Discussion for Monday 5th October

Please join us at 6.30pm on Monday 5 October, when Natalie will be leading a discussion exploring 

New Testament texts that have been used against women - to subordinate and harm them.

We will examine some of the following themes and verses, as time allows. (We’re unlikely to read and discuss all of them directly during our hour together, but you are encouraged to familiarise yourself with as many of them as possible beforehand) :

• Women were created for men; the husband is head of the wife: 1 Corinthians 11: 3, 8-9

• Women should be submissive and subject to men: Ephesians 5:22-24, Colossians 3:18, Titus 2:4-5

* Women should not teach, speak in church or have authority over a man: 1 Timothy 2:11-15, 1 Corinthians 14:33-35

• Women should be chaste, gentle, quiet (silent even) and unadorned, with long, covered hair: 1 Peter 3:1-7, 1 Corinthians 11:4-6

As Unitarians, we affirm the equal worth of all human beings, regardless of gender (or any other attribute) - and so we will ask:

• What response do these texts evoke within you, and are there any other ways of understanding them?
• Are they so irredeemably misogynistic, of their time, and redundant in a Unitarian context that we should ignore them, or is there a place for considering them as part our spiritual development?
• • How would we discuss these verses with someone who believes in the authority of the whole of the Bible, and feels ‘cherry picking’ scripture undermines the value of the Bible?

We recognise this has the potential to be an emotive topic and we ask all participants to approach it with care and sensitivity.

Time: Oct 5, 2020 06:30 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87119409788?pwd=Vk1ocnhaRit0US80aGVCVHBxZnozUT09

Meeting ID: 871 1940 9788

Passcode: 802255