Ordained Women in the Early Church

A Documentary History

Kevin Madigan, Carolyn Osiek

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Year: 2011
• eBook ISBN: 9781421401577
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: History of Christianity

In a time when the ordination of women is an ongoing and passionate debate, the study of women's ministry in the early church is a timely and significant one. There is much evidence from documents, doctrine, and artifacts that supports the acceptance of women as presbyters and deacons in the early church. While this evidence has been published previously, it has never before appeared in one complete English-language collection.

With this book, church historians Kevin Madigan and Carolyn Osiek present fully translated literary, epigraphical, and canonical references to women in early church offices. Through these documents, Madigan and Osiek seek to understand who these women were and how they related to and were received by, the church through the sixth century. They chart women's participation in church office and their eventual exclusion from its leadership roles.

The editors introduce each document with a detailed headnote that contextualizes the text and discusses specific issues of interpretation and meaning. They also provide bibliographical notes and cross-reference original texts. Madigan and Osiek assemble relevant material from both Western and Eastern Christendom.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Source Abbreviations
• Chapter One Introduction
• Chapter Two New Testament Texts and Their Patristic Commentators
• Chapter Three Women Deacons in the East Literary Texts, Literary Allusions, Inscriptions
• Chapter Four Women Deacons in the East Canons and Comments on Church Practice
• Chapter Five WOMEN DEACONS IN THE EAST Later Texts Bearing on Earlier Evidence
• Chapter Six Women Deacons in the West
• Chapter Seven Women Deacons Testamentum Domini Nostri Jesu Christi and Related Texts
• Chapter Eight Women Presbyters
• Chapter Nine Conclusion
• Appendixes
• Index of Ancient Names
• Index of Deaconesses, Presbyters, and Episcopa
• Index of Modern Authors
• Erratum