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 Englishlanguage 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 crossreference original texts. Madigan and Osiek assemble relevant material from both Western and Eastern Christendom.
Preface Source Abbreviations 1. Introduction 2. New Testament Texts and Their Patristic Commentators Romans 16:12 1 Timothy 3:811 1 Timothy 5:313 3. Women Deacons in the East: Literary Texts, Literary Allusions, Inscriptions Literary Texts and Allusion Insciptions 4. Women Deacons in the East: Canons and Comments on Church Practice Didascalia and Apostolic Constitutions Other Sources before the Sixth Century, in Chronological Order Justinian, Novellae 5. Women Deacons in the East: Later Texts 6. Women Deacons in the West Literary Texts Inscriptions Canons and Comments on Church Practice 7. Women Deacons: Testamentum Domini Nostri Jesu Christi and Related Texts 8. Women Presyters In the East Literary Texts, Canonical, and Legendary Inscriptions In the West Wives of Clerics Three North Africans against Women Presbyters Canons and Episcopal Letters Inscriptions 9. Conclusions Appendixes A. Locations of Deacon Inscriptions B. Locations of Deacons in Literary Sources C. Locations of Presbyters D. Family Relationships Identified for Women in Inscriptions Index of Ancient Names Index of Deaconesses, Presbyters, and Episcopa Index of Modern Authors
""Madigan and Osiek have produced the best, most comprehensive, and extremely useful documentary history to date regarding the ordination of women in the early church.""
