Through her book, The Ministry of Women in the New Testament : Reclaiming the Biblical Vision for Church Leadership, theologian Dorothy Lee makes it clear that she believes women should have a greater role in our churches than they are currently experiencing. Lee takes us on a journey through the books of the New Testament, examining not only biblical teaching but also biblical examples of women’s roles, which are far more extensive than generally recognised. Lee refers to Luke’s description of the women involved in Jesus’ ministry (Luke 8:1-3). These verses reveal that many other people travelled with Jesus apart from his disciples, including women. We notice this larger group in other places, such as when Jesus sent out the seventy (Luke 10:1).
When Lee looks at Jesus’ death and resurrection, she notes that it is the women who are at the Cross. They see Jesus’ death, burial and the empty tomb. Without their witness, the Gospel accounts would be limited if we had to rely on Peter and John’s brief appearances at these events. Furthermore, Jesus rebukes the eleven disciples “for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen” (Mark 16:4). Elsewhere, he had to eat something to prove he wasn’t a ghost (Luke 24:39-43). Yet Jesus’ female followers were believing (Matthew 28:8; Mark 16:11; Luke 24:9-11; John 20:18)
Lee explains many of the difficult passages regarding women in the New Testament letters and looks at the roles women fulfilled in Paul’s commendations of his ministry partners in Romans 16. In Peter’s letters, Lee points out that he tells both women and slaves to submit to husbands and masters, respectively (1 Peter 2:18; 3:1). Yet we no longer agree with slavery, so why doesn’t the same freedom apply to women?
Finally, Lee looks at sources outside the Bible and finds that women in the early years of the church and into the first couple of centuries were fulfilling ministry roles. There are also indications of attempts to obliterate this evidence.
The book is strongly academic, demonstrated by the twenty-two-page bibliography. Nevertheless, it’s a valuable addition to the discussion of women in ministry.
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