Paul: What Was He Thinking!
Mutterings from your Licensed Unity Teacher
I believe I’ve written before about how blessed I was to find Unity. As an ardent feminist, I had pretty much written off church and religion in general. I resented the teachings and practices as I understood them, which basically said that I, as a woman, was a second-class citizen and was lacking in the skills and intelligence to teach, lead, or spiritually instruct or inspire others. Unfortunately, I had somehow bought into this belief system, and felt that at depth I was truly a sinner, and that I was beyond redemption. This was so buried in my psyche that I presented myself as a liberated, carefree agnostic who didn’t need or want any spirituality in any form.
Then little by little, I discovered I did need and want a spiritual foundation. I learned how to pray with Edgar Cayce studies. I learned how to meditate with an Eastern guru. And I finally found a spiritual home/community with Unity of Missoula. Who would have thought I would actually want to spend Sunday mornings at church?
The thing that drew me to Unity was the idea that I could believe what I wanted, and do whatever spiritual practice worked for me. People in Unity welcomed my belief in reincarnation, my belief in outer-body experiences, my method of meditation and prayer, and, most of all, that even a woman could have a voice in the leadership of the church! I was welcomed as a member and invited to be on the Board of Directors, all within the first year or two that I attended. My children were celebrated, baptized, and instructed in a way that honored them as the light of God themselves. There was never a moment that I felt that we couldn’t be a part of the Unity community.
So when I recently heard about a woman pastor of a Southern Baptist Church in the deep South whose whole church was removed from membership in the Southern Baptist Convention because she was a woman, I was appalled! The understanding and reliance on a passage in the Bible, attributed to Paul, that women shouldn’t speak in church, was given as the justification for this action. My heart went out to this woman, who has served her church for over 40 years. And she says that she and her church are deeply conservative, and believe in the Bible as the word of God. I was reminded of an article in Unity Magazine, Jan/Feb 2023, by Maggy Whitehouse, “St. Paul and the Women.” I loved the insight from her and only hope it finds its way into the hands of the woman pastor.
Maggy refers to the contradiction found in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, which says “...it is shameful for a woman to speak in church,” but earlier, also in I Corinthians 11:4-5. “...every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head.” So, which is it? Should women not speak in church or may they speak (pray or prophesy) if their head is covered? Maggy goes on at length to explain the reasons for this discrepancy, and why some of the writings originally credited to Paul are now believed to not have been in the letter as it was first written. Maggy points out that Paul actually admired and praised the women who worked and taught with him, as did Jesus himself. She also notes the custom of women covering their heads continues in certain societies to this day, and that Paul was just suggesting that we conform to the expectations of culture in order to be listened to in an openhearted way. This is especially interesting given her story of other women at the time who professed to be prophets/teachers who were speaking with no head covering. Paul didn’t want his women teachers to be confused with radicals who weren’t preaching the truth!
I have also recently read John Shelby Spong’s book, Reading the Bible Again for the First Time. I am so grateful to Unity for helping me to open my mind and heart to a new understanding of the Bible through authors like these, and over the years with people like Eric Butterworth and Elizabeth Sand Turner. And I am eternally grateful to my Unity community for on-going support of everyone’s right to worship in the way that works for them!
Linda Andrus, your Licensed Unity Teacher
