analytical and inventive. But to go beyond
this, we need to turn to revelation, first
to discover the ways in which men and
women differ mentally and emotionally,
and then to consider their appropriate roles
in the church. We say, in the church, rather
than in society at large, because our subject
is gender and the priesthood. We leave it to
others to pursue the subject more broadly.
Before turning to church doctrine,
however, we first need to say how the two
sexes are alike. Obviously human males
and females biologically belong to the same
species, and are able to successfully mate
and reproduce their kind. But more than
this, they are capable of mutual interaction
and understanding. In that sense they are
more alike than different. On a mental
level, both men and women possess the
faculties of will and intellect. Without will
they would be without life; without intellect
they would be incapable of sustaining themselves and protecting themselves
from danger and even extinction.
Furthermore, though born with native wills inherently self-centered
and hedonistic, opposed to what is true, just and honorable, both sexes have
implanted in them from infancy affections for goodness insinuated through
the unseen companionship of angels – affections that counterbalance the
sexes’ inherent appetites and endow them with the spiritual freedom to choose
between good and evil. These affections, traditionally termed “remains” in
the New Church, also make it possible for men and women to separate their
intellect from their native will and elevate it into a higher light, so as to be able
to reflect on their inherent natures, commit themselves to better choices, and
consequently reform themselves.
The inevitable
conclusion must be
that women ought
not to be admitted
into the priesthood
of the New Church.
Some kind of
ministry, such as the
Stephen Ministry,
may be appropriate,
provided it does not
include ordination or
clerical standing.
The Elevation of the Female Intellect
Some people in the church have supposed that a woman cannot elevate her
intellect into a higher light, based on a statement in Married Love 175, the gist
of which is that women cannot raise the sight of their understanding into the
same realm of light as men and see things on the same high level. And we are
told that whereas in men the mind is elevated into a higher light, in women
it is elevated into a higher warmth. (Ibid. 184, 188, 201, 211) But there is no
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