Issue 048 PDF Version - Christian Ethics Today

ly written essays from both women and men, all of whom
possess exceptional qualifications to write about the subject.
Granted there will be some wide divergences today on this
subject, but it will not go away despite one-sided votes in
denominational actions. Here is a book that eloquently testifies
to the rationality of continued and balanced debate.
To the reviewers, some of the highlights included Fisher
Humphrey’s essay on “Women in Christian Ministry.” It is
replete with an effective view of Scripture and logic that is
both convincing and helpful. William Hull’s overview of
“Women and the SBC,” likewise frames this entire issue in
such a way that its importance and seriousness comes
through sensibly with some strong guidelines of permanent
value.
The reader will take away some permanent memories
from this primer. Gladys Lewis and her pilgrimage in
Colorado and Oklahoma, Julie Pennington-Russell and her
pastoral challenges, and biblical insights from Ruth Ann
Foster, Catherine Clark Kroeger, Sheri Adams, Karen
Murray, all collectively bring some urgently needed insights
to the table. They need to be heard. These are not radical
feminists, but genuine, balanced, experienced women whose
opinions will help individuals who are searching for guidance
in this troubled field of thought.
The Trulls’ contribution to this book is timely and helpful.
They bring not only editorial skills, but both are also to
be commended for their research and writing. What a price
they paid for daring to write positively about women in ministry.
Peculiarly pressured into early retirement, their experiences
testify to the absolute necessity of strong biblical
thinking and application in this area.
One inevitably concludes, not just from the Trulls’ book
nor alone from the Bible, that God goes on calling women
into ministry. In spite of all this confusion, remarkable
things are happening to and for women in Christian service,
business administration, political advancement, and personal
fulfillment.
Personally, the reviewers wish the publishers had come up
with a better title and a more attractive book cover. One of
the sub-titles, “The Baptist Debate Over Female Equality” is
more to the point, even though perhaps inadequate. Don’t
let these minor flaws, however, deter you from looking seriously
at this meaty material that abundantly aids in this ongoing
debate. ■
28 • FEBRUARY 2004 • CHRISTIAN ETHICS TODAY
“Whatsoever things are lovely . . . think on these things”
Philippians 4:8
Fire: The Joy of Stoking
and Poking
By Foy Valentine, Founding Editor
Winter’s grip has been firm again this year. It usually is. I
deal with it grudgingly and sometimes grouchily. One of
my best but not very clever or innovative ways of dealing with
it is by building a good fire in my big wood-burning fireplace
in my blessed study.
Just today I have been contemplating my blessings while
sitting in front of this fire which I have kept stoked and poked
since very early morning. Some of these blessings have not
exactly overwhelmed me but have instead slipped up on me,
sidling in, dropping down, and even creeping up from behind.
Some may be worth sharing.
1. The fire itself. Since time immemorial fire has been one of
our most treasured human possessions, one of life’s most
basic necessities, about as rudimentary as food, clothing,
and shelter. Our ancestors, of course, did not invent fire.
After lightening would strike a tall tree or after a volcano
would erupt with a fearsome flow of red hot molten lava, I
suppose our forebears readily enough found that they were
significantly more comfortable with the fires that had been
started than they were without them. Then I suppose they
began to tend the fire, to nurture it, and to guard it. When
the weather was cold neighbors would share a few live
coals with which their friends could rekindle their own
fires that had inadvertently been allowed to go out. Early
on, ingenious persons around the world devised ways and
means of starting fires, using sticks rubbed together, flint
rocks, or twirled points in a bed of dry moss. Matches
were not invented until very recent times. The
Encyclopedia Britannica says that the first practicable friction
match was marketed in 1827. That is when my great
grandfathers and grandmothers were already grown young
men and women. My particular fire before which I am
now sitting was started with an ingenious little propane
torch costing about $3 which, when triggered lights a natural
gas starter which in turn quickly catches my wood on
fire. Presto. I have fire in my fireplace.
Hearth and home have long gone together. In the old
days home without a hearth would hardly have been imaginable.
When I was growing up 75 years ago, my mother,
on a bitterly cold winter day when it was simply too cold
to fire up the kitchen stove on the north side of our drafty
two storied house, would prepare a big black iron pot of
hominy which she would cook for a very long time over a