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

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