A Biblical Case for Women Pastors, Elders and Deacons by Seth Knorr Book Review

I am impressed with this book. If Christians were to read only one book to understand the egalitarian position, this would be at the top of my list. Knorr reminds us that just because a doctrine has been held for a long time does not mean it is true (think slavery).

He thoroughly explores the two biblical passages most debated on the issue of women in ministry (1 Timothy 2:12 and 1 Corinthians 14:34-35). Knorr studied the earliest manuscripts of these passages, the highly valued P46 and the Codex Vaticanus. He shows how the passages have often been mistranslated. He appeals to the writings of early church fathers as they quote Scripture. He reveals the gender bias of modern translations, inserting male pronouns where none exist in the Greek.

I really like how Knorr gives much evidence from early church writings that women in ministry were accepted at the time. His documentation is extensive. Early church fathers accepted that Junia was a female apostle, for example. (97) He shows how there were female leaders in both Judaism and secular religions at the time so female leaders in Christianity would not be a huge cultural change.

Knorr appeals a great deal to the original Greek. While some laypeople may be overwhelmed by his extensive arguments, if one works through this book thoroughly, the evidence is convincing. His conclusion is that Scripture shows women can hold the role of deacon, elder, apostle, prophet, and by extension, pastor. (119)

I highly recommend this book to any Christian desiring to really investigate the egalitarian position.

My rating: 5/5 stars.

Along with a career in computer programming, Seth Knorr is also an elder, Sunday school teacher, and small group leader in his church. He also served as a youth pastor for ten years and created the biblical search engine SmartBibleSearch.com, which offers Google-like features. All of which led to a passion for studying the Bible in its original languages along with church history and the early church fathers. You can go to http://www.smartbiblesearch.com/ and http://www.greekbiblesearch.com/ to use the search engines Knorr has created.

Eleutheros Publishing, 196 pages.

While I initially received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the author, I have since purchased copies myself. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)