Thanks for your comments. I am hopeful that modern nuns do not exhaust the possibilities for the new expression of ancient roles for women in the service of Christ, the Church, and the Gospel. I think we need a fresh consideration of the Trinity, as well as the role of the Virgin Mary in redemptive history, to gain a better grasp of a theology of women for the Church. This would be free from the feminist theology agenda, rooted in Scripture, and the practice of the ancient catholic – ie, patristic – Church.

I think there are a lot of folks in the PCA who are opposed to the idea of women deacons/deaconesses because they suspect (and I think rightly so) that the motivation for this issue lies more in seeking to placate the spirit of the age than pleasing God through obedience to Scripture. They are asking the right question of those anxious for a change. On the other hand, if the motivation for change was in fact the desire to search the Scriptures, learn from history, and seek to be faithful – even if that means changing drastically – there would be less of a distress signal going up.

My fear is that, given the litigious way we PCAers go about things, we will have an environment in which constructive discussion cannot take place, and in which the younger, gifted leaders will simply go elsewhere, desiring to serve God in ways other than filing briefs for a presbytery trial or for the SJC. I am sympathetic to that concern.

Thanks for the correction on the blog. Yes, here’s the proper postmillennial address -

http://www.bythissign.blogspot.com

David

First, thanks for the thoughts.

Second, the link to your blog goes to a website about the coming pretribulational rapture. I’m sure that’s not you! :)

Your p and s are transposed in ‘blogspot’.

Also, I would dispute slightly your description of the NP Neo-Puritan group. I don’t think they see themselves with the Reformation but with the so-called Second Reformation. The Reformation was liturgical, had a church year, was not afraid of bishops per se, and called for weekly communion. The Second Reformation was against those things. In the PCA it’s a mixed bag, but on all those kinds of issues, including “covenant of works” language, the NP group is quite different from Calvin, Bucer, and the Reformation. The NP group is quite at home with Baptists, but not with Anglicans and Lutherans. The Swiss Reformers had the opposite set of affections.

The recent Federal Vision controversy was a fight launched by Second Reformation NP types against First Reformation Calvinists.

Peter Jones

http://www.waysidechurch.org/femdeacs/blogs.htm

Peter Jones, Pastor

P.S. The article is helpful. I am looking forward to the others.