A Website for Papers on
Gender Issues in the Church
T
he Rev. Brian D. Smith, Assistant Pastor of the Olivet New Church
in Toronto, Canada, has collected 36 papers and studies, plus
additional materials, on the question of women in the ministry and
other gender issues in the General Church. The site to find all of these is:
www.newchurchperspective.com/possible-ordination-of-women
This is a most useful repository of diverse, doctrinal viewpoints which can
be read at any time. You can pick out some to study, some to browse, some to
share. Many of these have been published previously, from New Church Life to
New Church Perspective. Now they are all collected at one website.
The list includes papers going back to 1972, studies for a General Church
Governance Study on Women’s Roles in 2001, and all of the papers presented
at the Council of the Clergy meetings in June 2014. We have been asked to
publish several of these papers but they are too long for these pages. Now you
can choose to read any and all, plus responses, on your own schedule.
Here is a list of the papers posted, in the order they appear:
• Collection and Reflections – The Rev. Willard L. D. Heinrichs: Ordaining
Women into the Priesthood: Of Order, Or Not of Order?
• A Name of Glory and Honor – The Rev. Robert S. Jungé
• Women in the Ministry – Gertrude Tremblay (1972)
• Leadership, Women and Men – The Rev. Eric H. Carswell (New Church Life,
July 1996)
• Male and Female in the Organized Church – The Rev. Robert S. Jungé (New
Church Life, September 1982)
• Cycle of Life: A Model for Viewing Gender-Related Concerns – The Rev. Erik
J. Buss: Prepared for the Council of the Clergy, 1995 (New Church Life,
October-November, 1995)
• Gender and the Representation of the Lord – The Rev. Stephen D. Cole (New
Church Life, May-June-July, 1995)
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