Women\u27s Status and Ordination as Elders or Bishops in the Early Church, Reformation, and Post-Reformation Eras

This paper will investigate the views of the status of women in the church and whether women were ordained as elders, bishops, or priests in certain periods of the history of the Christian Church. The main focus of this paper will be on the Early Church, the Reformation, and Post-Reformation eras. The sources for the early church are limited to the early church fathers, and for the Reformers to their commentaries on the Bible. Martin Luther and John Calvin have been chosen because of their emphasis on the Bible as the rule for doctrine and practice, which was adopted by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. John Wesley was selected as representing Methodism, the practices of which strongly impacted Adventist pioneers. The ordination of deaconesses will not be discussed in this pape

Ecclesiastical Deadlock: James White Solves a Problem That Had No Answer

Church organization was one of the hardest fought battles in Adventism’s early decades. Extending nearly 20 years, the struggle not only eventuated in aspects of church order not suggested in Scripture but provided a key hermeneutical principle for deciding other topics not made explicit in the Bible. In the process, James White, and many others, experienced a hermeneutical metamorphosis, a necessary transformation that allowed Seventh-day Adventism to develop into a worldwide force

Magisterial Reformers and Ordination

The magisterial reformers made a clear break with the Roman Catholic sacramental view of ordination of the clergy. The descendants of Luther and Calvin closely followed the Reformers’ ordination theologies and practice. In this paper we will discuss Luther and Calvin’s ordination theology and practice in the context of their break with the Roman Catholic Church

Ellen G. White on Biblical Hermeneutics

Most of Ellen G. White’s life was spent in the nineteenth century as the foundation of the modern historical-critical method of Bible interpretation was being laid. She frequently commented on the importance of the Bible to our lives and how to interpret it. When the church was faced with difficult issues she successfully guided it, always appealing to Bible principles. This paper attempts to bring together Ellen G. White’s views on the objectives, principles, and methods for interpreting Scripture in order to discover the truth about God’s teachings and practices in the Bible

A Theology of Ordination: An Integration of Bible and Ellen G. White’s Writings

A theology of ordination should begin with investigating what is God’s testimony about ordination in the Scriptures. In this study, insights into the Old and New Testament history from the writings of Ellen G. White will be referred to whenever they shed light on the biblical passages and their relevance for today. In addition, the study has tried to investigate how ordination is connected to the truth as it is in Jesus, the Head of the church. Ordination and its authority will also be related to Jesus’ model of leadership in the church. The biblical examples of appointment, consecration, or ordination in this paper have been selected for their relevancy to the ordination issue in today’s context