Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 36:4 (Autumn 2022)
Article: The Ministry Of Women And The Merger Of Church And State In Fourth-Century Christianity
Author: Shelley Siemens Janzen

PP 36:4 (Autumn 2022) p. 27

The Ministry Of Women And The Merger Of Church And State In Fourth-Century Christianity

Shelley Siemens Janzen

Shelley Siemens Janzen holds a BA from Columbia Bible College and a graduate diploma from Regent College. She is currently completing a Master of Arts in Theological Studies at Regent College in Vancouver, BC, where she lives with her husband, Tony.

The Jesus movement in early Christian history introduced a scandalous egalitarian message to the Greco-Roman world. This informal, adaptable, and often counter-cultural movement challenged conventions by welcoming marginalized women and slaves to serve as leaders. According to sociologist Rodney Stark, “there is virtual consensus among historians of the early church as well as biblical scholars that women held positions of honor and authority within early Christianity.”1 Given the ministry opportunities for women in the apostolic church, we should expect to see this pattern replicated as Christianity spread. However, as this movement organized through the second and third centuries, a variety of forces began to surface in the institutionalizing church that curtailed these possibilities. Ultimately, despite noteworthy female initiative and leadership in the development of Christianity, the institutional merger with the Roman Empire in the fourth century was pivotal in the suppression of the NT pattern.

The New Testament Pattern

The NT gives evidence of women’s exemplary leadership in the emerging church. Priscilla is an example of a woman who thought wisely about the gospel and taught other leaders in the church. “The prototype of the didaskalos [‘teacher’] is the apostolic theologian Priscilla, who when the rhetorically skilled Alexandrian Apollos arrived in Ephesus ‘gave him further instruction about the Way.’”2 Mention of Priscilla before her husband, Aquila, in Acts 18 breaks with tradition and may indicate her leadership.3 By including this story, the narrator reveals new roles that women were adopting as coworkers in the Christian community.

Phoebe is another example of a woman championed in the NT for her leadership ministry. “The clearest NT identification of an individual with titles associated with senior local church leadership is not a man at all, but a woman: ‘Phoebe deacon . . . of the church in Cenchrea. I ask you to receive her . . . for she has been a leader of many’ (Rom. 16:1–2).”4 Her role as the deliverer of Paul’s letter to t...