Deaconesses

On the one hand, this is largely theoretical for us under Radix Fidem, since we have little use for most New Testament church offices as a virtual community. On the other hand, it’s probably a good idea to be sure we understand how this should work.

I’m not going to catalog all the passages that might address this; it’s not that kind of discussion. Rather, I will rely on your having read most of the New Testament in the first place. We need a bigger picture, not just proof-texts.

The primary reason for having any kind of female leadership in the church is that the Hebrew people had fairly strict rules about men and women in social settings. Those rules were based on ancient custom arising in a tribal context. Men and women who were not relatives generally avoided any kind of social contact with each other. It’s not that all contact was forbidden, but there had to be a compelling reason to cross that boundary.

There was also a sliding scale. For those residing in the same extended family household, the contact was not that restricted. As the metaphorical distance increased, the barriers got larger. The idea was to protect the honor of both sides, and reduce temptation. People were more likely to poach among strangers, because it was easier to keep it secret.

So we see that the early church was virtually a mirror for the synagogue. The sexes were segregated in worship. Frankly, the women preferred to sit behind the men, because it allowed them to whisper amongst themselves while the men were carrying on their discussions down front. Some portion of a synagogue service was preaching and some parts were discussion; men tended to formality, while women were more chatty. This was frankly quite practical and folks were generally happy with it.

For the New Testament church, it became more a matter of being very careful to uphold a high standard. This was to fend off some persecutory accusations of immorality. For example, men would not touch women in baptism rituals, some of which were fairly private due to the facilities available. Thus, deaconesses would baptize women.

Initially, deaconesses were widows, spinsters or young virgins. They didn’t have the burden of caring for a family, and their devotion to work wouldn’t deprive anyone else. As the churches sprouted in more Gentile communities, the social realities softened that rule a bit, as more women had jobs in Gentile societies. But in the church, leadership in particular benefited from women past menopause. While there was little commentary on such things in the Bible, the oral traditions point out that menopause changed how a woman viewed her world, and made her much stronger in many ways. She’s still a woman, but on average a whole lot tougher than younger ones.

We already know that no woman was allowed to teach men, but the Hebrew people still carried a firm reverence for wise women and their discernment. A feminine voice was critical in shepherding the body. Solomon’s choice to place a throne for his aging mother in the royal court didn’t surprise anyone; it was consistent with cultural biases. He would take her advice on a range of things that might surprise us, though.

Our society today is a very long way from that ancient world, in part because we are saddled with a lot of silly myths that they didn’t suffer. But in actual churches that arise from the Radix Fidem covenant, we should see some deaconesses.