they can be apostles (like Junia), they can prophesy, they can publicly pray – all these things occurred in the pages of the New Testament, not to mention prophets like Huldah, a prophet-singer like Miriam and a queen of the land like Deborah. In the pages of the Bible we have plenty of evidence of women in leadership.

Join the Conversation... Scot McKnight raises the controversial topic of women in ministry. Share your views below this post.

Conversation Starter part one

Irish Bible Institute Lecturer Patrick Mitchell talked to author, theologian and Christian blogger Scot McKnight during his recent visit to Ireland. The interview is published in the latest edition of VOX magazine. This first part of the interview explores the Gospel.

Q: Scot, you are here in Ireland talking about ‘The Earliest Christian Gospel’. Can you summarise your argument in a nutshell?

I think Tom Wright got this right; we equate the word ‘gospel’ with our understanding of the ‘plan of salvation’ which means ‘how I personally can respond to the offer of salvation in Christ’. I think most evangelicals think that is the gospel.

As a result of studying the New Testament, I became convinced that there are dimensions of what Paul thinks is the gospel and of what the early apostles in the book of Acts preach as the gospel that simply are not a part of how we preach the gospel.

For instance, they were very much focused on resurrection. They didn’t focus on us being sinners and our need to accept Jesus’ death. Instead they proclaimed that Israel’s story (the hope of the Bible story) is now fulfilled in Jesus as Messiah and Lord through his life, through his death, through his resurrection, through his exaltation, through the sending of the Spirit.

This is the good news that God has now wrapped up history. If we want to participate in this good news and get salvation we must repent and believe and be baptised. That was their understanding of the gospel.

I think our traditional evangelical gospel touches on some of those dimensions but there are many aspects that we have simply ignored in Western evangelicalism. In many ways I think we have thinned the gospel down to a superficial level and I want to create a conversation about what the apostles actually said the gospel was.

Join the Conversation... Post your comments below. Do you agree that we have 'thinned down' the gospel?