Icons of Christ seeks to provide a biblical and theological grounding for the ordination of women in the Evangelical, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic traditions. The book is divided into five parts, each containing several chapters: in addition to an introduction and conclusion, the monograph contains Protestant and Catholic arguments against women's ordination and then attempts to refute them. It also sets forth “The Ministry of Women in the New Testament,” confronting texts in the epistles whose interpretation has been controversial.
After an introduction that establishes the nontheological and “traditional” arguments against women's ordination, part 2 focuses on Protestant arguments: hierarchy and male authority; the Genesis’ doctrine of creation; Jesus’ male disciples; female subordination; interpretations of Eph 5:21–33 and 1 Cor 11:1–16, and then 2 Tim 2:12. In these chapters Witt stresses what he identifies as Protestant complementarianism as the overall basis for the rejection of women's ordination. Actually, these Protestant arguments are confined to Evangelical Protestantism because mainline Protestant communities have already ordained women.
With similar intent, part 3 confronts and seeks to challenge Catholic arguments against ordination focusing on what Witt identifies as sacramentalism, that is, sacramentality. He presents chapters on priesthood in the Old Testament, the biblical and patristic background of the priesthood of Christ, the meaning of “in persona Christi,” the argument from symbolism with respect to God, priests, incarnation, and the apostles, as well as the symbolic significance of transcendence and immanence.
Part 4 considers women's ministry in the New Testament as an office (with particular emphasis in Romans 16 on Phoebe, Priscilla, and Junia), and with respect to bishops, presbyters, and deacons, understanding the texts to be descriptive rather than prescriptive. The conclusion draws together the monograph's dialogues, concluding that the biblical and theological arguments against the ordination of women are insufficient to counter its legitimacy.
To be honest, this has been a difficult book for this reviewer. It adequately accomplishes what it sets out to do, but I am not interested in it: I have “been there, done that.” Usually, an academic reviews materials for which she or he possesses some expertise. I fear that in this case, with respect especially to Roman Catholicism, this reviewer possesses too much.
Roman Catholic women and a small number of sympathetic men established the Women's Ordination Conference in 1975, more than forty-five years ago, as a logical outcome of the biblical and theological renewal associated with Vatican II. Because I have lived through Rome's efforts to construct and enforce opposition to the ordination of women, proposing biblical and theological arguments that are not consistent with the insights of Vatican II, I have not been convinced that another biblical and theological defense is valuable. Still, there may be a Roman Catholic audience for the book, both Roman Catholic women and men who have not been close to the struggle, who have not read the many other volumes that defend the ordination of women biblically and theologically, and who, by reading this book, may become more open to the biblical and theological legitimacy of ordaining women.
That brings me to what Witt identifies as Protestant arguments. Though I am more familiar with Evangelical biblical arguments than theological ones, I confess to a certain reluctance to believe that arguments on behalf of women's ordination will be embraced by the majority of the members of the Evangelical community. In contrast, it is the hierarchy of Roman Catholicism, at least in the West, that is most strongly opposed to women's ordination, not the rank-and-file members of the believing community.
Overall, the book does a satisfactory job of what it sets out to do. It challenges as shaky ground the Evangelical and Roman Catholic (and Orthodox) assumptions that lead to biblical and theological positions against women's ordination. It could do a better job. The content is predominantly dependent on male scholarship, and the bulk of the presentation sets forth the traditional arguments against women's ordination rather than the legitimate biblical and theological arguments that support it. The female scholar most frequently quoted is Sara Butler, a Roman Catholic who seeks to defend the Vatican position against women's ordination, whereas Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza's groundbreaking book, In Memory of Her, is absent not only from the text but even from the bibliography.
In addition, the Orthodox position is almost totally confined to nine pages in one chapter (208–17) and two Orthodox scholars, Elisabeth Behr-Sigel and Kallistos Ware. Further, there are a few people's scholarship referenced in the text that are absent from the bibliography, most notably from this reviewer's perspective, Kathryn Greene-McCreight's Feminist Reconstructions of Christian Doctrine: Narrative Analysis and Appraisal, published by Oxford.
I cannot be more enthusiastic because the biblical and theological work in support of women's ordination had already been done, at least in the Roman Catholic community. Still, the book does serve to bring together, while differentiating, the positions of three religious communities—Evangelical, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic—and that is a valid contribution.
