Oden's Argument For The Inclusion Of Women In Ministry

Both Oden and Herbert are in favour of the need for the admonishment and discipline of laity. Oden suggests that admonishment can be viewed by some as being destructive and is a neglected aspect of pastoral care. He claims that this is because Christianity has adapted secular values such as confidentiality and the right to privacy. These values tend to make community living difficult because real community living is enhanced by admonition and discipline . Herbert might critique today’s priest for the high decrease in the number of personal admonishment and discipline done. However, our society today sees discipline as a ‘holier than thou’ attitude and sees religion as being controlling and judgemental, therefore a priest today will require wisdom and a loving heart when disciplining and admonishing parishioners; always remembering that Jesus did not come to condem the world.

Leadership and Collaboration

Oden’s priest has a strong

emphasis on collaboration, Herbert’s priest on the other hand does not mention the need for collaboration and the importance to guide and shape the life of the community in its mission to the world. As the church continues to realise her role as the people of God called in baptism as Christ’s royal priesthood to serve, today’s priest is called to work with other believers in fulfilling God’s mission.
Oden attempts to differentiate between pastoral care of souls and other pastoral roles by expanding on its main goal and focus which is, the need of the individual and the personal characteristics of the pastor's involvement with the recipient. He uses a holistic and deeply human approach. Although subtlety implied, it might be more appropriate if Oden emphasised the need and necessity for priests to be appropriately and sufficiently trained for the job of caring for souls. This point is emphasised explicitly in Herbert’s book. If the pastor’s role is to be the “physician of the soul”, then just as physicians need to be experts in their fields so also should the physician of the soul . Therefore today’s priest has to work with other professionals and today’s priest needs to keep learning in order to be an effective minister.

On Mission and Evangelism

Oden makes use of the five marks of mission namely to tell, teach, tend and transform and Herbert makes use of tell, teach, treasure. Very little is said in Herbert’s book on transforming unjust structures such as poverty. Herbert’s approach to the poor is a perception between the (deserving) poor of the parish and those who are unproductive . Herbert is uncritical of the social structures of his time. Most priests today (like Herbert) will try to reduce poverty, but will also ask why the poor are suffering and why some are unproductive, in order to see God’s Kingdom come on earth. Priests today challenge unjust structures by working with charities such as food bank, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and projects such as fair trade.

In his argument Oden makes use of the genius of the parish system that exists in the COE where every resident belongs to a parish and as such, is entitled to get married, be baptised and buried. This is a major opportunity for witnessing and evangelism. This also gives parishioners a sense of belonging. Also, in Oden’s book, there is not much emphasis on treasuring God’s creation and world as an element of pastoral theology. This essay suggests the need and importance of this element of mission which was stressed in Herbert’s book.

On the Inclusion of Women in Ordained Ministry
The main issue in Oden’s argument is whether the relationship between women and men is a case of different natures, characters, and responsibilities that might reflect the Trinity even though this might have been distorted by the Fall (Adam and Eve), or whether the relationship (subordination and hierarchy) itself is the Fall. Oden argues that the relationship of subordination and hierarchy is because of the fall. He points out that part of the purpose of redemption would be the abolishment of gender distinctions.

Oden uses Galatians 3:28 as an argument for the promotion of radical equality even though the verse is written in the context of the idea of an inheritance. He also argues that women praying in 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 gives evidence of female leadership in antiquity although the passage seems to refer to women covering their heads while praying. Oden then concludes the section by admitting the conflict that arises from holding his two concerns of tradition and modernisation together and he makes use of a “deposit of faith” argument that gives some originality to the weight of tradition .
At times Oden’s arguments were not entirely coherent and not as objective as it should have been. His scriptural arguments for the ordination of women seemed inconsistent with the scriptures he used when taken in context. Implicit in Oden's comments is the notion that this issue is not merely academic. It lies at the heart of Christians’ struggle to stand together as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

“It is dangerous to the health of the church for ministry to be practiced without good foundations in Scripture and tradition, reason and experience”.

This statement by Oden and his argument on the inclusion of women in ordained ministry shows Oden’s bias betraying him because he speaks of “good foundations in Scripture” when some of his references to scripture seem to be taken out of context. This essay suggests that arguments for the inclusion of women in ministry could be from the point of view that God is mystery and so are his works and as such, cannot be put in a box. If God chooses to call a woman or a less obvious choice to ordained ministry then who are we to judge? This is evident from God’s call to Deborah and also God calling David instead of his brothers who were more obvious choices. Also, the Israelites were expecting the messiah to be born in a palace and he was born in a manger. It is up to the Holy Spirit to decide who to call and perhaps not for us to begin to understand why God calls mortals in the first

place.

Another critique on both books is the lack of safeguarding procedures to protect the young and vulnerable. In our society today, this is of utmost necessity – accountability and responsibility is needed in both ordained ministry and lay ministry.

This review suggests that pastoral theology might be seen as a drama which gets modified with time (with some imperfection omitted) so that true Christian pastoral care is gradually perfected until God’s will is done on earth.