Centuries of Women Preachers

I'm a part of a church tradition that ordains women as preachers. And I support it. I've been pastored by some fabulous females in my life and know several others. But even in my church it was not always this way. Lutherans were in fact rather late to the party when it comes to ordaining women in America. And like other Christian bodies, not all Lutherans do. The Missouri Synod, of which I was once a part does not, along with other more "conservative" (for lack of a better word) Lutheran groups like the Wisconsin Synod. And other protestant groups as well as our Catholic brothers do not recognize women pastors. And these groups have brought forth many great theologians. Bo Giertz, perhaps my favorite theologian, was opposed to women's ordination.

But this is not to convince people or engage the debate of whether women should be ordained. That's another controversial blog in its own right. This is to lift up how for far longer than the modern movements for ordination of women there has been a tradition of women preaching in the church...covertly.

This came to me while worshiping in a church that is very strict about the role of women in church. At this church women could not serve in the leadership of any kind so as to not have spiritual authority over men. In this church, women don't get up and speak at church. Yet a woman preached there covertly, perhaps no one knew it or saw it. What I am talking about is the key role some great women have played in the church's rich tradition of hymnody. And this tradition beats out any claim about modern feminism or societal pressure on the church, it goes to the pure fact that some women used their gifts to proclaim Christ in houses of worship across miles and centuries. 

If you think this is different, pause a moment. For churches that do not let women teach, consider that one of the most powerful tools towards teaching theology through the history of the church has been her song. Consider how great theologians like Luther have identified music and hymnody as a means by which the people are proclaiming Christ. Women are defining and teaching and articulating the church's voice! And they are doing it splendidly.

Some like Hildegard of Bingen pen the poetry, or others like my personal favorite - Catherine Winkworth have created the authoritative translations of hymns that are so firm in their form that every time a new hymnal messes with them it is met with displeasure or surprise from its members. In fact it was the singing of a Winkworth hymn even with its older English language that gave me the inspiring thought of this blog. And translations are essential to preaching as well. Even though Catherine did not originally pen the hymns, her take on them have been essential. Anyone familiar with the art of translation - especially biblical or theological translation understand how influential the translator can in fact be towards the final product. This is why in some churches certain bible's are anathema, or other ones hailed. I recently compared the United Church of Christ's New Century Hymnal  version of "Praise to the Lord the Almighty" to Winkworth's, the UCC hymnal was a completely independent translation not a variation of Winkworth's like some hymnals do, and unless you were told or heard the tunes one might be surprised that the two texts were translations of the same song. 

Yet how many of these churches, so insistent that women be silent, that they have no authority, that they not be the teachers and preachers of the church are aware of how much their worship is in fact guided by these female voices of the past? How many would see that as an affront? In fact I imagine if they read this they will say it is totally different, they are not verbally doing it themselves. But consider how many of them would permit women to write sermons for the pastor to read. Then all of the sudden the act of placing the proclamation there would be an offense. Now some churches like the Missouri Synod in particular will see this as distinguishing the pastoral office from the priesthood of believers. But others which take the restriction on women's authority far deeper will have a harder time. And even the pastoral office, this usually leads to some form of restricting the voice of public proclamation of women in the church (women like all Christians can preach individually but not in the worship setting), yet Luther always saw music tied to proclamation. While he names this proclamation particularly to the priesthood of all believers, we should not ignore how it was women who authoritatively shaped this proclamation, perhaps more firmly than pastors shape the nature of each Sunday worship. 

Why do these churches not seem to mind? Well along with the fact that many don't really think about the power, role, and influence women are having this way, is the fact that the stuff is just too darn good to ignore. It's because they believe there is something quite godly and appropriate about what people are learning and proclaiming when singing these songs. It is because the authority of every preacher, every teaching, every doctrine, every claim of faith is rooted not in the people who articulated it but in the God who revealed himself first to us. It is because the true authority of preaching has never been in sex but in Christ, who speaks wherever his word is properly taught and proclaimed. Consider that hymnals often go through a rigorous process of determining what is "in" and what is "out". Consider how important teaching and doctrine is in the formation of hymnals or how introducing teachings through a new hymnal often brings new controversy in the church. Consider that the hymn's content has been what mattered, and we see that these churches know the power and role of music in the church, and yet still have let women preach to us and teach us with them. Then we see that women have used their gifts to be our preachers for far longer than any modern movement. 

And I, who believe the role of women as preachers can be identified in the biblical texts themselves, would say then that they have been carrying this fine tradition since Mary found a small gathering of disciples and proclaimed aloud "I have seen the Lord!"