Women's Ordination in the Catholic Church - Couverture souple

O'Brien, John

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1725268043 ISBN 13 : 9781725268043

Editeur : Cascade Books, 2020

Synopsis

Women’s Ordination in the Catholic Church argues that women can be validly ordained to ministerial office. O’Brien shows that claims by Roman dicasteries for an unbroken chain of authoritative tradition on the non-ordainability of women—a novel rather than traditional argument—are not historically supported. In the primitive Church, with the offices of deacon, presbyter, and bishop in process of development, women exercised ministries later understood as pertaining to those offices. The sub-apostolic period downplayed women’s ministry for reasons of cultural adaptation, not because it was thought that fidelity to Christ required it. Furthermore, extensive epigraphical evidence, from a wide geographical area, references women deacons and presbyters during the first millennium. Restrictive developments in the concept of ordination from the twelfth century onwards do not negate how, before that, women were validly ordained according to contemporary ecclesial understanding. Repeated canonical prohibitions on ordaining women show both that women were being ordained and how those bans were very selectively implemented. These canons were a cultural practice in search of a theology, and the subsequent theological justifications for restricting ordination to men appealed to supposed female inferiority against the background of priesthood as eminence rather than service. O’Brien shows that the assertion of women’s non-ordainability is a matter of canon law rather than doctrine. As such, that law can be reformed.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

John O'Brien lived and worked for over thirty years in Pakistan, as a witness to the gospel. He is Associate Professor of Theology (Research) in Durham University.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Cascade Books
• Date d'édition: 2020
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1725268043
• ISBN 13: 9781725268043
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 212
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible