Lyn M. Kidson, “Aussie Men, Roman Men, and Fashioning the Evangelical Man from 1 Timothy 2”
Reading the New Testament in the Manifold Contexts of a Globalized World:
Exegetical Perspectives. Eds. Eve-Marie von Becker, Jens Herzer, Angela Standhartinger, Florian Wilk (Berlin: Francke, 2022).
Released on 12/12/22
“1. Women’s Experiences in Australia’s Sydney Anglican Diocese
Women are problematic in many evangelical circles. For many women attending
evangelical churches in Australia, they are barred from holding leadership
positions such as the senior minister or pastor, elder, worship leader,
or ministry leader. So women are confined to speaking to other women at
women’s events and teaching children. When I first heard it said that the Bible
was ‘clear’ that women shouldn’t teach or lead men, I was a relatively new
arrival to the Christian ministry scene. In 1993, I joined the evangelical group,
Student Life, and I was ministering on the campus of Macquarie University in
Sydney. Student Life at the time was relatively laissez-faire about the gender
of its leaders since the focus was on leadership ability. However, over in the
Anglican dominated group Christian Union, there was a different story…”
Page 181
“In sum, the view of masculinity promoted by these three [Davies, Smith & Jones] writers over the
course of three decades has changed very little. Masculinity is the normative
state for the Christian. In men reside all the attributes that our society takes
for granted are positive: a man is active, he is a free agent, he is expected to
participate in the public sphere, and in him resides legitimate authority. When he
speaks from the Scriptures he does so authoritatively. The exercise of authority
is the cornerstone of Christian manhood. But this is a picture of masculinity
that is inherently weak as it needs to be defined against womanhood. Further,
it can be undermined by the exercise of authority of a woman, even if she is
faithfully teaching the Scriptures. One wonders if Davies’ man who is taught by
a woman in private would be able to bear the affront to his masculinity.
The image of masculinity that is projected by these writers is frail.”
Page 188
“This section is on what the writer does not want and stands in contrast to
what he wants in verse 8. However, the indicative verb and its negation ‘I do
not want’ are displaced by the infinitive ‘to teach’ (διδάσκειν). Since the Greek
word order is not as constrained as in English, this infinitive at the beginning of
the sentence marks it out as the focus This infinitive belongs to a hendiadys
normally translated as ‘to teach nor have authority over’ (NRSV). However,
in this marked position, διδάσκειν is indicating a resumption of a theme or
argument in the earlier part of the letter. The command ‘let a woman learn in
quietness in all submission,’ indicates a submission to Paul’s command at the
beginning of the letter. But the infinitive ‘to teach’ (διδάσκειν) reiterates this
command in 1 Timothy 1:3 that ‘certain people’ are not to ‘teach the other
instruction.’ The second part of the hendiadys refines the unwanted behaviour,
‘and not to domineer her husband.’”
Full Copy of this Essay can be found on my ResearchGate page
“Aussie Men, Roman Men, and Fashioning the Evangelical Man from 1 Timothy 2” Lyn Kidson ResearchGate
The hardback copy can be ordered at Reading the New Testament in the Manifold Contexts of a Globalized World Exegetical Perspectives
L.M. Kidson “the image of masculinity that is projected by these writers is frail.”
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Read more about my scholarship
See Lyn M. Kidson ResearchGate
To read more posts like this on Engendered Ideas:
A Response to Thomas Schreiner’s, “Gender Questions Should Send Us to Scripture: When it comes to the topic of gender roles, it all comes down to biblical interpretation.”
Is Beth Moore preaching? Then she is already at home.
Women and Teaching in 1 Timothy: A Response to John Piper
To read a summary of my book on 1 Timothy 1:
Other Resources by Lyn M. Kidson
Join Lyn’s daily notes on the background of the Gospel of Mark on her Historias blog Historical Notes on the Gospel of Mark (1:1–5)
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Congratulations Lyn. I assume this means you wrote a chapter in this book? Well done. I’ve been doing some word studies on phrases repeated by Syd Angs in their talks that come straight out of the US comp playbook. Sad that some sections of the Aus church adopted some US theology wholesale without question.
Thanks Linda! Yes, my chapter does do an analysis of the interpretation of various writers (but not all are Anglican).
Indeed, there’s one baptist. 🙂