new church life: march / april 2014
but as one arising from my close experience with the pertinent doctrines.
Mr. Lindsay is a long-time lawyer. I am sure he will agree that questions of
legality ought to be settled on the basis of the law. I am hoping he will
concede that, by the same token, questions of church policy and practice
ought to be settled on the basis of the doctrine.
Regarding the substance of the Sarver writers’ submissions in support
of the ordination of women, I find in them no argument from doctrine.
Rather they once again reflect a cultural view, combined with a unique
plea for the ordination of women so as to increase the number of priests
and make possible for them the benefit of priestly services, something they
say they lack at the present time.
I regret that the Sarver group’s local society in Freeport has no pastor,
and I grant that their contentions may have a certain appeal; but cultural
views and a shortage of priests are not suitable arguments to be imposed on
the policy and practice of the Church, founded as it is on what it views as
revealed doctrine. As I said in my article, the Church exists to transform the
world, not to be transformed by the world.
The Sarver writers completely ignore the teaching that the Church is
formed in the wife through the husband. Yet that teaching lies at the heart
of the matter. They also suffer a classic logical error in arguing that since
priests are to be ministers also, therefore people called to ministry ought to
be priests. That is like saying that since all mothers are women, all women
must therefore be mothers.
The truth is that all people of all ages and both genders are called to
minister to their fellow human beings, individually and in organized groups.
These are important and indispensable ministries. But this calling is not the
same as a calling to the priesthood.
The Rev. N. Bruce Rogers
Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
In the Context of Swedenborg’s Times
To The Editors:
Regarding the letters from Zarah Blair and Trish Lindsay and the
article by Al Lindsay (all from Sarver, Pennsylvania), published in the
January-February issue of New Church Life, in response to the paper,
Gender and the Priesthood, by the Rev. N. Bruce Rogers in the SeptemberOctober, 2013, issue:
All three writers seemed surprised and upset that Bruce wrote his paper
based on comprehensive study of several major and pertinent doctrinal
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