Female Bible teachers

This is our new lecturer Meda Stamper. She prays to 'Beloved God' before she teaches and takes us through the gospels and Acts, Spirit-filled and full of enthusiasm and insight. She encourages us to engage, be open, question and be creative. She does not suffer fools gladly and is bringing those of us who can sometimes table-dialogue when we shouldn't be, to task. I like her style. She moves quickly from one place in the Bible to the next and we are expected to keep up. It's exciting. She will then pause to go into dramatic monologue, acting out the Magnificat or the beginning of the gospel of Mark and it is just thrilling. She positively shines for Jesus!

St John's has also just appointed a female Old Testament lecturer to teach the Penteteuch.

It is all good! I have already sat both these modules but because of Bap did not complete the assignments. I now get to sit at the feet of these women, second-time around. First-time around they were taught by men. Men and women are equally called to teach, of course and the lecturers before were great too but for women like me, who seem to have few role models and feel so called to teach, this all feels so refreshing.

It is amazing to me, as I am sure it is to God, that Meda Stamper, who also happens to be American, would be denied a teaching post in some American seminaries because of her gender. When I first became interested in the Christian gender wars I followed this story of the sacking of an American female theologian.

We have to continue voicing intelligent, evangelical, apologetics for the teaching ministries of women. The Kingdom will advance because of it. At some point in the future, their oppression will become something we just look back at and gasp.